Submissions and Review
How did we solicit submissions?
In December 2020, we distributed a Call for Expressions of Interest (with guidelines and formatting prompts) to a wide range of scholarly association newsletters, listservs, and Facebook groups. Proposals came in from a broad range of food scholars and practitioners, ranging across North America, Europe and the U.K., Asia, and Oceania. Each was reviewed and discussed by the editors before providing feedback about possible ways to refine and structure an eventual contribution. Eventually, approximately 80 texts in all were received; 60 are included in this, the first edition of Food Studies.
How did we review and edit submissions?
Our editorial and peer review process aimed at creating chapters that would be both complementary to one another and accessible for our readers. All three editors provided initial feedback that was synthesized for each author in advance of the peer review. Following the principles of open publishing, the peer review process was also open—both authors and reviewers knew each other’s identity, allowing both the text and the review to be interpreted through the lens of the author’s/reviewer’s positionality. While we used careful editor judgement in choosing reviewers for each text, we also asked reviewers to determine and declare whether any potential conflict might arise in conducting a review. As the reach of open publishing grows wider, we hope that this process can contribute both awareness of and appreciation for an alternative to more conventional, anonymized peer review experiences.
Our sincere thanks go out to the large and generous community of reviewers who participated in this project: Peter Andrée, Patricia Ballamingie, Linda Booij, Anna Brisco, Kelly Bronson, Jillian Cavanaugh, Michael Classens, Logan Cochrane, Nathalie Cooke, Gillian Crowther, Jonathan Deutsch, Myriam Durocher, Lesley Frank, Shawna Holmes, Kathleen Irwin, Ryan Isakson, Ryan Katz-Rosene, Ali Kenefick, Anke Klitzing, Jordan LeBel, Charles Levkoe, Kristen Lowitt, Meghan Lynch, Janet McLaughlin, Catherine Mah, Tabitha Robin, Mary Anne Martin, Sarah Martin, Wanda Martin, Rod MacRae, Alexia Moyer, Erin Nelson, Elizabeth Neswald, Lenore Newman, Andrea Elena Noriega, Alissa Overend, Elaine Power, Cecilia Rocha, Caitlin Scott, Christian Scott, Rebecca Schiff, Yukari Seko, Laura Shine, Tammara Soma, Jennifer Sumner, Jennifer Whitaker, Ted Whittall, and Laine Young.
Following review, each piece was both edited and copyedited for clarity, meaning, and a degree of cross-volume consistency. Our pedagogical editor, Amanda Di Battista, worked diligently to refine learning outcomes, discussion questions, and exercises, and to create a glossary in which the descriptions of terms remain open and contextually meaningful, while neither definitive nor encyclopedic.
The Communication and Media Studies program at Carleton University provided seed funding for the Food and Media Hub initiative, where this book was initially conceived. Throughout the development process, we also received ongoing administrative support and instructional design advice from the mighty team at Carleton University’s Teaching and Learning Services (TLS).
Sincere thanks to Valerie Critchley, Andrea Gorra, David Hornsby, Jaymie Koroluk, Patrick Lyons, Laura Ravelo Fuentes, Mathew Schatkowsky, and Dragana Polovina-Vukovic for their guidance and cheerleading.
In addition to the Creative chapters that were formally submitted, David Szanto also worked with a University of Ottawa fine arts student, Annika Walsh, to produce documentation of a number of her food-related artworks. As part of a directed-study internship during the Fall of 2021, Annika read through the chapters-in-progress and drew out themes and subjects that related to her own work. A variety of these pieces are included throughout Food Studies, building on the three Ms of matter, meaning, and movement.
Finally, as a check of both content and structure, the entire book was reviewed for readability and relevance by undergraduate students at Carleton University and the University of Ottawa. We are grateful for the feedback and insights of Rose Bélanger, Claire Chapman, Yi Shan Duan, Grace Ingraham, Hermine Landry, Lalla Maiga, Audréanne Minnis, Lahari Nanda, Tze Han (Ryan) Ooi, Clara Stéphenne, Jessica Swizaski, and Annika Walsh.
