Anthropology of Food

A binding Food Treaty: a post-MDG proposal worth exploring

by Jose Luis Vivero

Comments, ideas on how to move it and suggestions to rise its profile for Rio+20 and the post-MDG talks are more than welcome.

Hunger is needlessly killing millions of our fellow humans, including 2.6 million young children every year. It... more Hunger is needlessly killing millions of our fellow humans, including 2.6 million young children every year. It condemns many others to life-long exposure to illness and social exclusion. This OPEX Memo argues that a binding Food Treaty would create an appropriate framework to end hunger, and other forms of malnutrition that cause premature death, no later than 2025. Those governments that are genuinely determined to end hunger - the coalition of the willing - could commit themselves to mutually-agreed binding goals, monitorable objectives and predictable funding within the Treaty framework. The paper presents objectives, provisions and a possible route map for the process. This path wouldshall involve civil society participation and include a Global Anti-Hunger Campaign during the negotiation process and beyond, so as to build a strong constituency of public support for hunger eradication.

The Nose, the Eye, the Mouth and the Gut: Social Dimensions of Food-Cravings and Commensality

by Fredrik Fahlander

In: Making sense of things. Archaeologies of sensory perception, Red: Fredrik Fahlander & Anna Kjellström, Stockholm: Univ, 2010, pp35-50.

In archaeology, the discussion concerning food and ingestion has primarily focused on diet, i.e., what people have... more In archaeology, the discussion concerning food and ingestion has primarily focused on diet, i.e., what people have eaten. There has been little interest in elaborating on the social dimensions of commensality. In recent years there has been an increasing interest in the ritual use of food and especially the social dimensions of the feast, potlatch or symposia. Still, missing from the debate are elaborated discussions about the daily gatherings around the pots and pans. The daily dinner is not just a matter of consuming nourishment; it involves planning and gathering ingredients, and thinking about ways of cooking them and how to combine them. Eating and drinking require a number of key social elements such as materiality, spatial arrangement and place, bodily experiences, mental expectations,and bonding/exclusion. In many ways, food culture may be a more important trait for social groups than their material culture, let alone style and design of pottery.

Book Review: Food and Identity in Early Rabbinic Judaism by Jordan D. Rosenblum (Cambridge University Press, 2010)

by Julia Watts Belser

Published in the journal "Religion" (March 2012)

Eating in Time, Eating Up Time

by Megan Blake

with Jody Mellor, Lucy Crane and Brigitta Osz. Chapter 10 in Jackson, P. 2009, Changing Families Changing Food.  Palgrave Macmillan. p187-206

Geographies of Food:'Afters'

by Emma Roe

Co-authored with 'Ian Cook et al...' University of Exeter. Published in Progress in Human Geography.

This third and final ‘Geographies of food’ review is based on an online blog conversation provoked by the first and... more This third and final ‘Geographies of food’ review is based on an online blog conversation provoked by the first and second reviews in the series (Cook et al., 2006; 2008a). Authors of the work featured in these reviews – plus others whose work was not but should have been featured – were invited to respond to them, to talk about their own and other people’s work, and to enter into conversations about – and in the process review – other/new work within and beyond what could be called ‘food geographies’. These conversations were coded, edited, arranged, discussed and rearranged to produce a fragmentary, multi-authored text aiming to convey the rich and multi-stranded content, breadth and character of ongoing food studies research within and beyond geography

The Gift of the Middleman: An Ethnography of Quinoa Trading Networks in Los Lipez of Bolivia

by Andrew Ofstehage

Written for completion of MSc in Management of Agro-ecological Knowledge and Social Change at Wageningen University. Studies were carried out with Alberto Arce as supervisor in the Rural Development Sociology chairgroup.

