The Problem with Feeding Cities: The Social Transformation of Infrastructure, Abundance, and Inequality in America

For most people, grocery shopping is a mundane activity. Few stop to think about the massive, global infrastructure that makes it possible to buy Chilean grapes in a Philadelphia supermarket in the middle of winter. Yet every piece of food represents an interlocking system of agriculture, manufacturing, shipping, logistics, retailing, and nonprofits that controls what we eat--or don't.

The Problem with Feeding Cities is a sociological and historical examination of how this remarkable network of abundance and convenience came into being over the last century. It looks at how the US food system transformed from feeding communities to feeding the entire nation, and it reveals how a process that was once about fulfilling basic needs became focused on satisfying profit margins. It is also a story of how this system fails to feed people, especially in the creation of food deserts. Andrew Deener shows that problems with food access are the result of infrastructural failings stemming from how markets and cities were developed, how distribution systems were built, and how organizations coordinate the quality and movement of food. He profiles hundreds of people connected through the food chain, from farmers, wholesalers, and supermarket executives, to global shippers, logistics experts, and cold-storage operators, to food bank employees and public health advocates. It is a book that will change the way we see our grocery store trips and will encourage us all to rethink the way we eat in this country.

Author: Andrew Deener
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: 09/05/2020
Pages: 328
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.98lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.69d
ISBN13: 9780226703077
ISBN10: 022670307X
BISAC Categories:
- Social Science | Sociology | Urban
- Business & Economics | Industries | Food Industry
- Transportation | General

About the Author
Andrew Deener is associate professor of sociology at the University of Connecticut. He is the author of Venice: A Contested Bohemia in Los Angeles, also published by the University of Chicago Press.