Meals to Come: A History of the Future of Food

The ways in which ""the future of food"" has been addressed in the past are myriad, as detailed by University of Maryland American Studies professor Belasco. In this heavily annotated study, Belasco (Appetite for Change: How the Counterculture Took on the Food Industry) focuses on ""a long-standing romantic fascination with extravagant technology alongside a rich tradition of skepticism and alarm."" Part one, ""Debating the Future of Food,"" explores how questions of food security and supply have been framed and discussed over the centuries, with a focus on the recent past. Part two, ""Imagining the Future of Food"" is subtitled ""Speculative Fiction,"" and covers food utopias and dystopias-or idealizations and nightmare scenarios for how and what people will eat. Part three, ""Things To Come"" is subtitled ""Three Cornucopian Futures."" It details ""material assertions of optimism as found in world's fairs, restaurants, stores and kitchens-as well as in upbeat feature stories that function largely to sell the cornucopian future"" and covers most of the 20th century. A postscript covers the future as currently envisioned. The discussion is smart and comprehensive, but dense. With 24 b/w photos.