Using ethnographic techniques, this research has followed quinoa from San Agustin to markets throughout Bolivia and... more Using ethnographic techniques, this research has followed quinoa from San Agustin to markets throughout Bolivia and detailed the interactions and transaction at each node of the networks. This has not been done with an idea of identifying the entire network, but with an attention to the actors and differentiated groups of people within the network. By conceptualising actors, communities, and regions I have attempted to avoid the trap of assuming homogeneity in favour of valuing difference among actors. An ethnographic focus is meant to have given importance to non-economic terms of value. While a typical economic paper may focus only on price, value margins, supply, and demand, this paper also considered pride, solidarity, value of services, and personal strategies.

Nusta Juira's Gift of Quinoa: Peasants, Trademarks, and Intermediaries in the Transformation of a Bolivian Commodity Economy

by Andrew Ofstehage

Published in 2011 in Anthropology of Work Review: 32(2) 103-114.

Farmers and activists in the Los Lipez region of Bolivia have created a symbolic commons that links their identity,... more Farmers and activists in the Los Lipez region of Bolivia have created a symbolic commons that links their identity, quinoa crop, and work. Since 2005, farmers have worked with regional activists and marketers to create a denomination of origin in order to project their work and connection with quinoa into international markets for their crop. Yet sales certified with the denomination of origin trademark have not significantly displaced other sales to buyers for the national cooperatives or to local intermediaries. Based on 4 months of ethnographic research with growers, local resellers, and leaders of the denomination of origin initiative, this case documents how the Bolivian quinoa market is a composite of varied market channels, interests, and values that inhibit the full realization of any single development approach. However, the complexity that actor agency introduces into commodity circulation results in earnings at different scales, the movement of multiple qualities of quinoa, transactions in formal and informal settings, and a more resilient life sphere of agricultural production.

The construction of an alternative quinoa economy: balancing solidarity, household needs, and profit in San Agustín, Bolivia

by Andrew Ofstehage

In Press: Agriculture and Human Values

Quinoa farmers in San Agustín, Bolivia face the dilemma of producing for a growing international market while... more Quinoa farmers in San Agustín, Bolivia face the dilemma of producing for a growing international market while defending their community interests and resources, meeting their basic household needs, and making a profit. Farmers responded to a changing market in the 1970s by creating committees in defense of quinoa and farmer cooperatives to represent their interests and maximize economic returns. Today farmer cooperatives offer high, stable prices, politically represent farmers, and are major quinoa exporters, but intermediaries continue to play an important role in the local economy. Meanwhile, some farmers rebuff the national cooperatives and intermediaries in favor of a denomination of origin and closer association with local cooperatives. This article, based on 4 months of ethnographic research, explores the reasons for the continued presence of intermediaries on the market landscape and how farmers have worked to create a quinoa economy embedded with fair trade values. Farmers demand stable prices, flexible standards, provision of services, and promises of maintaining the distinctive qualities of San Agustín quinoa. They frame their trades in economic, utility, and solidarity terms to reflect their livelihood strategies, farming capabilities, and personal concepts of fair trade. Meanwhile cooperatives, development initiatives, and intermediaries each argue that their particular buying practices allow farmers to attain household goods, credit, and cash for food and economic security.

The Gift of the Middleman: An Ethnography of Quinoa Trading Networks in Los Lipez of Bolivia

by Andrew Ofstehage

Written for completion of MSc in Management of Agro-ecological Knowledge and Social Change at Wageningen University. Studies were carried out with Alberto Arce as supervisor in the Rural Development Sociology chairgroup.

Using ethnographic techniques, this research has followed quinoa from San Agustin to markets throughout Bolivia and... more Using ethnographic techniques, this research has followed quinoa from San Agustin to markets throughout Bolivia and detailed the interactions and transaction at each node of the networks. This has not been done with an idea of identifying the entire network, but with an attention to the actors and differentiated groups of people within the network. By conceptualising actors, communities, and regions I have attempted to avoid the trap of assuming homogeneity in favour of valuing difference among actors. An ethnographic focus is meant to have given importance to non-economic terms of value. While a typical economic paper may focus only on price, value margins, supply, and demand, this paper also considered pride, solidarity, value of services, and personal strategies.

