Food History

Un palmento ben conservato a Novi Velia ed altri palmenti nel territorio del Cilento. Osservazioni ed ipotesi

by Fernando La Greca

Aniello Botti, David L. Thurmond, Fernando La Greca, "Un palmento ben conservato a Novi Velia ed altri palmenti nel territorio del Cilento. Osservazioni ed ipotesi", in "Annali Storici di Principato Citra", IX, 2, Luglio-Dicembre 2011, pp. 5-52.

Lo studio riguarda i palmenti, ossia i tini di pietra rupestri, finora ritrovati nel Cilento, confrontandoli con gli... more Lo studio riguarda i palmenti, ossia i tini di pietra rupestri, finora ritrovati nel Cilento, confrontandoli con gli altri palmenti attestati in Italia, ed avanzando delle ipotesi sulla loro origine e sul loro impiego nella vitivinicoltura. Con illustrazioni e bibliografia.

La pesca durant l'edat mitjana a través de les fonts literàries catalanes

by Frederic Aparisi Romero

Fishing in the middle ages is a subject that has interested the Spanish historiography recently. However, a paper... more Fishing in the middle ages is a subject that has interested the Spanish historiography recently. However, a paper about the sources and the work lines that the historianshave to study it has not done yet. This paper is an attempt to revise the sources of Catalan literature produced during the 13th and 15th Centuries trying to concrete the considerations about the fish and fishing in the Crown of Aragon in this period.

On Cooking and Eating by Ivy Helman

by Feminism and Religion

Originally published on the Feminism and Religion project

In patriarchal heterosexist societies women do most if not all of the cooking for their families.  Women are also... more In patriarchal heterosexist societies women do most if not all of the cooking for their families.  Women are also usually assigned the tasks of cleaning, raising children, tending the family garden, gathering water and anything else that is considered part and parcel of caring for the family.  These feminine tasks are often devalued compared to the activities men spend their time doing.  I wholeheartedly support the reevaluation of the significance of these tasks and the movement toward shared responsibility for family life among heterosexual couples, however that is not what I want to discuss today.

The food system in the Iron Age of Trentino Alto Adige (Italy):rural land use, agro-pastoral economy and food consumption

by Luca Gaetano Pisoni

''לחם צר ומים לחץ' – לחמהּ של קהילת המורדים במצדה'

by Guy Stiebel

בתוך: סטרינסקי א' ורז א' (עורכים), מלח הארץ כרך 6, סדרה למחקרי ים המלח, הוצאת מאגנס, ירושלים, תשע"ב, עמ' 116-104.

''לחם צר ומים לחץ' – לחמהּ של קהילת המורדים במצדה'

by Guy Stiebel

בתוך: סטרינסקי א' ורז א' (עורכים), מלח הארץ כרך 6, סדרה למחקרי ים המלח, הוצאת מאגנס, ירושלים, תשע"ב, עמ' 116-104.

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.

Traditions culinaires sud-africaines: patrimonialisation et oubli de l'histoire

by François-Xavier Fauvelle-Aymar

Published in M. Chastanet, F.-X. Fauvelle-Aymar & D. Juhé-Beaulaton (eds.), "Cuisine et société en Afrique: histoire, saveurs, savoir-faire" (Paris: Karthala, 2002): 25-37.

The Development of Contemporary Dairy Culture: Appropriation of American Bodies for Industry and the National Defense

by Victor Galli

Senior thesis for the Science, Technology & Society program in the Department of the History & Sociology of Science.

Food Processing in the Levant during the Middle Bronze Age. Fire installation cooking pots and grinding tools at Tell Mardikh-Ebla (Syria) - Two Case Studies

by Gilberta Spreafico

Co-authored with L. Peyronel

The excavations carried out since 1964 at Ebla-Tell Mardikh (North Inner Syria), have brought to light large sectors... more The excavations carried out since 1964 at Ebla-Tell Mardikh (North Inner Syria), have brought to light large sectors of the Old Syrian town dating to the Middle Bronze Age II (c. 1800-1600 BC). A large quarter of houses located in the Area B East, at the foot of the Acropolis in the South-Western sector of the Lower Town , and the Western Fort, built on the top of the rampart defending the town during the Middle Bronze Age, provided a large evidence of fire installations and contexts related to the food processing (cooking pots,
grinding tools, and bio-archaeological remains). Within a more wide project of environmental cross-disciplinary researches, including archaeometry, bio-archaeology, palaeogeography, sedimentological and geological analyses, we will focus here the attention on the typology of fireplaces for cooking and/or heating, proposing a comparison between a public defensive complex and a group of private dwellings.

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.

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.

