“An important contribution to the growing ethnographic literature on cooking and social life, Graf’s Food and Families in the Making stands out for its careful analysis and evocation of the senses (beyond just five), and for its well-developed autoethnography of learning cooking. A must-read for those interested in the social production of taste and in the most up-to-date approaches to sensory ethnography.” • David Sutton Southern Illinois University
“Though the idea for the book looks simple at first, the message is complex and incredibly important… (it) contributes to many fields of study – women's studies, North African studies, ethnography and autoethnography, but also political economy of neoliberal regimes in the Global South.” • Katja Žvan Elliott, Slovene Ministry of Foreign Affairs
“I loved it. I really enjoyed reading it. In terms of books about food, I think the author gives one of the best accounts of learning with your body; learning gradually; learning through failing.” • Anne Meneley, Trent University
Even in the context of rapid material and social change in urban Morocco, women, and especially those from low-income households, continue to invest a lot of work in preparing good food for their families. Through the lens of domestic food preparation, this book looks at knowledge reproduction, how we know cooking and its role in the making of everyday family life. It also examines a political economy of cooking that situates Marrakchi women’s lived experiences in the broader context of persisting poverty and food insecurity in Morocco.
Katharina Graf is a research fellow at the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and European Ethnology at Goethe University Frankfurt in Germany.
BISAC: SOC002010 SOCIAL SCIENCE/Anthropology/Cultural & Social; CKB001000 COOKING/Regional & Ethnic/African; SOC055000 SOCIAL SCIENCE/Agriculture & Food