Nusta Juira's Gift of Quinoa: Peasants, Trademarks, and Intermediaries in the Transformation of a Bolivian Commodity Economy

by Andrew Ofstehage

Published in 2011 in Anthropology of Work Review: 32(2) 103-114.

Farmers and activists in the Los Lipez region of Bolivia have created a symbolic commons that links their identity,... more Farmers and activists in the Los Lipez region of Bolivia have created a symbolic commons that links their identity, quinoa crop, and work. Since 2005, farmers have worked with regional activists and marketers to create a denomination of origin in order to project their work and connection with quinoa into international markets for their crop. Yet sales certified with the denomination of origin trademark have not significantly displaced other sales to buyers for the national cooperatives or to local intermediaries. Based on 4 months of ethnographic research with growers, local resellers, and leaders of the denomination of origin initiative, this case documents how the Bolivian quinoa market is a composite of varied market channels, interests, and values that inhibit the full realization of any single development approach. However, the complexity that actor agency introduces into commodity circulation results in earnings at different scales, the movement of multiple qualities of quinoa, transactions in formal and informal settings, and a more resilient life sphere of agricultural production.

The construction of an alternative quinoa economy: balancing solidarity, household needs, and profit in San Agustín, Bolivia

by Andrew Ofstehage

In Press: Agriculture and Human Values

Quinoa farmers in San Agustín, Bolivia face the dilemma of producing for a growing international market while... more Quinoa farmers in San Agustín, Bolivia face the dilemma of producing for a growing international market while defending their community interests and resources, meeting their basic household needs, and making a profit. Farmers responded to a changing market in the 1970s by creating committees in defense of quinoa and farmer cooperatives to represent their interests and maximize economic returns. Today farmer cooperatives offer high, stable prices, politically represent farmers, and are major quinoa exporters, but intermediaries continue to play an important role in the local economy. Meanwhile, some farmers rebuff the national cooperatives and intermediaries in favor of a denomination of origin and closer association with local cooperatives. This article, based on 4 months of ethnographic research, explores the reasons for the continued presence of intermediaries on the market landscape and how farmers have worked to create a quinoa economy embedded with fair trade values. Farmers demand stable prices, flexible standards, provision of services, and promises of maintaining the distinctive qualities of San Agustín quinoa. They frame their trades in economic, utility, and solidarity terms to reflect their livelihood strategies, farming capabilities, and personal concepts of fair trade. Meanwhile cooperatives, development initiatives, and intermediaries each argue that their particular buying practices allow farmers to attain household goods, credit, and cash for food and economic security.

The Archaeology of Food Preference

by Monica L. Smith

Food preference is a socially constructed concept in which both consumers and producers define what is “good to eat.”... more Food preference is a socially constructed concept in which both consumers and producers define what is “good to eat.” Staple crops and daily meals are an important component of these definitions, as the regular use of particular foods reinforces norms
of identity. Food preferences also affect agricultural systems because choices among cultivars are based on social needs in addition to economic variables such as yield and caloric value. Through textual and archaeological evidence, the trajectory of rice production is examined for Sri Lanka, the Brahmaputra Valley, the Tamil region, and Vijayanagara. In these regions and elsewhere in South Asia, shared ideologies of food preference resulted in a consensus mode of agricultural production: Irrigation works increased the tax base for political leaders and the donation base for temple economies, but they also benefited local inhabitants who would have been able to partake of a preferred food on a more regular basis.

Independence, Globalization, Rice and Beans

by Richard Wilk

in Taking Stock: Belize at 25 years of Independence, edited by Barbara Balboni and Joseph Palacio, Benque Viejo, Belize: Cubola Productions. Pp. 310-322.

