Food and Language: Discourses and Foodways across Cultures explores in innovative ways how food and language are intertwined across cultures and social settings. How do we talk about food? How do we interact in its presence? How do we use food to communicate? And how does social interaction feed us? The book assumes no previous linguistic or anthropological knowledge but provides readers with the understanding to pursue further research on the subject. With a full glossary at the end of the book and additional tools hosted on an eResources page (such as recommended web and video links and some suggested research exercises), this book serves as an ideal introduction for courses on food, language, and food-and-language in anthropology departments, linguistics departments, and across the humanities and social sciences. It will also appeal to any reader interested in the semiotic interplay between food and language.

"The human mouth is a paradoxical organ, used for opposed activities of speaking and eating, communication and commensality, meaning and materiality. This pioneering textbook, organized as a series of encounters between food and language, serves as a unique and welcome introduction to both linguistic anthropology and the anthropology of food." - Paul Manning, Trent University, Canada

"This book by Kathleen C. Riley and Amy L. Paugh is an excellent and needed resource for scholars and students in Linguistic Anthropology and allied fields interested in the intersection of food and language. With sophisticated content written in clear and accessible language, the authors provide a valuable overview of contemporary approaches to studying the multidirectional influences between linguistic and cultural practices about and surrounding food and illustrate with effective ethnographic examples." - Alexandra Jaffe, California State University, USA

Kathleen C. Riley teaches linguistic anthropology at Rutgers University, USA. She has conducted fieldwork on foodways and language socialization in French Polynesia, France, Québec, and New York City. She has co-edited (with Christine Jourdan) a special issue of Anthropologie et Sociétés on food glocalization and (with Jillian Cavanaugh) a special issue of the Semiotic Review on food and language.

Amy L. Paugh is a Professor of Anthropology at James Madison University, USA. Her research investigates language and food, language socialization, and children’s cultures in Dominica, Caribbean, and the United States. She is the author of Playing with Languages: Children and Change in a Caribbean Village.