What is food anthropology?

When I tell people I am studying the anthropology of food, I am usually met with a blank expression. Some people are game to ask what that means, a question I find difficult to answer even now, a year and a half into my course.

I generally start by saying “Well anthropology, very generally, is the study of human culture and society. Food anthropology is about that, but the focus is always food related.” This, it turns out, is not very helpful. Expressions have changed from blank to baffled. 

The main thing I find difficult to convey is the breadth of the topics covered. People often assume that the subject is largely historical and that it namely deals with the exotic. I'm not sure where the first idea comes from, but the second is hardly surprising. Anthropology is a discipline with its roots in Western colonialism, and for much of its development the focus was on ‘other’ cultures. 

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