Belize has never been isolated and its history has always been deeply affected by events taking place far away.... more Belize has never been isolated and its history has always been deeply affected by events taking place far away. Therefore globalization is not something new to the country, for Belize has always been a 'globalized' nation. In this chapter I trace the changing history of Belizean globalization, from its beginnings as a bucanneer's outpost, to its recent transformation into a stop on the tourist "Ruta Maya." I use the history of the national dish, Rice and Beans, to illustrate my points about cultural and economic dependency and independence.

"Real Belizean Food": Building Local Identity in the Transnational Caribbean

by Richard Wilk

American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 101, No. 2 (Jun., 1999), pp. 244-255 Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of the American Anthropological Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/683199

Food and cooking can be an avenue toward understanding complex issues of cultural change and transnational culturalmore Food and cooking can be an avenue toward understanding complex issues of cultural change and transnational cultural
flow. Using examples from Belize, I discuss the transformation from late colonial times to the present in terms of hierarchies of cuisine and changes in taste. In recent Belizean history, food has been used in personal and political contexts to
create a sense of the nation at the same time that increased political and economic dependency has undercut national autonomy.
I suggest several possible ways to conceptualize t he complex and  contradictory relationship between local and global
culture.

Cooking on Their Own: Cuisines of Manly Men

by Richard Wilk

Published as
Wilk, Richard and Persephone Hintlian 2005  “Cooking on Their Own: Cuisines of Manly Men.” Food and Foodways 13(1-2):  159-169.

This research note compares the food consumption of two different groups of working men, the Buccaneers of the... more This research note compares the food consumption of two different groups of working men, the Buccaneers of the Caribbean in the 17th century, and the miners of the 1849 gold rush in California. Both groups depended on similar
monotonous diets of preserved rations for their daily fare, and they had similar practices of binge drinking and luxury dining when opportunities arose. We speculate on ways that masculinity was constructed around particular kinds of
food consumption.

From Wild Weeds to Artisanal Cheese

by Richard Wilk

published as
2006 “From Wild Weeds to Artisanal Cheese.” In Fast Food/Slow Food, edited by Richard Wilk, Walnut Creek: Altamira Press.

This is the introduction to the book FAST FOOD/SLOW FOOD published by Altamira Press in 2006, available on Amazon.com.... more This is the introduction to the book FAST FOOD/SLOW FOOD published by Altamira Press in 2006, available on Amazon.com. It is actually chapter 2 - the first chapter is an introcution by Sidney Mintz.

Internalization of Ethnicities through Food: Migrants in Contact Zone in Japan

by Daisuke Yasui

Constructionist theorists have debated the nature of ethnicity as a social construct, and have therefore failed to... more Constructionist theorists have debated the nature of ethnicity as a social construct, and have therefore failed to explain why fictional ethnicity provides the motive power to engage in ethnic collective action. This study investigates the process of internalizing ethnicity to examine how ethnic minorities find and feel the reality of their ethnicity by researching the ethnic food of migrants. My data are based on fieldwork and interviews conducted in many immigrant communities in Tsurumi Ward, Yokohama. My analysis shows the process of ethnicity internalization with each stage of migration. I found that migrants make their ethnicity authentic and intimate through their ethnic food. This study discusses implications for concrete food and abstract ethnicity.

Les préparations alimentaires dans les cuisines de Ramsès II. Premiers résultats de l’étude carpologique du secteur D.

by Aurélie Salavert

co-authored with M. Tengberg (UMR 7209, MNHN, Paris 1), published in Memnonia 2006 vol. XVI pp. 121-131.

Auto-ethnography of my food habits

by Oleg Nekrassovski

draft only

• Book review: Kostandinos S. Christakis, 2005: Cretan Bronze Age Pithoi. Traditions and Trends in the Production and Consumption of Storage Containers in Bronze Age Crete.

by Peter Pavúk

American Journal of Archaeology 111-2 (2007) 375-376.