Consumption, Markets and Culture, Vol. 8, No. 1, March 2005, pp. 1–5 ISSN 1025–3866 (print)/ISSN 1477–223X (online) © 2005 Taylor & Francis Group Ltd DOI: 10.1080/10253860500068895 Guest editors’ introduction Food, Markets & Culture: The Representation of Food in Everyday Life Pierre McDonagh & Andrea Prothero Taylor and Francis Ltd GCMC106872.sgm 10.1080/10253860500068895 Consumption, Markets and Culture 1025-3866 (print)/1477-223X (online) Original Article 2005 Taylor & Francis Group Ltd 8 1 000000March 2005 PierreMcDonagh Faculty of BusinessDublin Institute of TechnologyAungier StreetDublin 2Republic of Ireland pierre.mcdonagh@dit.ie Fast food, slow food, convenience food, genetically modified food, organic food, ethnic food, traditional food, carb-free food, additive and preservative free food, low calorie food, vegetarian food, halal food; the list is endless; food, and our study of it in the twenty-first century is filled with paradoxes, confusion, and dilemmas. Indeed food is now part of what has been called risk society, the production and consumption of risks, as well as wealth and/or health. This is evidenced with global problems of obesity in adult and young populations in the West (Critser 2003; Ruppel Shell 2003; Schlosser 2002); indeed the United Nations has cited obesity as one of the world’s biggest problems to be faced in the twenty-first century. Ironically, at the same time the UN also stresses that the other major health issue facing the world is malnutrition and under nutrition, thus highlighting the paradoxes surrounding food consumption in modern times. Our newspapers and popular magazines are filled with news stories surrounding food consumption; be it a focus on anorexia nervosa; stories of the illness new variant CJD, directly linked to the consumption of diseased cows; or discussions of the latest celebrity to try the Atkins Diet; food as we know it is big news. Today there is widespread angst about what food to consume, how best to consume it; if you have the luxury to chose what to eat on a regular basis, which, as the example above illustrates clearly doesn’t apply to everyone in the world; and how to display this consumption to the outside world. What was once simple is now complex and food through all of this is celebrated, ritualised, speeded up, slowed down or more recently berated. For those of us who follow the book, the cookbook that is, we have reached a stage where food, and everything that goes along with its consumption, has been Correspondence to: Pierre McDonagh, Faculty of Business, Dublin Institute of Technology, Aungier Street, Dublin 2, Republic of Ireland; Email: pierre.mcdonagh@dit.ie; Andrea Prothero, Department of Marketing, Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business, University College Dublin, Carysfort Avenue, County Dublin, Republic of Ireland; Email: andrea.prothero@ucd.ie