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Paranatures in Culinary Culture: An Alimentary Ecology
Paperback
AnthropologyAgricultureGeneral Sociology
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ISBN13: 9781517918101
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press
Published: Jul 15 2025
Pages: 296
Weight: 0.95
Height: 0.78 Width: 5.86 Depth: 8.41
Language: English
Uncovering the intricate cultural threads that inform our dietary practices
Paranatures in Culinary Culture embarks on a gastronomic odyssey, redefining foods we thought we knew and revealing the extraordinary stories of ordinary ingredients and the cultural forces shaping our diets. The book begins with a simple premise: to eat is to assimilate the outer world into the inner body, both physically and mentally. But what happens when this assimilation process goes awry? Thomas R. Parker reveals how culinary staples are not only elements of identity formation but also instruments of cultural disruption when their true nature emerges and challenges our preconceptions.
Parker explores how certain foods--bread, oysters, pigs, cheese, and wine--can both create and destabilize narratives, unsettle assimilation, and decenter Western culinary traditions. Taking inspiration from architectural historian David Gissen's concept of subnature and Michel Serres's idea of the parasite, Parker develops the concept of paranatures: flavors, foods, and practices considered unpalatable by different societies at different times. He reveals how certain ordinary foods live parallel paranatural lives, addressing larger issues of colonial and postcolonial food theory and challenging long-held notions that cuisine was meant to uphold.
Serving up a rich blend of history, culture, and gastronomy, Parker leads readers to perceive food as an adventure, inviting them to taste the untamed side of nature. He offers a thought-provoking invitation to reconceptualize the roles and narratives we assign to the natural world and its produce, allowing us to see food, nature, and ourselves in new ways.
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