Frankenstein Was a Vegetarian

Essays on Food Choice, Identity, and Symbolism

Michael Owen Jones

• Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781496839947
• eBook ISBN: 9781496839978
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Agricultural Public Policy
• Index: Politics & International Relations

In Frankenstein Was a Vegetarian: Essays on Food Choice, Identity, and Symbolism, Michael Owen Jones tackles topics often overlooked in foodways. At the outset he notes it was Victor Frankenstein's "daemon" in Mary Shelley's novel that advocated vegetarianism, not the scientist whose name has long been attributed to his creature. Jones explains how we communicate through what we eat, the connection between food choice and who we are or want to appear to be, the ways that many of us self-medicate moods with foods, and the nature of disgust. He presents fascinating case studies of religious bigotry and political machinations triggered by rumored bans on pork, the last meal requests of prisoners about to be executed, and the Utopian vision of Percy Bysshe Shelley, one of England's greatest poets, that was based on a vegetable diet like the creature's meals in Frankenstein.Jones also scrutinizes how food is used and abused on the campaign trail, how gender issues arise when food meets politics, and how eating preferences reflect the personalities and values of politicians, one of whom was elected president and then impeached twice. Throughout the book, Jones deals with food as symbol as well as analyzes the link between food choice and multiple identities. Aesthetics, morality, and politics likewise loom large in his inquiries. In the final two chapters, Jones applies these concepts to overhauling penal policies and practices that make food part of the pains of imprisonment, and looks at transforming the counseling of diabetes patients, who number in the millions.

Table of contents

• Cover
• FRANKENSTEIN WAS A VEGETARIAN
• Title
• Copyright
• CONTENTS
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• 1. The Language of Food
• 2. Eating What You Are, Were, or Want to Be
• 3. What’s Disgusting, Why, and What Does It Matter?
• 4. “Stressed” Spelled Backward Is “Desserts”: Self-Medicating Moods with Foods
• 5. Last Meals and the Crutch of Ritual
• 6. Pork Bans Real and Rumored: Fear, Bigotry, and Lost Identity
• 7. Mary Shelley’s Nightmare and Percy Shelley’s Dream
• 8. What the Two Presidential Finalists Ate in 2016, and Why It’s Important
• 9. Gaffes, Gibes, and Gender on the Campaign Trail
• 10. Must Prison Food Sicken Bodies and Minds?
• 11. What Diabetes Counseling Overlooks
• Notes
• Selected Bibliography
• ABOUT THE AUTHOR