Eating In Us National Parks

This book presents a fascinating exploration of eating experiences within US national parks, explaining how, on what, and why people eat in national parks and how this has changed over the last century. National parks are enjoying unprecedented popularity, and they are especially popular sites for the expression of cosmopolitanism, an ideological outlook descended from the Romantics on whose vision the parks were originally founded. The book explores the constructed foodscape within US national parks, situating the romantic consumption ethos within the context of sociological work on distinction, culinary tourism, and culinary capital. It analyzes and problematizes elements of cosmopolitan taste and desire, examining food tourism in wilderness spaces that satisfies cosmopolitan hunger for authenticity and a certain type of self-making. Weaving together strands of research that have not been previously integrated, the book gleans meaning from concessions menus and park restaurant web pages and employs audience analysis to take stock of park restaurant visitors’ contributions to restaurant review websites, as well as to understand how they represent their park eating experiences on social media. The book examines how satisfying cosmopolitan tastes in the parks creates profit for corporate concessioners, but also may produce bioregionalist successes and a recentering of Indigenous foodways. It concludes by exploring inroads to a better food experience in the parks, involving food products and processes that are regionally/locally specific, where tourists witness and participate in food production and enjoy commensality, but that are also non-extractive and show care for the environment and the people who inhabit it. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of food studies, tourism and hospitality, sociology of culture, parks and recreation, American studies, and environmental studies. The book will also be of interest to parks and recreation decision makers, sustainable tourism leaders, and hospitality managers.

If you’ve ever had a medical check-up, did you wonder why they put a cuff around your forearm, gave it a squeeze, and made you sit still and quiet? Or why they asked you to open your mouth so they could stick a thermometer under your tongue? Or put that cold stethoscope against your chest while you took deep breaths followed by sticking a clothespin thingamabob on your finger? What’s up with all the gizmos and gadgets and why all the bother?

What’s up is that all of these instruments measure the conditions of some of the most important, life-supporting functions, or vital signs, which keep your carcass from becoming, well, a carcass. The squeezy cuff is reading your blood pressure, which indicates how strongly your blood is pumping through your pipes. The thermometer measures your core body temperature, which affects many chemical reactions in your body that supply energy for your cells. With a stethoscope, the swooshing sound of air moving in and out of your lungs can be listened to. And the clothespin doohickey tracks the amount of oxygen being carried by your blood. Vital signs are critical indicators of your body’s overall health. By tracking them as you grow and mature, these measurements can be used as a guide or reference point for when your body isn’t feeling all that great.

Now what does your blood pressure have to do with US National Parks? While human vital signs are important in evaluating your body’s health, ecological vital signs are indicators for measuring ecosystem health. An ecosystem is a community of living organisms like frogs, trees, or bacteria, and nonliving materials such as water, dirt, and rocks that are located together and interact on some level. In a healthy ecosystem, all of the living and nonliving members exist in a state of natural balance in harmony with their environment. When something new enters the community, say a strange weed or insect, or something in the environment shifts, such as the air temperature becoming warmer, the health of the ecosystem can be threatened. Monitoring ecological vital signs gives scientists a reference point or baseline of the natural condition and alerts them when there is a change. While a healthy ecosystem can continue to support all its members and adapt to change, sometimes changes are too great and members of the ecosystem become stressed and have a hard time keeping up.

Although US National Parks are some of the most protected areas on the planet, the ecological health of many of these carefully safeguarded lands is increasingly uncertain due to our rapidly changing global environment. Here we present a collection of articles about how we study and understand the health of park ecosystems by measuring and tracking the condition of ecological vital signs. This scientific data helps park managers protect the valued resources of our parks and lessen harmful impacts when change is inevitable.

A variety of air pollutants are emitted into the atmosphere from human-caused and natural emissions sources throughout the United States and elsewhere. These contaminants impact sensitive natural resources in wilderness, including the national parks. The system of national parks in the United States is among our greatest assets. This book provides a compilation and synthesis of current scientific understanding regarding the causes and effects of these pollutants within national park lands. It describes pollutant emissions, deposition, and exposures; it identifies the critical (tipping point) loads of pollutant deposition at which adverse impacts are manifested.