The Extractive Economy: An Early Phase of the Globalization of Diet, and its Environmental Consequences

by Richard Wilk

An edited and shotened version of this paper was published as Wilk, Richard 2007 “The Extractive Economy: An Early Phase of the Globalization of Diet, and its Environmental Consequences.” In Rethinking Environmental History: World System History and Global Environmental Change, edited by Alf Hornborg, John McNeil and Joan Martinez-Alier, Lanham: Altamira Press. Pp. 179-198.

The literature on globalization is replete with millenarian and utopian ideas about the uniqueness of the present... more The literature on globalization is replete with millenarian and utopian ideas about the uniqueness of the present moment, constantly showing us that the intoxication of modernism has not really disappeared, at least from the world of professional visionaries.  For those of us interested in the world food system, it is commonplace to hear that we have just entered an era of globalization and McDonaldization, and that until recently all food was local, traditional, seasonal, and diverse. The real history of the globalization of food systems is much deeper and more complex than I can even begin to describe here. Instead I want to pull out one part of an earlier global food system, to show that it had common qualities, a coherence that allows us to trace some common characteristics in many localities around the world.

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.

Keszthely – Fenékpuszta késő római erőd ásatásain előkerült ételmaradványok archaeobotanikai vizsgálata különös tekintettel a fogyasztott gabonafélékre és az elkészítés módjára - Archaeobotanical examination of food remains from Keszthely – Fenékpuszta Late Roman inner fortress with special focus on the consumption of cereals and the preparation of food

by Ákos Pető

Kenéz, Á. – Gyulai, F. – Pető, Á., 2012. Keszthely – Fenékpuszta késő római erőd ásatásain előkerült ételmaradványok archaeobotanikai vizsgálata különös tekintettel a fogyasztott gabonafélékre és az elkészítés módjára - Archaeobotanical examination of food remains from Keszthely – Fenékpuszta Late Roman inner fortress with special focus on the consumption of cereals and the preparation of food. In: Kreiter, A. – Pető, Á. – Tugya, B. (Szerk./Eds.) Környezet – Ember – Kultúra: Az alkalmazott természettudományok és a régészet párbeszéde - Environment – Human – Culture. Dialogue between applied sciences and archaeology. Budapest: Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum, 173-179. (in Hungarian with English abstract)

Remembering the invisible: blind spots in the reconstruction of prehistoric food procurement

by Isabell Schmidt

Tafelmaier, Y. & Schmidt, I. 2012: Remembering the invisible – blind spots in the reconstruction of food procurement. In: Proceedings of the IV Conference of Jovens em Investigação Arqueológica, Universidade do Algarve, Faro (Portugal) from 11th to 14th May 2011. Núcleo de Arqueologia e Paleoecologia (NAP), Faro.

Most of the conducted scientific analysis in Paleolithic research aims to enlighten the question of how prehistoric... more Most of the conducted scientific analysis in Paleolithic research aims to enlighten the question of how prehistoric hominids organized themselves to guarantee their survival. To reconstruct resource procurement and processing, archaeologists continuously use information from the ethnographic record. In the presented study, we analyze ethnographic film material concerned with food acquisition and processing among hunter-gatherers, focusing on activities and decisions that are not directly reflected in the preserved material world. In drawing attention to these “blind spots” within archaeological records, we intend to sensitize for the wide range of (ethnographically documented) scenarios that exist. They are often ignored when it comes to the interpretation of archaeological remains. The low resolution of archaeological records might provoke a simplification, but we argue that the ignorance of the variability can lead to severe misinterpretations in the reconstruction of resource procurement and processing.

Introduction to the Session: Food for Thoughts! Some Thoughts on Foods – Reconstructing Prehistoric Food Procurement

by Isabell Schmidt

Schmidt, I. & Tafelmaier, Y 2012: Introduction to the Session: Food for Thoughts! Some Thoughts on Foods – Reconstructing Prehistoric Food Procurement. In: Proceedings of the IV Conference of Jovens em Investigação Arqueológica, Universidade do Algarve, Faro (Portugal) from 11th to 14th May 2011. Núcleo de Arqueologia e Paleoecologia (NAP), Faro.

Elizabeth Spiller, “Recipes for Knowledge: Maker’s Knowledge Traditions, Paracelsian Recipes, and the Invention of the Cookbook,” in Renaissance Food from Rabelais to Shakespeare, ed. Joan Fitzpatrick (Ashgate, 2009), pp. 55-72.

by Elizabeth Spiller

Twain's Feast: “The American” at Table

by Andrew Beahrs

Aguecheek's Beef, Belch's Hiccup, and Other Gastronomic Interjections: Literature, Culture, and Food among the Early Moderns . Robert Appelbaum

by Elizabeth Spiller

Rev. of Robert Appelbaum, “Aguecheek’s Beef, Belch’s Hiccup, and Other Gastronomical Interjections.” Modern Philology (2010). http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdfplus/10.1086/651364