Abstract

This chapter examines examples from the last half century of foodFood as a rhetorical homologyRhetorical homology—equating foodFoodcultureCultureandFood cultures activism and political discourse. The Black Panther PartyBlack panther party’s Free Breakfast for Children Program is compared to the contemporary indigenous group the I-Collective, whose identityIdentity and activism feature foodFood-focused content both virtually and in person. The two case studies illuminate the powerPower of foodFood as a broader rhetorical tool brandished today by activists and politicians alike. While foodFood has long been used as a political tool, the Black Panther PartyBlack panther party’s Free Breakfast for Children Program is one of the most potent examples of foodFood involving explicit political discourse. Their 1969 national anti-hunger initiative began as a way to make a positive difference in the lives of marginalised children, but also functioned to communicate valuesValue, intention, and political ideology, linking discourses and creating what Barry Brummett called a “rhetorical homologyRhetorical homology”. With the rising influence of social mediaSocial media, and the popularity of foodFood on these platforms we see this happening again in modern discourse. The indigenous activist group I-Collective is a contemporary example of a group using foodFoodas political rhetoricFood rhetoric in a similarly explicit way as did the Black Panther PartyBlack panther party a half century earlier.