Banff, Jasper & Glacier National Parks is your passport to the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Go hiking and camping in the Backcountry in Banff; mountain-biking and horseback riding in Jasper, or wildlife spotting in Glacier; all with your trusted travel companion.

Whether you want to hike through the jaw-dropping scenery of Acadia, see rare wildlife and natural wonders in Yellowstone, or go river-rafting in the Grand Canyon, the local Fodor’s travel experts in all the National Parks are here to help! Fodor’s Complete Guide to the National Parks of the USA is packed with maps, carefully curated recommendations, and everything else you need to simplify your trip-planning process and make the most of your time. This brand new title has been designed with an easy-to-read layout, fresh information, and beautiful color photos. Fodor’s Complete Guide to the National Parks of the USA travel guide includes: AN ILLUSTRATED ULTIMATE EXPERIENCES GUIDE to the top things to see and do MULTIPLE ITINERARIES to effectively organize your days and maximize your time MORE THAN 70 DETAILED MAPS to help you navigate confidently COLOR PHOTOS throughout to spark your wanderlust! HONEST RECOMMENDATIONS FROM LOCALS on the best sights, restaurants, hotels, activities, and more PHOTO-FILLED “BEST OF” FEATURES on “Ultimate Experiences,” “Best Campgrounds,” “Best Lodges,” and more TRIP-PLANNING TOOLS AND PRACTICAL TIPS including when to go, getting around, beating the crowds, and saving time and money HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL INSIGHTS providing rich context on the local people, art, architecture, geography and more SPECIAL FEATURES on “Exploring the Colorado River,” “What to Watch and Read Before You Visit,” and “Yellowstone’s Geothermal Wonders” LOCAL WRITERS to help you find the under-the-radar gems UP-TO-DATE COVERAGE ON: Acadia National Park, Arches National Park, Badlands National Park, Big Bend National Park, Biscayne National Park, Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Capitol Reef National Park, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, Channel Islands National Park, Congaree National Park, Crater Lake National Park, Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Death Valley National Park, Denali National Park, Dry Tortugas National Park, Everglades National Park, Gates of the Arctic & Kobuk Valley National Park, Gateway Arch National Park, Glacier Bay National Park, Glacier & Waterton Lakes National Parks, Grand Canyon National Park, Grand Teton National Park, Great Basin National Park, Great Sand Dunes National Park, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Haleakala National Park, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Hot Springs National Park, Indiana Dunes National Park, Isle Royale National Park, Joshua Tree National Park, Katmai National Park, Kenai Fjords National Park, Lake Clark National Park, Lassen Volcanic National Park, Mammoth Cave National Park, Mesa Verde National Park, Mount Rainier National Park, National Park of American Samoa, New River Gorge Park and Preserve, North Cascades National Park, Olympic National Park, Petrified Forest National Park, Pinnacles National Park, Redwood National and State Parks, Rocky Mountain National Park, Saguaro National Park, Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks, Shenandoah National Parks, Theodore Roosevelt National Park, Virgin Islands National Parks, Voyageurs National Parks, White Sands National Park, Wind Cave National Park, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Yosemite National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Zion National Park Planning on spending more time in any of the states? Check out Fodor’s Arizona and the Grand Canyon, Fodor’s California, Fodor's Colorado, Fodor’s Florida, Fodor’s Essential Hawaii, Fodor’s Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire, Fodor's U.S. & British Virgin Islands, Compass Yellowstone National Park, Compass Yosemite and Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Parks, and Fodor's InFocus Smoky Mountains. *Important note for digital editions: The digital edition of this guide does not contain all the images or text included in the physical edition. ABOUT FODOR'S AUTHORS: Each Fodor's Travel Guide is researched and written by local experts. Fodor’s has been offering expert advice for all tastes and budgets for over 80 years. For more travel inspiration, you can sign up for our travel newsletter at fodors.com/newsletter/signup, or follow us @FodorsTravel on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. We invite you to join our friendly community of travel experts at fodors.com/community to ask any other questions and share your experience with us!