Food Instagram: Identity, Influence & Negotiation Edited by Emily J.H. Contois & Zenia Kish

2023 BOOK AWARD WINNER

Association for the Study of Food & Society Edited Collection

“not just the first proper book on food and Instagram, it’s actually one of the first proper books on Instagram” —Michelle Phillipov

“deliciously engrossing collection” —Tama Leaver

“a great contribution to the current literature” —Deborah Lupton

Order from: UI Press | Amazon | Bookshop

Image by image and hashtag by hashtag, Instagram has redefined the ways we relate to food. Emily J. H. Contois and Zenia Kish edit contributions that explore the massively popular social media platform as a space for self-identification, influence, transformation, and resistance. Artists and journalists join a wide range of scholars to look at food’s connection to Instagram from vantage points as diverse as Hong Kong’s camera-centric foodie culture, the platform’s long history with feminist eateries, and the photography of Australia’s livestock producers. What emerges is a portrait of an arena where people do more than build identities and influence. Users negotiate cultural, social, and economic practices in a place that, for all its democratic potential, reinforces entrenched dynamics of power.

Interdisciplinary in approach and transnational in scope, Food Instagram offers general readers and experts alike new perspectives on an important social media space and its impact on a fundamental area of our lives.

Editors

Emily J.H. Contois is Assistant Professor of Media Studies at The University of Tulsa. She is the author of Diners, Dudes, and Diets: How Gender and Power Collide in Food Media and Culture (University of North Carolina Press, 2020). Her writing has been published in academic journals (such as Feminist Media Studies, American Studies, Advertising & Society Quarterly, and Gastronomica) and in public outlets, including Jezebel, NBC News, and Nursing Clio.

Zenia Kish is Assistant Professor of Media Studies and Associate Director of the Oklahoma Center of the Humanities at the University of Tulsa. Her work explores digital agriculture, food media, and philanthropy. She is writing a book on philanthrocapitalist media culture. She is co-editor and contributor to a forthcoming special issue of New Media & Society on farm media, and serves as Associate Editor of the Journal of Cultural Economy.

Contributors

Laurence Allard, Joceline Andersen, Emily Buddle, Robin Caldwell, Emily J. H. Contois, Sarah E. Cramer, Gaby David, Deborah A. Harris, KC Hysmith, Alex Ketchum, Katherine Kirkwood, Zenia Kish, Stinne Gunder Strøm Krogager, Jonathan Leer, Yue-Chiu Bonni Leung, Yi-Chieh Jessica Lin, Michael Z. Newman, Tsugumi Okabe, Rachel Phillips, Sarah Garcia Santamaria, Tara J. Schuwerk, Sarah E. Tracy, Emily Truman, Dawn Woolley, and Zara Worth

Read & Download the Introduction

Watch Virtual Book Launch

Media Mentions & Other Coverage

• “Ten and One Slow Reading Tips for the New Year,” Slow Food International, December 22, 2022.
• Watch: Boston University Fall 2022 Pépin Lecture Series in Food Studies & Gastronomy, September
• Nieman Lab, Jessica Maddox, “The Pink Sauce Debacle Is the Logical Next Step of the Instagrammable Movement,” August 4, 2022.
• CaMP: Communication, Media, and Performance blog, “Emily Contois and Zenia Kish Discuss Their Edited Volume, Food Instagram,” June 8, 2022.
• Thrillist, Jessica Sulima, “This New Book Will Change the Way You Look at Food on Instagram,” June 1, 2022.
• University of Illinois Press Blog, “Q&A with Emily J. H. Contois and Zenia Kish, editors of Food Instagram,” May 31, 2022.
• The Information, Flora Tsapovsky, “Oozing, Dripping, Melting, Stretching: The Art and Science Behind TikTok’s Viral Food Videos,” February 4, 2022.

Podcast & Radio Interviews

• Life Matters on ABC, Australia, June 20, 2023.
• Historians at the Movies (HATM) Podcast, December 7, 2022.
• New Books Network, Sociology, November 10, 2022.
• Studio Tulsa, Public Radio Tulsa, September 2, 2022.
• Good Food with host Evan Kleiman, KCRW, August 20, 2022.
• Aca-Media, “Episode 64: An Obsession with Hummus (Food Instagram),” August 11, 2022.
• New Books Network, Food, June 22, 2022.

Wondering how to pronounce the editors’ names?

No worries! Emily’s last name follows the French pronunciation “con-TWAH,” while Zenia’s first name is pronounced “ZEN-yuh” (rhymes with Kenya, the country) and her last name is pronounced “keesh,” like the food, quiche!

To Schedule Interviews, Talks, or Other Events Contact:

• emily-contois {at} utulsa {dot} edu or zenia-kish {at} utulsa {dot} edu