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Distributed for Reaktion Books

In Defense of Processed Food

An iconoclastic celebration of canned, packaged, and preserved foods.
 
By turns a scientific, feminist, and economic critique, this book gleefully attacks received wisdom about the dangers of processed food. Anastacia Marx de Salcedo argues that, in fact, most processed foods are relatively healthy and that their consumption is an undisputed boon to women’s equality—since the burdens of cooking disproportionately fall on women. In de Salcedo’s account, processed foods take too much blame for the negative effects of modern sedentary life, and alternative food systems are doomed to economic dysfunction. Ultimately, de Salcedo embraces the preserved foods in her pantry and encourages the reader to do the same.

136 pages | 4 3/4 x 7 3/4 | © 2023

Food Controversies

Food and Gastronomy


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Reviews

"A gleeful demolition of our current views on processed foods."

The Bookseller Food & Drink Preview

"A spirited defense of processed food from a feminist, economic, and public-health perspective."

BBC Radio 4 'Thinking Allowed'

Table of Contents

Introduction
Chapter 1: What Is Processed Food?
Chapter 2: History of Processed Food and Twenty-First-Century Innovations
Chapter 3: An Age-Old Time Suck: Women and Cooking
Chapter 4: Subsistence Agriculture Chic
Chapter 5: The Elephant in the Room
Conclusion
Sources
Further Reading

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