Explores the cultural economies of two "non-traditional" commodity trades between Africa and Europe - one anglophone, the other francophone - in order to show not only why they differ but also how both have felt the fall-out of the wealthy world's food scares.

"A highly accessible and informative book on a popular topic, the geography and culture of food....[Friedberg's] research design makes French Beans a fun read for both geographer and layperson, for she traveled to four countries and interviewed a diverse cast of characters, including pack-house managers in Zambia, female farmers in Burkina Faso, and food importers in Europe. ...French Beans effectively links theory and practice while raising a number of issues of concern to the broader public. If the world is indeed evolving into a consumer-driven economy, as some geographers argue, then this volume is essential reading for all of us."--The Geographic Review "This is a very fine addition to the critical literature on commodity cultures, globalization, and agro-food networks. It speaks to the present concern many in geography have with a multiscalar 'geography of care.' Buy it, get your university library to buy it or place it on one of your course reading lists." --Progress in Human Geography "On the trail of the (preferably slender) green bean, Susanne Freidberg takes the reader on a fascinating tour of cultural foodways among the French and the British, contract farming in former colonial territories in Africa, the roles of friendship and stereotyping in assuring the flow of foodstuffs to European supermarkets, and the links in the commodity and personal chains linking small farmers and entrepreneurs in Africa with consumers in Europe whose shopping has been made anxious by fears of old and new diseases."--Pauline E. Peters, Kennedy School of Government and Department of Anthropology, Harvard University "A highly accessible and informative book on a popular topic, the geography and culture of food....[Friedberg's] research design makes French Beans a fun read for both geographer and layperson, for she traveled to four countries and interviewed a diverse cast of characters, including pack-house managers in Zambia, female farmers in Burkina Faso, and food importers in Europe. ...French Beans effectively links theory and practice while raising a number of issues of concern to the broader public. If the world is indeed evolving into a consumer-driven economy, as some geographers argue, then this volume is essential reading for all of us."--The Geographic Review "This is a very fine addition to the critical literature on commodity cultures, globalization, and agro-food networks. It speaks to the present concern many in geography have with a multiscalar 'geography of care.' Buy it, get your university library to buy it or place it on one of your course reading lists." --Progress in Human Geography "On the trail of the (preferably slender) green bean, Susanne Freidberg takes the reader on a fascinating tour of cultural foodways among the French and the British, contract farming in former colonial territories in Africa, the roles of friendship and stereotyping in assuring the flow of foodstuffs to European supermarkets, and the links in the commodity and personal chains linking small farmers and entrepreneurs in Africa with consumers in Europe whose shopping has been made anxious by fears of old and new diseases."--Pauline E. Peters, Kennedy School of Government and Department of Anthropology, Harvard University

Shows how the mad cow crisis and other European food scares have had dramatic and far-reaching consequences Explores the behind-the-scenes work of the go-betweens in the globalized food economy Shows how powerful food retailers, in the name of protecting consumers' right to safe, high quality and ethical food, are imposing a new form of postcolonial power on some of the world's poorest countries

Susanne Freidberg has written about food regulation for the Washington Post and numerous journals. She grew up in the Pacific Northwest, attended Yale and Berkeley, and has received fellowships from the Fulbright Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, and the American Council of Learned Societies. She teaches in the Department of Geography at Dartmouth College.

Shows how the mad cow crisis and other European food scares have had dramatic and far-reaching consequences Explores the behind-the-scenes work of the go-betweens in the globalized food economy Shows how powerful food retailers, in the name of protecting consumers' right to safe, high quality and ethical food, are imposing a new form of postcolonial power on some of the world's poorest countries