“How the Other Half Eats: the Untold Story of Food and Inequality in America”

Priya Fielding-Singh

Dr. Priya Fielding-Singh an Assistant Professor at the University of Utah and is the author of How the Other Half Eats: the Untold Story of Food and Inequality in America. Dr. Fielding-Singh’s research is focused on identifying mechanisms underlying the reproduction of health inequities in America. She brings a sociological lens to examining the structural and social determinants of nutritional inequality, and disparities in diet and diet-related disease across race and class.

Inequality in America manifests in many ways, but perhaps nowhere more than in how we eat. In this virtual presentation, sociologist and ethnographer Priya Fielding-Singh draws on her years of field research to bring us into the kitchens of dozens of families to explore how—and why—we eat the way we do. At the heart of Fielding-Singh’s talk will be covering her powerful and timely new book, How the Other Half Eats: the Untold Story of Food and Inequality in America. The book unpacks nutritional inequality in America through an examination of class, race and health, intimately following four families across the income spectrum in an exploration of the meaning of food itself. By diving into the nuances of these families’ lives, Fielding-Singh lays bare the limits of efforts narrowly focused on improving families’ diets through increasing their access to healthy food. Instead, she reveals how being rich or poor in America impacts something even more fundamental than the food families can afford: these experiences impact the very meaning of food itself.

Food Literacy for All is a community-academic partnership course based at the University of Michigan. Structured as an evening lecture series, Food Literacy for All features different guest speakers each week to address challenges and opportunities of diverse food systems. Food Literacy for All is free and open to the public.

The winter 2022 course begins on Tuesday evening, January 11, 2022. If you have questions, please contact [email protected] or find more information here: https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/sustainablefoodsystems/foodliteracyforall

Speaker schedule:

Feb 1 Fatima Stanford
“The Role of Weight Bias on Health Outcomes”

Feb 8 Marcus Coleman and Angela Chalk
“Beginning Farmers, Climate Change, and Feeding Community”

Feb 15 Priya Fielding-Singh
“How the Other Half Eats: the Untold Story of Food and Inequality in America”

Feb 22 Hi’ilei Hobart
“What Shave Ice Teaches us About Refreshment, Race, Colonialism, and Body Politics”

Mar 8 Deanna Belleny
“Cultivating a Food System Grounded in Equity: The Role of Healthcare and Healthcare Providers”

Mar 15 Ashanté Reese and Malik Yakini
“Where Food Justice Theory Meets Practice: Challenges and Opportunities for the Future of Food”

Mar 22 Savala Nolan
“Why Fatphobia? Understanding the Roots and Uses of Anti-fat Bias”

Mar 29 Alita Kelly, Jason Bang, Raphael Wright
“Small Grocer Panel: Supplying Kimchi and Collards during a Global Pandemic”

Apr 5 Anthony Hatch
“Metabolism Cages for New World Animals, Large and Small”

Apr 12 Fast Food for Thought
10 interdisciplinary UM faculty members will give a series of fast-paced talks (5 min each) related to food and/or agriculture

Apr 19 Final Class

Food Literacy for All is hosted by the UM Sustainable Food Systems Initiative. The 2022 course is supported by the CEW+ Frances and Sydney Lewis Visiting Leaders Fund, the Residential College, the School of Public Health’s Department of Nutritional Sciences, the Taubman Institute, the Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation, the Department of American Culture, and the Department of Anthropology.