Cheap Meat: Flap Food Nations in the Pacific Islands / Edition 1

by Deborah Gewertz, Frederick Errington

Overview

Cheap Meat follows the controversial trade in inexpensive fatty cuts of lamb or mutton, called “flaps,” from the farms of New Zealand and Australia to their primary markets in the Pacific islands of Papua New Guinea, Tonga, and Fiji. Deborah Gewertz and Frederick Errington address the evolution of the meat trade itself along with the changing practices of exchange in Papua New Guinea. They show that flaps—which are taken from the animals’ bellies and are often 50 percent fat—are not mere market transactions but evidence of the social nature of nutrition policies, illustrating and reinforcing Pacific Islanders’ presumed second-class status relative to the white populations of Australia and New Zealand.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520260931
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	02/08/2010
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Deborah Gewertz is G. Henry Whitcomb 1874 Professor of Anthropology and Chair of the Department of Anthropology and Sociology at Amherst College. Frederick Errington is Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut. Among their many books are Emerging Class in Papua New Guinea: The Telling of Difference and Yali's Question: Sugar, Culture, and History.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction - What's Not on Our Plates

1. Thinking about Meat
2. Making Flaps
3. Trading Meat
4. Papua New Guinea's Flaps
5. Smiles and Shrugs, Worried Eyes and Sighs
6. Pacific Island Flaps

Conclusion - One Supersize Does Not Fit All: Flap Versus Mac
Notes
References
Index

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Could easily become a food studies classic. . . . A compelling and informative read."—Material World

"Valuable book for a range of academic interests including human rights, photography and journalism, and the history of South Africa and apartheid."—Times Higher Education

"A fascinating study about a distasteful topic."—Pacific Affairs

"An engaging narrative. . . . Will be of interest to a broad audience."—American Journal of Human Biology

Editorial Reviews

A fascinating study about a distasteful topic.

Pacific Affairs - Eric K. Silverman

Valuable book for a range of academic interests including human rights, photography and journalism, and the history of South Africa and apartheid.

Times Higher Education - Paul Lowe

Could easily become a food studies classic. . . . A compelling and informative read.

Material World

An engaging narrative. . . . Will be of interest to a broad audience.

Geoffrey C. Marksn Journal Of Human Biology

“An engaging narrative. . . . Will be of interest to a broad audience.

American Journal Of Human Biology - Geoffrey C. Marks

"Could easily become a food studies classic. . . . A compelling and informative read."—Material World

"Valuable book for a range of academic interests including human rights, photography and journalism, and the history of South Africa and apartheid."—Times Higher Education

"A fascinating study about a distasteful topic."—Pacific Affairs

"An engaging narrative. . . . Will be of interest to a broad audience."—American Journal of Human Biology

From the Publisher