If it feeds, it leads : eating, media, identity, and ecofeminist food journalism

Abstract

This project explored contemporary food journalism and placed it in the larger context of American history, asking how such media made eating a matter of public concern. In other words, it asked: how does food journalism invite us to our eating identities and what are the ethical obligations of food journalists? I used Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to examine three contemporary media outlets, each originating at a different point in food journalism's history: The New York Times Food section, TV Food Network, and Vox Media's Eater. I historically contextualized these outlets and their content, further using them to make a larger critique of the current social order. Incorporating the history of food, media, consumerism, and the political economic institutions of the U.S., I also investigated how the active negotiation of civic/eating/consumer identities transformed into ethically compromised positions of hyperindividualism. This occurred within a context of a neoliberal consensus where market fundamentalism dominates the political conversations of worldmaking. Individuals are now expected to be isolated entrepreneurs, conforming to the needs of 'the market.' I thus argue that food media is neoliberalized and food journalists must match the logic of this worldview or face exclusion from a commercialized attention economy built on surveillance, predictability, and control. Taking the long view, I delineate how the liberalism that created modern journalism transformed into neoliberal media. Keeping residual elements of liberalism's once progressive project, I deconstruct the misguided presuppositions of neo/liberalism and offer a counterhegemonic approach to journalism and food media. Establishing a position of ecofeminist food journalism, I then explore how such media invites new, more caring citizens and better feeds the social and ecological connections necessary for democratic, human, and multi-species flourishing.