Drawing on years of interviews and observation, a sociologist and ethnographer explores dietary differences along class lines, arguing that lack of access to healthy food is far from the primary driver of nutritional inequality in America.

Inequality in America manifests in many ways, but perhaps nowhere more so than in how we eat: the higher someone's income and education, the higher quality their diet. But why do Americans consume such different diets? Why does being rich or poor impact the quality and healthiness of the food American families eat?

Researchers, policymakers and foodies alike argue that rich and poor families eat differently because of their different access to healthy food. Food deserts -- neighborhoods where it's difficult to find fresh foods -- are supposedly to blame for America's nutritional inequality. But research on food access actually finds explanation lacking, and interventions to improve food access have failed to reduce diet disparities between rich and poor. In fact, a recent study found that only 9 percent of socioeconomic differences in diet in the US can be traced to differences in access to healthy food. What accounts for the other 91 percent of the nutritional gap?

Based on years of ethnographic research on families' diets, sociologist Priya Fielding-Singh argues that being rich or poor in America impacts something even more fundamental than people's ability to access food: the meaning of food itself. And those differing meanings between rich and poor families produce very different diets. Packed with fascinating case studies and original research, THE TASTE OF INEQUALITY is a timely and important book that will change the way you understand the relationship between class, food, nutrition, and public health forever.

Priya Fielding-Singh is a sociologist and postdoctoral research fellow in cardiovascular disease prevention at the Stanford University School of Medicine. My research examines health, gender, and social inequality. Her work has been published in journals such as Social Science & Medicine, Sociological Science, and the Journal of Adolescent Health.

She holds a PhD in Sociology from Stanford University, a MA in Cultural Studies from the University of Bremen, and a BS in Education and Social Policy from Northwestern University.