Dining with the Duttons: Food Values and Political Polarisation in the Yellowstone Cookbooks

Abstract

Since it premiered in June 2018, Yellowstone has become one of the most popular series on television. Because fandom and food go together, given the rise of popular culture cookbooks featuring main courses, sides, appetizers, desserts, and drinks from and inspired by beloved series, it is no surprise that two cookbooks were published recreating what the Duttons eat on Yellowstone. This article investigates the political ideology associated with the food in the two Yellowstone cookbooks. It draws on recent literature in the fields of sociology, psychology, marketing communications, and consumer culture that has explored the relationship between political affiliation and eating behaviours demonstrating that the polarisation of political ideology extends to consumers' preferences. It postulates that even though Yellowstone fans have been said to lean conservative and the series has been labelled as "red state" and "Republican," the food in the cookbooks appeals to conservatives and liberals. The paper reviews current research on politics and food values, examines the paratextual relationship that exists between culinary and cinematic texts, and addresses nutrition, taste, and price in the corpus of analysis.