Black Food Matters: Racial Justice in the Wake of Food Justice

Black Food Matters explores the challenges faced by Black food today, including a lack of access to healthy food, a contested understanding of what constitutes "healthy" food, and the struggle to preserve Black food culture. The book is written by nonwhite scholars and focuses on Black agency and resistance rather than deprivation. It includes essays on animal husbandry practices, the work of the Black Panthers, and Black women pioneering urban agriculture. The book challenges traditional narratives about Black issues and offers new ways to think about access, privilege, equity, and justice in the food system.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 256 pages
Publication date: 03 November 2020
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press

For Black Americans, the food system is broken. When it comes to nutrition, Black consumers experience an unjust and inequitable distribution of resources. Black Food Matters examines these issues through in-depth essays that analyze how Blackness is contested through food, differing ideas of what makes our sustenance "healthy," and Black individuals' own beliefs about what their cuisine should be.

Primarily written by nonwhite scholars and framed through a focus on Black agency instead of deprivation, the essays here showcase Black communities fighting for the survival of their food culture. The book takes readers into the real world of Black sustenance, examining animal husbandry practices in South Carolina, the work done by the Black Panthers to ensure food equality, and Black women who are pioneering urban agriculture. These essays also explore individual and community values, the influence of history, and the ongoing struggle to meet needs and affirm Black life.

A comprehensive look at Black food culture and the various forms of violence that threaten the future of this cuisine, Black Food Matters centers Blackness in a field that has too often framed Black issues through a white-centric lens, offering new ways to think about access, privilege, equity, and justice.

Contributors: Adam Bledsoe, University of Minnesota; Billy Hall; Analena Hope Hassberg, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona; Yuson Jung, Wayne State University; Kimberly Kasper, Rhodes College; Tyler McCreary, Florida State University; Andrew Newman, Wayne State University; Gillian Richards-Greaves, Coastal Carolina University; Monica M. White, University of Wisconsin–Madison; Brian Williams, Mississippi State University; Judith Williams, Florida International University; Psyche Williams-Forson, University of Maryla.

Weight: 432g
Dimension: 140 x 215 x 22 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781517908140