It is virtually impossible to isolate food from the social, economic, and political structures of a human group. Food is an important element in any society, determining many aspects of production, distribution and consumption, and providing fundamental institutions and customs. Parasecoli analyzes what food & eating means to the characters & societies in these sci-fi works.įood has played a relevant - even if sometimes almost invisible - role in many sci-fi works. The works he looks at include Orwell’s 1984 and the movie Demolition Man. In the chapter Tasty Utopias, Parasecoli discusses food and politics in science fiction books and movies. Parasecoli obviously put a good deal of research into the book. It read like an advanced college text book with lots of works cited and a large bibliography. In the end (ha), “Bite Me” was a little too academic for my taste.

Yes folks, I am reading a book, with a big naked butt on the cover. I mean come on, this is a cover that got me lots of second looks as I read it on the train. I was expecting something along the lines of Kitchen Confidential, Fast Food Nation, or Candyfreak- an engaging expose on how food influences and is influenced by pop culture. Okay, honestly, with a title like “Bite Me: Food in Popular Culture” and a cover that is a bit suggestive with a close-up picture of the cleft of a peach/nectarine, I was at the very least expecting a book that was readable and fun.

Bite Me by Fabio Parasecoli