Food in Painting or Animal Vegetable or Woman

Food in Painting: From the Renaissance to the Present

Author: Kenneth Bendiner

From the hearty meals being devoured by peasants on a Bruegel canvas to the lush and lifelike fruits of a trompe l'oeil, food has enjoyed a central place in painting for centuries. These two great sensory pleasures come together in the sumptuously illustrated Food in Painting. Here Kenneth Bendiner journeys from the Renaissance to the present day—through the works of artists from Rembrandt to Manet to Warhol—to make the case that, though understudied, paintings of food are so important that they should be considered a separate classification of art, a genre unto themselves.

Bendiner outlines the history of these paintings, charting changes in both meaning and presentation since the early Renaissance. The sixteenth century saw great innovations in food subjects, but, as Bendiner reveals, it was Dutch food painting of the seventeenth century that created the visual vocabulary still operative today. Alongside paintings that feature food as the central subject, he also considers topics ranging from Renaissance menus to aphrodisiacs to bottled water to the portrayal of dogs at the table—always with an eye towards how the meaning of food imagery is determined by such factors as myth, religion, and social privilege. Bendiner also treats purely symbolic portrayals of food, both as marginal elements in allegorical paintings and as multi-layered sexual references in Surrealist works.

Packed full of images of markets, kitchens, pantries, picnics, and tables groaning under the weight of glorious feasts, Food in Painting serves up a delicious helping of luxuriously painted meals certain to win a spot on the shelves of art lovers and gastronomesalike.

Go to: Paris After the Liberation 1944 1949 or The Huey P Newton Reader

Animal, Vegetable, or Woman?: A Feminist Critique of Ethical Vegetarianism

Author: Kathryn Paxton Georg

Kathryn Paxton George challenges the view held by noted philosophers Tom Regan and Peter Singer and ecofeminists Carol Adams and Deane Curtin who assume the Principle of Equality to argue that no one should eat meat or animal products. She shows how these renowned individuals also violate the Principle of Equality, because they place women, children, adolescents, the elderly, and many others in a subordinate position. She reviews the principal arguments of these major ethical thinkers, offers a detailed examination of the nutritional literature on vegetarianism, and shows how this inconsistency arises and why it recurs in every major argument for ethical vegetarianism. Included is her own view about what we should eat, which she calls "feminist aesthetic semi-vegetarianism."

Booknews

George (philosophy, U. of Idaho) challenges animal rights/vegetarian views held by philosophers, Tom Regan and Peter Singer, and by ecofeminists, Carol Adams and Deane Curtin, asserting that these thinkers do not fully consider the nutritional needs of those in other cultures and classes, and of women, children, adolescents, and the elderly. So, for example, while George and her husband have chosen vegetarianism for themselves, they do not restrict their daughter's diet, nor would they assert to anyone a moral obligation to become a vegetarian. George believes there are, nonetheless reasons, especially nutritional, to become a vegetarian and even a vegan, just not moral reasons. An intriguing book this: one written by a feminist philosopher vegetarian discounting the feminist and philosophical foundation of a practice she came to, and remains with, through feminist, vegetarian philosophy. For George, veganism is only an ideal diet under conditions of plenty, robust health, an appropriate age, and an appropriate body condition. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)