Vol. 2 No. 1 (2015): Knowing and Growing

What do we mean by "food studies"? Is it a distinct field or not, and what might it encompass? This issue starts, poignantly, with a commentary that summarizes some intense deliberations on these questions at the 2014 meeting of the Canadian Association for Food Studies. The authors conclude by suggesting that “food studies scholars and practitioners...traverse not just disciplinary boundaries, but epistemological boundaries.” This entails more than different methodologies, as they point out, but may open up a broader typological range of research questions, examine how food can serve as a catalyst for exploring new issues, and expand the possibilities of where, or to whom, researchers can turn as a source of learning. (photo: David Szanto)