Food as Communication: Communication as Food

The title of the posting is the working title of a book coming out in early 2011 from Peter Lang Publishers.  It is a scholarly tome on food and the ways we use it for more than just sustenance.  I am humbled to note that I will have a chapter in the book.  The chapter is about the lowly pre-roasted chicken we all occasionally buy at the supermarket when we are pressed for time.  It's not hard to find recipes from master chefs that tell you what to do to dress up those roasted chickens and make them yours, kind of like adding an egg to a packaged cake mix so you feel like you're really cooking.  The chapter wonders out loud what's really going on there when something that looks like traditional home cooking can be purchased at the counter driving home from work.