This book offers the first framing of potential social science approaches to the compelling and yet hugely under–researched topic of food waste.   Shows how the profile of waste has suddenly increased as a topic of sociological relevance and extends these developments to analyses of food Conceptualises waste as a dynamic category and one that plays an important role in processes of cultural and economic organisation Brings together theoretical and empirical contributions from a range of disciplinary perspectives Engages with food waste in a number of contexts and at a variety of scales Explores issues such as the regulation and governance of food systems; the materiality of foodstuffs and associated technologies; the dynamics of social practices and what goes on in domestic kitchens; the ways in which food and waste are circulated in societies; dumpster diving and freeganism, and socio–technical innovations for waste reduction Demonstrates how food waste is a useful lens through which to tend to a number of contemporary issues within sociology and social theory