Review of Ultra-processed people: Why we can’t stop eating food that isn’t food

Authors

  • Jennifer Sumner University of Toronto

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15353/cfs-rcea.v11i1.684

Keywords:

ultra-processed foods, obesity, food system change

Abstract

Given the ubiquity of UPF, this book fills a vital gap in our knowledge. Thankfully, it is easy to read, combining research and interviews with personal anecdotes and amusing glimpses of van Tulleken family life. For those of us involved in food studies, the book adds an extra layer of urgency: van Tulleken proposes that UPF destroys the meaning of food—it becomes a technical substance without cultural or historical meaning. To avoid this outcome, let alone the millions of early deaths caused by poor diets that are increasingly made up of UPF, we need to better understand ultra-processed food and work to change the food system that allows these substances to flourish.

Author Biography

Jennifer Sumner, University of Toronto

Jennifer Sumner teaches in the Adult Education and Community Development Program of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. Her research interests include food studies, sustainable food systems, and the political economy of food, as well as globalization, sustainability, and organic agriculture. She is the author of the book Sustainability and the Civil Commons: Rural Communities in the Age of Globalization (University of Toronto Press 2005/2007), co-editor of Critical Perspectives in Food Studies (Oxford University Press 2012/2016), and editor of Learning, Food and Sustainability: Sites for Resistance and Change (Palgrave Macmillan 2016).

Black outline of a burger over a swath of brown, green and red stripes suggesting the burger fillings.

Downloads

Published

2024-03-29

How to Cite

Sumner, J. (2024). Review of Ultra-processed people: Why we can’t stop eating food that isn’t food. Canadian Food Studies La Revue Canadienne Des études Sur l’alimentation, 11(1), 240–242. https://doi.org/10.15353/cfs-rcea.v11i1.684

Issue

Vol. 11 No. 1 (2024): Introducing meat studies

Section

Book/Art/Event Reviews

License

Copyright (c) 2024 Jennifer Sumner

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms: Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal. Work published in CFS/RCÉA prior to and including Vol. 8, No. 3 (2021) is licensed under the Creative Commons CC BY license. Work published in Vol. 8, No. 4 (2021) and after is licensed under the Creative Commons CC BY-SA license. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work. (See more on Open Access.)