The Politics of the Pantry: Stories, food and social change

Abstract

There is no shortage of books, magazines, lifestyle shows, and academic texts that have something to say about what, where, how, and with whom we should eat. In his book The Politics of the Pantry, Michael Mikulak critically engages with this storied food, a genre of literature, film, and new media that attempts to reveal the “truth” behind the veil of food and the hidden worlds of agriculture. He does so in order to take up key issues and ideas related to food, global warming, and the future of the economy that has been examined in popular texts and mainstream media. His book is “an attempt to understand how we got here, where we are going, and how we can get somewhere else.” Throughout the book Mikulak weaves personal stories and anecdotes related to his journey with local food that informs and enlivens his academic theory and analysis, attempting to rupture the literary boundary between prose and academic inquiry. He knits together an optimism about the power of pantry politics with a more reflexive and realistic picture of the major stumbling blocks the alternative food movement often faces.