Qualities of food

Abstract

The series New Dynamics of Innovation and Competition, published in association with the ESRC Centre for Research in Innovation and Competition at the University of Manchester and UMIST emanates from an engagement of the Centre's research agenda with a wide range of internationally renowned scholars in the field. The series casts new light on the significance of demand and consumption, markets and competition, and the complex inter-organisational basis for innovation processes. The volumes are multidisciplinary and comparative in perspective. Tables and figuresThe CRIC-MUP series New Dynamics of Innovation and Competition is designed to make an important contribution to this continually expanding field of research and scholarship. As a series of edited volumes, it combines approaches and perspectives developed by CRIC's own research agenda with those of a wide range of internationally renowned scholars. A distinctive emphasis on processes of economic and social transformation frames the CRIC research programme. Research on the significance of demand and consumption, on the empirical and theoretical understanding of competition and markets, and on the complex inter-organisational basis of innovation processes provides the thematic linkage between the successive volumes of the series. At the interface between the different disciplines of economics, sociology, management studies and geography, the development of economic sociology lends a unifying methodological approach. Strong comparative and historical dimensions to the variety of innovation processes in different capitalist economies and societies are supported by the international character of the contributions. The series is based on international workshops hosted by CRIC which have encouraged debate and diversity at the leading edge of innovation studies.CRIC is an ESRC-funded research centre based in the University of Manchester and UMIST. Series foreword ContributorsThis book arises from the proceedings of one of a continuing series of international workshops organised by the UK Economic and Social Research Councilfunded Centre for Research on Innovation and Competition. Principal themes of CRIC's research programme include markets and competition, consumption practices and the development of the service economy; the workshop, which was held in January 2002, was mounted to promote discussion of those topics in the field of food, and focused on various aspects of production and consumption. We express our thanks to the authors who contribute to this book. We thank also other participants of the workshop whose comments have been incorporated in the text during the revision of the preliminary papers. Our gratitude goes to Sharon Hammond and Deborah Woodman for the vital part they played in organising the workshop, to Philippa Grand who prepared the typescript for the publisher and to the staff at Manchester University Press who processed the book. Preface Food and qualityFood in late modern societies is marked by controversy. It was never a matter of indiff...