Through food we both literally and metaphorically consume wilderness and digest the planet. Our diet is the environment. We feed on plants and animals, and thus our relationship to flora and fauna is evident in our culinary trends and methods. It is a narcissistic relationship in which humans nail the natural other to the wall like a full-length mirror. When we look at the image reflected back—on our platters and buffets, in our ingredients and recipes—we see our complex link to nature, to death, and to the terra firma that will eventually hold our decomposing bodies.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
CheskinL.1951. Color for profit. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
2.
CrononW.1989. The trouble with wilderness, or, getting back to the wrong nature. CallicottJ. B., NelsonM. P.The great new wilderness debate, 131–151. Washington: Island Press.
3.
ShivaV.2000. Stolen harvest: The hijacking of the global food supply. Boston: South End Press.
4.
SnyderG.2003. The practice of the wild: Essays. New York: Shoemaker & Hoard.
