"The Sociology of Food and Eating" provides understanding of the role of food in the contemporary world and demonstrates why the subject has emerged as a significant area of sociological research. Drawing on interdisciplinary sources, the authors explore both the empirical questions raised by the relation of food to inequality, scarcity and famine, and the broader theoretical issue of food as a fundamental item of consumption and cultural symbol. Topics examined include: the relation of food to nutrition and health, and the growth of eating disorders in contemporary societies; inequalities of consumption by class, gender, age and nation; the relation of food to the definition of private and public spheres; historical and anthropological perspectives on culinary cultures; the impact of food on colonialism and migration; changing technologies of food production and their social consequences. "The Sociology of Food and Eating" is also published as a special issue of "Current Sociology" (Volume 40, Issue 2).