Food and Politics

June 6, 2008

Barry Glassner of the USC College is an expert on food in American culture. He can talk about the symbolism behind candidates’ public eating habits, and answer questions like:

What are politicians used to eating in fancy D.C. restaurants doing gulping down hot dogs at state fairs?

What was Hillary Clinton saying when she drank a shot and a beer among Pennsylvania blue-collar workers?

What does “common” food mean in the public consciousness?

The elder President Bush disliked broccoli. President Bill Clinton was fond of fast food. The younger President Bush is a teetotaler. Why do Americans care about such things?

Why do people’s eyes glaze over when politicians talk about nutrition, but light up when they take a bite of a regional specialty?

Glassner, USC executive vice provost, is the author of The Gospel of Food: Everything You Think You Know About Food is Wrong and an expert on the cultural worship and demonization of foods. He is a professor of sociology in the USC College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and holds the Myron and Marian Casden Directorship of the Casden Institute for the Study of the Jewish Role in American Life.
Contact him at (213) 740-2101 or glassne@usc.edu.