Cover: Food Matters, 4th Edition by Holly Bauer

Food Matters

Fourth  Edition©2025  Holly Bauer

About

An appetizing topic for serious inquiry — at an affordable price. What could be more interesting to read and write about than food? Readings from scientists, journalists, farmers, activists, essayists, ordinary citizens, and others take up issues on the purpose of food, our food infrastructure, eating ethically during a climate crisis, food justice, and the future of food in Food Matters. With this text, you will examine food from a diverse range of perspectives and learn to write effectively about them.

Table of Contents

[[New selections are marked with an asterisk]]

 

About The Bedford Spotlight Reader Series

Preface for Instructors

Contents by Discipline

Contents by Theme

Contents by Rhetorical Purpose

 

Chapter 1: What Is the Purpose of Food?

Michael Pollan, Eat Food: Food Defined

Eric Schlosser, Why the Fries Taste Good

Jill McCorkle, Her Chee-to Heart

Marion Nestle, Eating Made Simple

Wendell Berry, The Pleasures of Eating

Lily Wong, Eating the Hyphen

*Samin Nosrat, Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat

 

Chapter 2: What Forces Affect Our Food Choices?

United States Government, Nutritional Guidelines 

Dhruv Khullar, Why Shame Won’t Stop Obesity

Joe Pinsker, Why So Many Rich Kids Come to Enjoy the Taste of Healthier Foods

Barry Yeoman, The Hidden Resilience of “Food Desert” Neighborhoods

Taffy Brodresser-Akner, Why I’ve Never Learned How to Cook

Stephen Satterfield, I’m a Black Food Writer. Here’s Why We Need More Like Me

Thich Nhat Hanh and Lilian Cheung, Are You Really Appreciating the Apple?

*U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Dietary Intakes Compared to Recommendations: Percent of the U.S. Population Ages 1 and Older Who Are Below and At or Above Each Dietary Goal

*David Freedman, Science Says Everything You Know about Food, Diet, and Drugs Is Wrong

 

Chapter 3: What Does It Mean to Eat Ethically on a Changing Planet?

Barbara Kingsolver, You Can’t Run Away on Harvest Day

Bill McKibben, The Only Way to Have a Cow

Donald L. Bartlett and James B. Steele, Monsanto’s Harvest of Fear

Yuval Noah Harari, Industrial Farming Is One of the Worst Crimes in History

Blake Hurst, The Omnivore’s Delusion: Against the Agri-intellectuals

Jonathan A. Foley, Can We Feed the World and Sustain the Planet?

Georgina Gustin,  Can a Climate Conscious Diet Include Meat or Dairy?

Bren Smith, The Least Deadly Catch: Ocean Farming in the Climate Change Era

*Katherine Wu, The Sriracha Shortage Is a Very Bad Sign

 

Chapter 4: What Is the Importance of Food Justice?

*Ligaya Mishan, The Activists Working to Remake the Food System

Richard Marosi, Hardship on Mexico’s Farms, a Bounty for U.S. Tables

*Bennet Goldstein, Queering the Family Farm: Meet the LGBTQ Midwest Farmers Taking Food Justice Into Their Own Hands

*Katelyn Yee, Black-led Food Co-ops Restore Justice Hope, and Power

*Psyche Williams-Forson, In “Trouble” With(out) Culture: Food Shaming and African-American Foodways

*Leilani Marie Labong, Envisioning Indigenous Food Sovereignty as “a Whole Ecosystem”

*S.E. Smith, Disabled People Carry Bigger Food Access Burdens

*Lela Nargi, Hungry Seniors Need More Than Just Access to Food

 

Chapter 5: What Is the Future of Food?

Joon Yun, David Kessler, and Dan Glickman, We Need Better Answers on Nutrition

Frances Moore Lappé, Biotechnology Isn’t the Key to Feeding the World

Selina Wang, The Future of Farming is Looking Up

David Biello, Will Organic Food Fail to Feed the World?

*Bob Brody, Why I Eat Smarter Now That I’m Older

*Jamaal Lemon, Come Hell or High Water - Oysters, Brewing, and How the Come Yahs & Bin Yahs Could End Sea Level Rise in Charleston

*Alex Beggs, What Dinner Will Look Like in the Next 100 Years, According to Scientists (and Sci-Fi Authors)

*Chidinma Iwu, What Nigeria Can Teach the U.S. About Food Insecurity

*Chad Frischmann and Mamta Mehra, Massively Reducing Food Waste Could Feed the World 

Holly Bauer

Holly Bauer (PhD University of California, San Diego) worked as a journalist before she began teaching college composition. Currently, she teaches academic writing at the University of California, San Diego, where she has received distinguished teaching and service awards as the Associate Director of the Analytical Writing Program. Dr. Bauer regularly teaches writing courses focused on the themes of food, water, and sustainability. She has taught writing for more than 20 years in various segments of public education in California, including high school, community college, and state university institutions. She is a long-time teaching consultant for the San Diego Area Writing Project and is involved in several programs aimed at fostering meaningful cross-institutional partnerships with high school, community college, and university writing instructors. Her academic essays have been published in South Atlantic Quarterly and Writing on the Edge, and she is a frequent presenter at professional conferences.