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How the Other Half Eats
Book

How the Other Half Eats

The Untold Story of Food and Inequality in America

Priya Fielding-Singh PhD
Little, Brown Spark, 2021

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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Eye Opening
  • Concrete Examples
  • Engaging

Recommendation

Mothers overwhelmingly take the blame for their children’s health and diet. What does that mean for mothers without the resources to buy the right foods versus the mothers who can buy healthful food but never feel their choices are good enough? Sociologist Priya Fielding-Singh interviewed four San Francisco Bay families from different backgrounds to find out how and why people eat as they do. Her research shows that Americans’ dietary choices have little to do with personal discipline and, instead, mainly involve family budgets and societal pressures. Personal desires – whether to be a perfect mom or to alleviate the weight of poverty – shape how Americans eat.

Take-Aways

  • Current assumptions about eating misunderstand dietary choices in America.
  • Societal pressure to be a “good mom” dictates family dietary choices.
  • The food industry pushes junk food to ease mothers' guilt.

About the Author

Priya Fielding-Singh is a sociologist at the Stanford University. She studies the societal factors that determine people’s health.

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