Insatiable City: Food and Race in New Orleans

Insatiable City explores the history of food in New Orleans, examining how it shaped and reinforced inequalities, including race, power, and labor. It uses menus, cookbooks, newspapers, postcards, photography, and other material culture to show how food and people were intertwined and how enslaved and free people of color used food to carve paths of mobility, stability, autonomy, freedom, profit, and joy.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 352 pages
Publication date: 10 May 2024
Publisher: The University of Chicago Press

Insatiable City: A History of Food in the Crescent City that Explores Race, Power, Social Status, and Labor

In her captivating book, Insatiable City: A History of Food in the Crescent City, Theresa McCulla delves into the complex and multifaceted ways in which the production of food and the discourse surrounding it have shaped and perpetuated various forms of inequality in New Orleans, a city deeply rooted in its foodways. By tracing the city's economy from nineteenth-century chattel slavery to twentieth-century tourism, McCulla employs a wide range of material culture, including menus, cookbooks, newspapers, postcards, photography, and more, to shed light on the intricate interplay between the production and reception of food, the perpetuation of racial hierarchies, and the exploitation of working-class individuals.

One of the key themes explored in Insatiable City is the mutual reinforcement and deep intertwining of food consumption and the treatment of people. McCulla highlights how enslaved and free people of color in New Orleans used food and drink as tools for mobility, stability, autonomy, freedom, profit, and joy. Food was not merely a means of sustenance but also a means of asserting one's identity and asserting one's place in society.

However, McCulla also reveals the darker side of food consumption in New Orleans. She exposes the exploitation and marginalization of working-class people, particularly those who worked in the food industry. The book highlights the grueling working conditions, low wages, and lack of access to basic amenities that many workers faced. McCulla also explores the ways in which food was used as a means of control and oppression, with employers using food as a tool to discipline and control their employees.

Insatiable City goes beyond the task of tracing New Orleans's culinary history to explore how food suffuses culture and our understandings and constructions of race and power. McCulla's book challenges the notion that food is merely a neutral commodity and instead highlights its role as a powerful tool for shaping social and economic relationships.

Through her meticulous research and engaging storytelling, McCulla brings the history of food in New Orleans to life. She provides a vivid and detailed account of the city's foodways, from the culinary traditions of enslaved and free people of color to the rise of the food industry and the impact of tourism. McCulla's book is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of food, race, and power, and it will undoubtedly leave a lasting impact on the field of culinary studies.

Weight: 524g
Dimension: 152 x 229 x 22 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780226833828