The purpose of this article is to examine the role of homemade food in the
construction of family identity. The article examines how homemade, its interface
with markets’ competing food offerings, and intergenerational perspectives
on homemade can cast light on competing understandings of the family, social
relationships, and the market. Using two empirical studies conducted in a Midwestern
cultural setting, findings highlight the importance of family meanings of homemade
food, the role of homemade food in demarcating the realms of the family and market,
the influence of producer-consumer relationships on threats posed by the market to a
coherent family identity, and the qualitative changes in the social reproduction of
family identities that result from divergences in homemade food meanings and
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