Food carries symbolic importance used to define individuals, situations, and places, making it an ideal communication tool. In musical theater, food can be used as a shortcut to reveal more about a setting, character, or situation. This book looks at the role of food in popular theater musicals illustrating how food relates to the broader world.

Jennifer Packard has nearly twenty years of experience in the food industry. She currently does freelance writing on food issues and works as a research associate at Harvard University. Jennifer loves to make up new recipes which she tests out on her husband and three teen-aged sons.

Introduction: The First Taste
Chapter 1: Food to Set the Scene
Chapter 2: Regional Foods
Chapter 3: Food as Identity
Chapter 4: Explaining Characters and Relationships
Chapter 5: Just Trying to Put Food on the Table
Chapter 6: Food Representing Class
Chapter 7: The Way to a Man's (or Woman's) Heart
Conclusion: The Last Morsel