The problem with feeding cities : the social transformation of infrastructure, abundance, and inequality in America /

The problem with feeding cities : the social transformation of infrastructure, abundance, and inequality in America /

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Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:	Deener, Andrew, author.
Imprint:	Chicago : The University of Chicago Press, 2020. ©2020
Description:	xii, 319 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm
Language:	English
Subject:	Food supply -- United States. Food security -- United States. Food consumption -- United States. Food consumption. Food security. Food supply. United States.
Format:	Print Book
URL for this record:	http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/12479998

Hidden Bibliographic Details
ISBN:	9780226702919 022670291X 9780226703077 022670307X 9780226703107
Notes:	Includes bibliographical references and index.
Summary:	"For some, grocery shopping is an activity woven seamlessly into daily life. They make lists of foods they enjoy preparing and eating throughout the week, stopping by a market where we seek out the best deals and freshest foods among the broad range of items on display. However, access to this abundance is wildly unequal. Many Americans make long commutes to seek out affordable food, visiting corner stores for dry goods and distant markets for fresh fruits, vegetables, and meats. Poor people, and especially people of color, have significantly less access to the affordable bounty of large grocery stores. The Problems with Feeding Cities charts the massive infrastructures and systems that make it possible to consistently buy a wide range of groceries in one place for an affordable price and the communities that have been left behind in this food revolution. Tracing the growth of technologies including bar codes and storage facilities, networks such as distribution chains and transit systems, and social organizations including food banks and farmers markets, this book illuminates the long social history of today's urban food deserts. The unequal distribution of food and resources is closely linked to the rise and explosive growth of American cities, and the infrastructures that accompanied them affect us still"--

Description
Summary:	For most people, grocery shopping is a mundane activity. Few stop to think about the massive, global infrastructure that makes it possible to buy Chilean grapes in a Philadelphia supermarket in the middle of winter. Yet every piece of food represents an interlocking system of agriculture, manufacturing, shipping, logistics, retailing, and nonprofits that controls what we eat--or don't.<br> <br> <br> <br> The Problem with Feeding Cities is a sociological and historical examination of how this remarkable network of abundance and convenience came into being over the last century. It looks at how the US food system transformed from feeding communities to feeding the entire nation, and it reveals how a process that was once about fulfilling basic needs became focused on satisfying profit margins. It is also a story of how this system fails to feed people, especially in the creation of food deserts. Andrew Deener shows that problems with food access are the result of infrastructural failings stemming from how markets and cities were developed, how distribution systems were built, and how organizations coordinate the quality and movement of food. He profiles hundreds of people connected through the food chain, from farmers, wholesalers, and supermarket executives, to global shippers, logistics experts, and cold-storage operators, to food bank employees and public health advocates. It is a book that will change the way we see our grocery store trips and will encourage us all to rethink the way we eat in this country.
Physical Description:	xii, 319 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm
Bibliography:	Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN:	9780226702919 022670291X 9780226703077 022670307X 9780226703107