Book Review: Negotiating Opportunities: How Middle Class Secures Advantages in School

Because Animal, Vegetable, Junk also focuses on how the consumption of food has changed with the rise of food as brands and the way marketing and food providers ranging from grocery stores to fast food restaurants guide our food choices, I think it could also be useful in a Sociology of Consumption class that engages with food as a consumer good. It would also be useful to Environmental Sociology instructors who want to incorporate more about the environmental cost of the food system into their classes. Animal, Vegetable, Junk could also be used as a text in an Introduction to Sociology course. Because food is so deeply connected with so many different social institutions and a marker of group identity and personal values, it can offer a unique opportunity for educators wishing to engage with students on a level they can find relatable. Because so much of Bittman’s work is centered on questioning some of the long-held ideas about human “progress,” reading this book early in their college career (perhaps alongside those typically assigned in Western Civilizations courses) could provide a critical view that could be beneficial to students in their education. Some activities that could be paired with this work include Lewis’s (2010) “Memorable Meal Assignment” that asks students to reflect on and discuss a meal that stands out in their memory. I have done similar activities in Food & Society as an icebreaker early in the semester and found that it can serve the dual purpose of (1) getting students to open up and see the similarities and differences across their food experiences and (2) acclimating students to the process of looking at food, and food experiences, as something to be critically analyzed. Instructors can even ask students to trace the origins of these memorable meals to uncover how they intersect with some of the historical material from Animal, Vegetable, Junk. Another excellent option comes from Kathryn Reynolds (2020) and their activity on food deserts in the United States. This activity pairs class readings with United States Department of Agriculture data analysis, and students are asked to examine the location and demographics of food deserts. Because Bittman argues in Animal, Vegetable, Junk that food shortages and insecurities are created and not natural phenomena, pairing his work with Reynolds’s activity can help illustrate how food deserts are manufactured through political and economic choices of those in power. The resulting discussions could lead into debates over whether the term food desert is even the accurate term for these conditions and, as some advocates and scholars are suggesting, whether food apartheid may be a more apt description for what is happening, particularly in racial-ethnic minority neighborhoods (Brones 2018; Sbicca 2012). The author has also started a podcast called Food with Mark Bittman, which could serve as a fruitful companion piece to this book. Students could use material from the book as useful context for the podcast’s discussions of current events influencing the food system. In conclusion, I believe Bittman’s book can be a strong addition to courses that apply a sociological focus to the study of food. Its breadth and depth can help fulfill a gap for instructors who want their students to know more about the many inequalities plaguing the food system. Students who read the work would themselves question much of what they’ve learned about food so far and, hopefully, think more about what food goes on their plate.