
Pressure Cooker
Why Home Cooking Won't Solve Our Problems and What We Can Do About It
Oxford University Press Inc
Published on 21. February 2019
Book
Hardback
352 pages
978-0-19-066329-2 (ISBN)
Description
Food is at the center of national debates about how Americans live and the future of the planet. Not everyone agrees about how to reform our relationship to food, but one suggestion rises above the din: We need to get back in the kitchen. Amid concerns about rising rates of obesity and diabetes, unpronounceable ingredients, and the environmental footprint of industrial agriculture, food reformers implore parents to slow down, cook from scratch, and gather around the dinner table. Making food a priority, they argue, will lead to happier and healthier families. But is it really that simple?
In this riveting and beautifully-written book, Sarah Bowen, Joslyn Brenton, and Sinikka Elliott take us into the kitchens of nine women to tell the complicated story of what it takes to feed a family today. All of these mothers love their children and want them to eat well. But their kitchens are not equal. From cockroach infestations and stretched budgets to picky eaters and conflicting nutrition advice, Pressure Cooker exposes how modern families struggle to confront high expectations and deep-seated inequalities around getting food on the table.
Based on extensive interviews and field research in the homes and kitchens of a diverse group of American families, Pressure Cooker challenges the logic of the most popular foodie mantras of our time, showing how they miss the mark and up the ante for parents and children. Romantic images of family meals are inviting, but they create a fiction that does little to fix the problems in the food system. The unforgettable stories in this book evocatively illustrate how class inequality, racism, sexism, and xenophobia converge at the dinner table. If we want a food system that is fair, equitable, and nourishing, we must look outside the kitchen for answers.
In this riveting and beautifully-written book, Sarah Bowen, Joslyn Brenton, and Sinikka Elliott take us into the kitchens of nine women to tell the complicated story of what it takes to feed a family today. All of these mothers love their children and want them to eat well. But their kitchens are not equal. From cockroach infestations and stretched budgets to picky eaters and conflicting nutrition advice, Pressure Cooker exposes how modern families struggle to confront high expectations and deep-seated inequalities around getting food on the table.
Based on extensive interviews and field research in the homes and kitchens of a diverse group of American families, Pressure Cooker challenges the logic of the most popular foodie mantras of our time, showing how they miss the mark and up the ante for parents and children. Romantic images of family meals are inviting, but they create a fiction that does little to fix the problems in the food system. The unforgettable stories in this book evocatively illustrate how class inequality, racism, sexism, and xenophobia converge at the dinner table. If we want a food system that is fair, equitable, and nourishing, we must look outside the kitchen for answers.
Reviews / Votes
This book shines a light on the social and economic inequalities at the root of our broken food system, discusses how we got here as a nation, and offers actionable solutions to help move us forward. * A. C. Kuiken, Syracuse University, Choice *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Illustrations
12 black and white illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
690 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-066329-2 (9780190663292)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Sarah Bowen | Joslyn Brenton | Sinikka Elliott
Pressure Cooker
Why Home Cooking Won't Solve Our Problems and What We Can Do About It
E-Book
02/2019
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€11.49
Available for download

Sarah Bowen | Joslyn Brenton | Sinikka Elliott
Pressure Cooker
Why Home Cooking Won't Solve Our Problems and What We Can Do About It
E-Book
01/2019
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€11.49
Available for download
Persons
Sarah Bowen is Associate Professor of Sociology at North Carolina State University. Her work focuses on food systems, local and global institutions, and inequality in the United States, Mexico, and France. She is author of Divided Spirits: Tequila, Mezcal, and the Politics of Production (University of California Press, 2015).
Joslyn Brenton is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Ithaca College. Her research focuses on the sociology of health and illness, with a particular focus on how mothers of young children think about food, health, and the body.
Sinikka Elliott is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia where she researches and teaches on the topics of gender, sexuality, inequality, and family. She is the author of Not My Kid: What Parents Believe about the Sex Lives of Their Teenagers (NYU Press, 2012).
Joslyn Brenton is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Ithaca College. Her research focuses on the sociology of health and illness, with a particular focus on how mothers of young children think about food, health, and the body.
Sinikka Elliott is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia where she researches and teaches on the topics of gender, sexuality, inequality, and family. She is the author of Not My Kid: What Parents Believe about the Sex Lives of Their Teenagers (NYU Press, 2012).
Author
Associate Professor of SociologyAssociate Professor of Sociology, North Carolina State University
Associate Professor of SociologyAssociate Professor of Sociology, Ithaca College
Associate Professor of SociologyAssociate Professor of Sociology, University of British Columbia
Content
- Acknowledgments
- Chapter 1: Introduction: (Back) to the Kitchen?
- Part One: You Are What You Eat
- Chapter 2: Room 105
- Chapter 3: Deep Roots
- Chapter 4: By the Book
- Chapter 5: Hurtful Words
- Part Two: Make Time for Food
- Chapter 6: Taking the Time
- Chapter 7: Finding Balance
- Chapter 8: Shift Work
- Part Three: The Family that Eats Together, Stays Together
- Chapter 9: Spaghetti for an Army
- Chapter 10: Fourth of July
- Chapter 11: Where's the Gravy?
- Chapter 12: Takis
- Chapter 13: Scarce Food
- Part Four: Know What's on Your Plate
- Chapter 14: Vote with Your Fork
- Chapter 15: The Repertoire
- Chapter 16: Sour Grapes
- Part Five: Shop Smarter, Eat Better
- Chapter 17: Smart Shopper
- Chapter 18: Blood from a Turnip
- Chapter 19: The Checkout Line
- Part Six: Bring Good Food to Others
- Chapter 20: Lotus Café
- Chapter 21: A Small Fridge
- Chapter 22: Daily Bread
- Chapter 23: Stop Crying
- Part Seven: Food Brings People Together
- Chapter 24: Sunday Dinner
- Chapter 25: Cupcakes for Cousin
- Chapter 26: Thanksgiving
- Chapter 27: Communion
- Chapter 28: Conclusions: Thinking Outside the Kitchen
- Appendix: Notes on Methods
- References
- Endnotes