The New Mediascape and Contemporary American Food Culture

Together, food and media have long been a means by which people communicate, perform their identities, and express their values. This article focuses on how contemporary culinary work is influenced by the new mediascape, a channel of convergence through which we understand, enjoy, and participate in our food worlds. As new media proliferates and access to interactive and creative tools expands, content generation and ownership has transferred from the hands of a small population of professionals into the fast fingers of amateurs and expert producers across the globe—effectively transforming who mediates and how we mediate. Consumers now double as mediamakers; often called co-creators, or prosumers, these new forms of interactive mediation influence labor practices and professional identities across industries. In the food world, this transition has been spurred onward by food TV and chef celebrity changing the expectations we hold for our chefs and their restaurants. By drawing from the everyday experiences of people embedded within these food and media networks and integrating transdisciplinary theory, this article demonstrates a promising approach to understanding our food futures.