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In recent years, food waste has risen to the top of the political and public agenda, yet until now there has been no scholarly analysis applied to the topic as a complement and counter-balance to campaigning and activist approaches. Using ethnographic material to explore global issues, unearths the processes that lie behind the volume of food currently wasted by households and consumers. The author demonstrates how waste arises as a consequence of households negotiating the complex and contradictory demands of everyday life, explores the reasons why surplus food ends up in the bin, and considers innovative solutions to the problem.Drawing inspiration from studies of consumption and material culture alongside social science perspectives on everyday life and the home, this lively yet scholarly book is ideal for students and researchers from a wide range of disciplines, along with anyone interested in understanding the food that we waste.>
List of contents
Acknowledgments
Prologue: The Social Life (and Death) of Food
1. Bringing Waste to the Table
2. Ordinary Domestic Practice: Conceptualizing, Researching, Representing
3. Contextualising Household Food Consumption
4. Anxiety, Routine and Over-provisioning
5. The Gap in Disposal: From Surplus to Excess?
6. Bins and Things
7. Gifting, Re-use and Salvage
Conclusion: Living with Food, Reducing Waste
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the author
David Evans is Lecturer in Sociology and Research Fellow of the Sustainable Consumption Institute at the University of Manchester, UK.
Summary
Food Waste is the first academic study to tackle this highly topical subject. Drawing from social science approaches to waste, material culture and everyday life in the home, the author uncovers the reasons behind the vast quantity of food wasted on a daily basis by households and consumers.
Report
A short, lively and very stimulating book ... [and] an excellent example of recent research practices in the field of consumption and everyday lives. Review of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Studies
