BOOK REVIEW:
'Eating Between the Lines: Food & Equality in Australia' - Rebecca Huntley
'Eating Between the Lines: Food & Equality in Australia' - Rebecca Huntley
This is an easy-to-read, down-to-earth book about how food and eating habits reflect issues of equality in Australia. Rebecca Huntley explores groups of Australian people varying from single and two parent families, Indigenous Australians, recently arrived migrants, singles and couples to the rich and poor. She examines issues of childhood obesity, food media and the rise of celebrity chefs, over consumption of processed foods, gender roles and native cooking in a unique and refreshing way to show us how time, space and money affect our ability to take care of our health. Are fat people and parents of fat kids to blame for their own health? Are men pulling their weight in the kitchen? What role does class, race, gender and ethnicity play in our food decisions? At a time of economic prosperity in Australia, poverty is on the rise and highest among migrants, aboriginals, single parent families and the unemployed - the same groups suffering the most from diet related illnesses. Huntley shows us how food reflects not only our values, identities and social trends but also the growing polarisation of Australian society. She argues that if everyone is to be adequately nourished - regardless of class, race or sex - then inequality in our food culture must certainly be addressed. This is a great book and a useful insight into the contrasts of Australian life told through a very different tour of food.
