The Routledge Handbook of Food and Cultural Heritage explores the many varied intersections of food and cultural heritage from a robust, transdisciplinary perspective.

Innovative in its approach, this cutting-edge Handbook thinks beyond traditional boundaries to present unique perspectives on the myriad ways in which food and cultural heritage are entangled in theory and practice. Both are growing industries; both are deeply rooted in families, cultures, and societies; both generate controversy and are deployed for political and economic activism. They also both have intellectual lives of their own, and are centers of interdisciplinary fields themselves—yet they also intersect in interesting and, until this book, under-theorized ways. After a comprehensive introduction that presents and challenges the state-of-the-art in the disciplines of critical food and critical heritage studies, the Handbook’s chapters are divided into six themes common to both fields: Ontologies and epistemologies of food and cultural heritage; material culture; identity, placemaking and belonging; politics and regulation; tourism development and heritage management; and contemporary issues and emerging approaches. To give representation of voices not usually heard in the scholarly tradition, special interviews with food-and-heritage practitioners complement the comprehensive chapters, adding further depth to the volume through their own lived experiences.

With contributions from nearly 50 internationally recognized scholars, social scientists, dieticians, practitioners, and activists, this book is essential reading to scholars, students, researchers, industry professionals, and practitioners looking to understand the complex and compelling ways in which food, foodways, and cultural heritage overlap and impact each other, providing venues for collaborations.

Michael A. Di Giovine is Professor of Anthropology at West Chester University; Director of its Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology, and Museum Studies Program; and Director of the Ethnographic Field School on Sustainable Food and Cultural Heritage in Perugia, Italy. An Honorary Fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Michael is also a former tour operator whose research in Europe and Southeast Asia focuses on the intersection of food, heritage, and tourism/pilgrimage. He is the founding President of the Council on Heritage and the Anthropology of Tourism (CHAT) at the American Anthropological Association, where he also served on its Task Force on Cultural Heritage. He has authored or edited nearly a dozen books, including The Heritage-scape: UNESCO, World Heritage and Tourism (2009) and Edible Identities: Food as Cultural Heritage (2016), and is the series editor of Bloomsbury’s The Anthropology of Tourism: Heritage, Mobility and Society. www.wcupa.edu/michaeldigiovine.

Raúl Matta is a Full Researcher at the Institute Lyfe Research and Innovation Center in Lyon, France. He works at the intersection of anthropology, food and heritage studies. Raúl has conducted fieldwork in Peru, Mexico, Germany, and France, and occupied leading roles in projects funded by the German Research Foundation, the French National Research Agency, and the European Commission. From 2024 to 2027 he is serving as the scientific coordinator (WP2 Leader) for the Horizon Europe project CONVIVIUM: New European Bauhaus Solutions in Food, Living Heritage and Conviviality. His articles have appeared in Social Anthropology, International Journal of Cultural Property, Food, Culture & Society, Food and Foodways, among others. He is the author of From the Plate to Gastro-Politics. Unravelling the Boom of Peruvian Cuisine (2023).