Habeas Codfish: Reflections on Food and the Law

From the McDonald's hot coffee case to the cattle ranchers' beef with Oprah Winfrey, from the old English "Assize of Bread" to current nutrition labeling laws, what we eat and how we eat are shaped as much by legal regulations as by personal taste. Barry M. Levenson, the curator of the world-famous (really!) Mount Horeb Mustard Museum and a self-proclaimed "recovering lawyer," offers in Habeas Codfish an entertaining and expert overview of the frustrating, frightening, and funny intersections of food and the law.
Discover how Mr. Peanut shaped the law of trademark infringement for the entire food industry. Consider the plight of the restaurant owner besmirched by a journalist's negative review. Find out how traditional Jewish laws of kashrut ran afoul of the First Amendment. Prison meals, butter vs. margarine, definitions of organic food, undercover ABC reporters at the Food Lion, the Massachusetts Supreme Court case that saved fish chowder, even recipes--it's all in here, so tuck in!

Author: Barry M. Levenson
Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
Published: 11/15/1985
Pages: 324
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.30lbs
Size: 9.29h x 6.22w x 0.92d
ISBN: 9780299175108

Review Citation(s):
Booklist 09/15/2001 pg. 169
Reference and Research Bk News 02/01/2002 pg. 157

About the Author
Barry M. Levenson is the curator and CMO (Chief Mustard Officer) of the Mount Horeb Mustard Museum in Mount Horeb, Wisconsin, where he has amassed the world's largest collection of mustards. Before his life as the world's foremost mustard authority, he was an assistant attorney general for the State of Wisconsin. He argued dozens of cases before the Wisconsin Supreme Court and is undoubtedly the only lawyer to have appeared before the United States Supreme Court with a jar of mustard in his pocket.