Racial Perspectives in the Local Food Movement:
An Analysis of Food Justice Discourse in Cookbooks
This paper explores the relationship between cookbook authors and their perspectives on food justice, race relations and the local food movement. The guiding questions of my research were: What narratives are left out of the mainstream local food movement? How is food justice discourse used in cookbooks? How does race impact cookbook organization and purpose? In what ways does the black food movement seek to dismantle the exclusionary aspects of the local food movement? Through in depth discourse analysis of four different cookbooks, I concluded that African-American cookbook authors utilize cookbooks to disperse historical and cultural practices and recipes as well as to promote sustainable and healthy cooking and eating habits in African-American communities.
