Bio
Michelle Szabo is Postdoctoral Fellow and Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Toronto. Her interests include the sociology of food and cooking; the sociology of gender; masculinities and foodwork; the gendered division of labour; and household food habits as they relate to health, sustainability and social justice in the food system.
She is currently (Winter 2015) recruiting participants for her government-funded research project, “From the Home Office to the Kitchen? Home-based employment, gender and food habits”. More information on this research can be found at the project site: http://telecommutingandfoodpractices.blogspot.ca
Michelle is also co-editor of the forthcoming book, The Masculine Hearth: Food, masculinities and home (Bloomsbury), an international scholarly collection set for publication in 2016. The book interrogates the relationship between food, masculinities and home from a variety of disciplinary angles and fills a gap in writing about domestic masculinities, masculine domesticities and changing notions of “home” vis-a-vis food practices.
Recent Publications
Szabo, M. (forthcoming). “Cooking as Leisure Activity”. Entry in Encyclopedia of Food Issues. Sage Publications.Johnston, J., Rodney, A. & Szabo, M. (forthcoming). Chapter 3: “Ethical Eating”. In Beagan, B., Chapman, G., Johnston, J., McPhail, D., Power, E., & Vallianatos, H., Acquired Tastes Why Families Eat the Way They Do. (University of British Columbia Press).
Szabo, M. (2014). “I’m a real catch”: The blurring of alternative and hegemonic masculinities in men’s talk about home cooking. Women’s Studies International Forum, 44, 228-235.
Szabo, M. (2014). Men Nurturing Through Food: challenging gender dichotomies around domestic cooking. Journal of Gender Studies, 23(1), 18-31.
Szabo, M. (2013). Foodwork or Foodplay? Men’s domestic cooking, privilege & leisure. Sociology, 47(4), 623-638.
Johnston, J., Rodney, A. & Szabo, M. (2012). Place, Ethics, and Everyday Eating: a tale of two neighbourhoods. Sociology, 46(6), 1091-1108.
MacRae, R., Szabo, M., Anderson, K., Louden, F., & Trillo, S. (2012). Empowering the Citizen-Consumer: re-regulating consumer information to support the transition to sustainable and health promoting food systems in Canada. Sustainability, 4, 2146-2175.
Szabo, M. (2011). The Challenges of “Re-engaging with Food”: Connecting employment, household patterns and gender relations to convenience food consumption in North America. Food, Culture & Society, 14(4), 547-566.
Johnston, J., Szabo, M. & Rodney, A. (2011). Good Food, Good People: Understanding the cultural repertoire of ethical eating. Journal of Consumer Culture, 11(3), 293-318.
Johnston, J. & Szabo, M. (2011). Reflexivity & the Whole Foods Market Consumer: The lived experience of shopping for change. Agriculture & Human Values, 28(3), 303-319.
More details about publications can be found at:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michellekszabo
Teaching
Sociology of Food (SOC349)Sociology of Gender (SOC275)