The Life of Cheese: Crafting Food and Value in America

By:

Synopsis
Cheese is alive, and alive with meaning. Heather Paxson's beautifully written anthropological study of American artisanal cheesemaking tells the story of how craftwork has become a new source of cultural and economic value for producers as well as consumers. Dairy farmers and artisans inhabit a world in which their colleagues and collaborators are a wild cast of characters, including plants, animals, microorganisms, family members, employees, and customers. As "unfinished" commodities, living products whose qualities are not fully settled, handmade cheeses embody a mix of new and old ideas about taste and value. By exploring the life of cheese, Paxson helps rethink the politics of food, land, and labor today.
Copyright:
2013

Book Details

Book Quality:
Publisher Quality
ISBN-13:
9780520954021
Related ISBNs:
9780520270183
Publisher:
University of California Press
Date of Addition:
Copyrighted By:
University of California Press
Adult content:
No
Language:
English
Has Image Descriptions:
No
Categories:
Nonfiction, Cooking, Food and Wine, Business and Finance, Social Studies
Submitted By:
Bookshare Staff
Usage Restrictions:
This is a copyrighted book.

Reviews

2 out of 5

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I had such high hopes for this book- an ethnography of American artisanal cheese making. Ugh, I barely made it beyond two chapters. I did learn something about goats, farming and the making of hard cheese but OH the academic drivel! Watch out for these university press books.