Food Discourse of Celebrity Chefs of Food Network

by Kelsi Matwick, Keri Matwick

Overview

Food Discourse explores a fascinating, yet virtually unexplored research area: the language of food used on television cooking shows. It shows how the discourse of television cooking shows on the American television channel Food Network conveys a pseudo-relationship between the celebrity chef host and viewers. Excerpts are drawn from a variety of cooking show genres (how-to, travel, reality, talk, competition), providing the data for this qualitative investigation. Richly interdisciplinary, the study draws upon discourse analysis, narrative, social semiotics, and media communication in order to analyze four key linguistic features – recipe telling, storytelling, evaluations, and humor – in connection with the themes of performance, authenticity, and expertise, essential components in the making of celebrity chefs.

Given its scope, the book will be of interest to scholars of linguistics, media communication, and American popular culture. Further, in light of the international reach and influence of American television and celebrity chefs, it has a global appeal.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783030314323
Publisher:	Springer International Publishing
Publication date:	12/02/2019
Edition description:	1st ed. 2019
Pages:	195
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.27(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

Kelsi Matwick, Ph.D., has taught at the University of Florida since 2010, teaching on writing, communication, and food, media, and culture. Her research expertise lies in the fields of media discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, and celebrity studies.

Keri Matwick, Ph.D., is a Lecturer at the Language and Communication Centre at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. A food media studies scholar and sociolinguist, her research interests are in multimodal discourse analysis, food and language, and narrative.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. Introduction: Food Discourse and Celebrity Chefs.- Chapter 2. Multimodal Recipe Telling on Cooking Shows.- Chapter 3. Storytelling on Cooking Shows.- Chapter 4. Evaluations on Cooking Shows: Let’s give it a taste.- Chapter 5. Humor on Cooking Shows: Cooking is Fun and Funny.- Chapter 6. Performing Celebrity Chef.- Chapter 7. Conclusion: Doing Food Discourse.- References.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Written in an accessible and engaging style, Food Discourse of Celebrity Chefs of Food Network skilfully synergises analytic methods and theories from Discourse Analysis and Media Studies to shed light upon the multiple ways in which Food Network operates. The book provides richly contextualised and detailed analyses of key multimodal features in this popular genre - ranging from narrative and humour to evaluation and word-play. A must read for linguists and scholars interested in media communication.” (Prof Nuria Lorenzo-Dus, Department of English Language and Linguistics and Dean of Postgraduate Research, Swansea University)

“Culinary discourse is attracting increasing scholarly attention, so the intellectually engaging, sociolinguistic analyses of talk in cooking shows offered in this book are very timely. An impressive range of themes, as well as varied perspectives and analytic approaches to food talk are provided, including narrative, humour, identity construction and evaluation. This fascinating and entertaining book will stimulate researchers and students alike.” (Dr. Janet Holmes, Emeritus Professor of Linguistics, Victoria University of Wellington)

“This engaging book shines a light on food discourse, an area of media discourse that is so prevalent but so under-researched. What I like most about the book is that it takes a wide-ranging and inclusive approach. It covers many cooking show genres, including instructional, reality, travel, talk and competition cooking shows. Importantly, it places multimodality and intertextuality at the centre of its analyses. Theoretically, its eclectic approach brings the reader through the data from many perspectives, including Labov’s structural linguistics, Propp’s folklore fairy tale, Campbell’s hero mythology, Goffman’s frame theory and the notion of front stage and back stage. Politeness theory is also examined through face and humour. This book is a gem.” (Dr Anne O’Keeffe, MIC, University of Limerick,Ireland)