Food and Femininity

Over the space of a few generations, women's relationship with food has changed dramatically. Yet – despite significant advances in gender equality – food and femininity remain closely connected in the public imagination as well as the emotional lives of women. While women encounter food-related pressures and pleasures as individuals, the social challenge to perform food femininities remains: as the nurturing mother, the talented home cook, the conscientious consumer, the svelte and health-savvy eater.

In Food and Femininity, Kate Cairns and Josée Johnston explore these complex and often emotionally-charged tensions to demonstrate that food is essential to the understanding of femininity today. Drawing on extensive qualitative research in Toronto, they present the voices of over 100 food-oriented men and women from a range of race and class backgrounds. Their research reveals gendered expectations to purchase, prepare, and enjoy food within the context of time crunches, budget restrictions, political commitments, and the pressure to manage health and body weight. The book analyses how women navigate multiple aspects of foodwork for themselves and others, from planning meals, grocery shopping, and feeding children, to navigating conflicting preferences, nutritional and ethical advice, and the often-inequitable division of household labour. What emerges is a world in which women's choices continue to be closely scrutinized – a world where 'failing' at food is still perceived as a failure of femininity.

A compelling rethink of contemporary femininity, this is an indispensable read for anyone interested in the sociology of food, gender studies and consumer culture.

“Women do not all react to foodwork in the same uniform manner. Food and Femininity therefore offers a useful exploration of food and the construction of femininities, and demonstrates how food itself can be used as a means by which social inequalities can be uncovered.” -LSE Review of Books

“Food and Femininity helps us to further understand why women invest so much energy in foodwork … [and] reminds us that the pressures surrounding food are immense for women – not just in terms of foodwork but in terms of the implications for their own weight management and the nearly universal goal of thinness.” – Charlotte N. Markey, Psychology Today

“In this way, Cairns and Johnston’s book is sure to be of interest to a wide range of academics–critical geographers, anthropologists, and sociologists alike–not merely those who have a distinguished taste for food research.” – Michael Chrobok, Antipode

“…Food and Femininity is a highly readable and informative text that offers an up-to-date, contemporary analysis of the longstanding discussion of the relationship between femininity and food … The book is a valuable addition to the burgeoning field of feminist food studies, particularly because Cairns and Johnston incorporate intersectional analysis throughout the text, being careful to examine the ways in which gender intersects with race/ethnicity and class to shape women’s experiences with food. More than this, Food and Femininity adds to the development of a collective feminist food politics.” –Food, Culture and Society