Framing the fight: Food, history, and meaning in the mess

First paragraph: Issues of food systems can be cast in a glaring light that obscures nuance and polarizes dia­logue. We get closer to the truth when we pull back from our present constructions of the issues and allow ourselves to experience the dynamic, marvelously complicated stories of how they have formed, what forces drove them, and how those forces affect us still. Such histories entail tension and convergence, missed opportunities, best-laid plans, and unintended consequences. The under­standable impulse may be to avoid dif­ficult and even painful realizations of how entan­gled food has become with larger issues of class, identity, and political economy. The authors of Food Fights do not let us off the hook. They invite us instead to walk back through these issues more deeply, more critically, using a historical frame that allows us to see the issues, if not more clearly, at least more honestly. . . .