Real Food, Real Facts

"In this brilliant book, Charlotte Biltekoff deftly examines unexplored dimensions of the food wars, including the deployment of science to defend processed food, as if science is free of social context and cultural values. In effect Biltekoff asks for more nuanced thinking about science as the ultimate arbiter of fundamentally political decisions--a difficult but necessary challenge in a 'post-truth' world."--Julie Guthman, author of The Problem with Solutions "Real Food, Real Facts clearly highlights the centrality of scientism and deficit thinking in contemporary food policy, showing how this approach is a form of antipolitics that excludes key issues from the realm of legitimate political debate."--Saul Halfon, Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Science, Technology, and Society, Virginia Tech "This deeply researched and important book illuminates how trust in science informs trust in the industrial food system. Biltekoff's analysis is critical reading for scholars, consumers, and food industry professionals alike."--Anna Zeide, author of Canned: The Rise and Fall of Consumer Confidence in the American Food Industry "Why do the food industry and the public seem to be speaking different languages about the American industrial food system? Biltekoff provides a clear-eyed explanation of food fights between food industry professionals--who assume that if only the public understood the science they would enthusiastically embrace processed foods--and a public wanting something different, including a more transparent food system and a voice in making it. In lucid, accessible prose, Biltekoff employs the frames of Real Facts and Real Food to understand the twenty-first-century landscape of American food."--Amy Bentley, Professor of Food Studies, New York University