Magazine articles and self-improvement books tell us that our food choices serve as bold statements about who we are as individuals. Acquired Tastes reveals that they say more about where we come from and who we would like to be. Interviews with Canadian families in both rural and urban settings reveal that age, gender, social class, ethnicity, health concerns, food availability, and political and moral concerns shape the meanings that families attach to food. They also influence how parents and teens respond to discourses on health, beauty, and the environment, a finding with profound implications for public health campaigns.

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Jos�e Johnston works in the Department of Sociology at the University of Toronto. Her major area of research is the sociology of food and her work brings together several research threads including globalization, political ecology, consumerism, and critical theory.

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Deborah McPhail is an assistant professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences in the College of Medicine at the University of Manitoba.

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Elaine M. Power is Associate Professor in the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies at Queen’s University.

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Helen Vallianatos is an Associate Professor in Anthropology and Associate Dean in the Office of the Dean of Students, University of Alberta. Her research and teaching interests focus on food, gender, body and health issues, and the majority of her research involves collaborative, interdisciplinary work across disciplines and with various community organizations. Much of her recent research has focused on migrant mothers’ health and well-being.

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