London's burning: recovering other geographies of health

In the opening to this paper we concern ourselves with the concept of health as it is currently understood in the now reformulated ‘geography of health’. We focus on countering the assumption that the desire for health is the main drive behind individual patterns of consumption. To this end, we turn to a more culturally informed analysis which identifies the importance of understanding the complex relations between the body, identity, consumption and risk. To illustrate our ideas and arguments, we draw on current anti-smoking debates, particularly those relating to passive smoking, and what we see as evidence of alternatives to such health-related or ‘healthist’ rhetoric: the rise of cigar smoking and cigar bars in London, England.