A01=Gavin Weedon
A01=Samantha King
aging
Alternative proteins
Author_Gavin Weedon
Author_Samantha King
Category=VFMD
Climate crisis
colonialism
Consumer culture
culture wars
dairy agriculture
dairy consumption
dairy overproduction
digitalization
economization
eq_bestseller
eq_health-lifestyle
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_new_release
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
fitness
global food market
imperialism
industrial agriculture
Justus von Liebig
kwashiorkor
malnutrition
masculinity
materialism
meat
medicalization
metabolism
molecular biopolitics
muscle
muscle loss
neoliberalism
nutrition
Ontology
plant-based meat
political ecology
populism
Protein gap
protein powder
protein supplements
race
sarcopenia
science and technology studies
Senescence
social media
techno-foods
waste and pollution
whey
Product details
- ISBN 9781478032922
- Weight: 299g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 10 Mar 2026
- Publisher: Duke University Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
Protein explores the contemporary obsession with a nutritional superstar, tracing how protein moves through food systems and fitness cultures, strengthening some bodies and environments at the expense of others.
Protein is everywhere—praised as a muscle builder, a weight-loss miracle, an anti-aging elixir, and the catch-all solution for everything from exercise recovery to global malnutrition. In Protein, Samantha King and Gavin Weedon argue that protein’s rise to nutritional superstardom has less to do with human dietary needs and more to do with how its indeterminate, adhesive qualities are marshalled towards commercial, scientific, and social imperatives. Tracing its path from nineteenth-century biochemistry to the status it enjoys today, they expose how protein has been marketed as a cure for global hunger, repackaged as an eco-friendly meat alternative, and wielded as a symbol of masculinity in the fitness industry. From whey waste in industrial farming to longevity drugs for aging bodies, Protein unpacks the myths behind the macronutrient and challenges what we think we know about food, health, and the forces that shape our diets.
Protein is everywhere—praised as a muscle builder, a weight-loss miracle, an anti-aging elixir, and the catch-all solution for everything from exercise recovery to global malnutrition. In Protein, Samantha King and Gavin Weedon argue that protein’s rise to nutritional superstardom has less to do with human dietary needs and more to do with how its indeterminate, adhesive qualities are marshalled towards commercial, scientific, and social imperatives. Tracing its path from nineteenth-century biochemistry to the status it enjoys today, they expose how protein has been marketed as a cure for global hunger, repackaged as an eco-friendly meat alternative, and wielded as a symbol of masculinity in the fitness industry. From whey waste in industrial farming to longevity drugs for aging bodies, Protein unpacks the myths behind the macronutrient and challenges what we think we know about food, health, and the forces that shape our diets.
Samantha King is Professor in the School of Kinesiology & Health Studies at Queen’s University and the author of Messy Eating and Pink Ribbons, Inc.
Gavin Weedon is Associate Professor of Sociology of Sport, Health and the Body at Nottingham Trent University.
Gavin Weedon is Associate Professor of Sociology of Sport, Health and the Body at Nottingham Trent University.
