The Foodways of the Intellectual Dark Web: To "Meat" or not to "Meat"

Abstract:This article provides a critique and explanation of dietary practices that are part of a mediatized subcultural political movement associated with the right of the political spectrum in the United States. This movement has brought together political ideologues, academics, public intellectuals, and young, largely white, men for whom particular foodways play a part in the reclamation of a perceived lost sense of dignity, status, and power. I argue that in examining the rise of the paleo and vegan/vegetarian diets a largely ignored aspect of a subculture that has been gaining both increasing attention can be better understood and challenged.