Foodways (Anthropology)

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.

Intensifying Taste, Intensifying Identity: Collectivity through Community Cookbooks

by Kennan Ferguson

The Flavor of the Place: Eating and Drinking in Payottenland

by Tim Waterman

Chapter published in Strong, Jeremy, ed. (2011) Educated Tastes: Food, Drink and Connoisseur Culture, Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press

This paper explores the links between food, beer, landscape and identity in the Belgian region of Payottenland and... more This paper explores the links between food, beer, landscape and identity in the Belgian region of Payottenland and proposes that a new vision for sustainable living on the urban fringe might be emerging, and that this vision is manifested in new and traditional foodways.

Eating out on vacations

by Jordan Kocevski

Jordan Kocevski1 and Michael Risteski
University of “St. Kliment Ohridski” –Bitola, Faculty for tourism and hospitality –Ohrid,
contact us on our e-mails for full paper:
jokoc@yahoo.com
risteski_m@yahoo.com
or pm me

Eating out is an emerging trend all over the world, especially now when eating in front of other people aren’t a taboo... more Eating out is an emerging trend all over the world, especially now when eating in front of other people aren’t a taboo anymore. The popularization of this trend is evident from the beginning of the 90s when the economies have gotten stronger, and since it has been growing. There are many forms of eating out, and many locations where food can be consume away from our residence. This paper will be focusing on eating out during a vacation, when people are on holiday away from their home, and their residential city. The goal will be to stress the differences that exist between eating out at our hometown and eating out when in another city (or even more important abroad) on a vacation. To do so, we are going to introduce the reader to the meaning of eating out and the locations where people can dine outside their home, focusing on the locations that are relevant for eating out on holidays. Then we are going to explain the basic behavior of people when consuming food during a vacation, focusing on the choices they make, the time when the food is consumed and so on. At the end we are going to make the difference between eating out on vacation and eating out in our hometown, so we can give some basic instructions to hospitality facilities owners on how to attract more people to dine at their facility.

Keywords: eating out, vacation, consumer behavior, hospitality facilities.

Tasting Texas

by Irina Dumitrescu

published in the Southwest Review (2012) Vol. 97, No. 1.

An essay on Texas food cultures and immigrant fusion. An essay on Texas food cultures and immigrant fusion.

Everyday Religion and Identity in a Western Manitoban Chinese Community: Christianity, the KMT, Foodways and Related Events. Journal of the American Academy of Religion 2009 77(3):573-608

by Alison Marshall

Immigrating to the Canadian prairies in the late 1870s, a predominantly male Chinese population first settled in... more Immigrating to the Canadian prairies in the late 1870s, a predominantly male Chinese population first settled in Winnipeg, Manitoba, then in Brandon and cities, towns, and villages created by new branch lines of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) in the 1880s. From the earliest time of the province's post-colonial settlement, men could join the Chinese Freemasons (Hongmen/Zhigongtang) whose 1863 headquarters was established in Barkerville, British Columbia, and later the Chinese Benevolent Association (CBA) in 1884 in Victoria. By 1910, a Winnipeg Freemasons "lodge" (probably a restaurant) existed that also housed a local branch of the Tongmenghui (Chinese United League). Two years later, it became a secret KMT (Zhongguo Guomindang or Chinese Nationalist League in the West) office and one year after that a rural outpost opened in Brandon. While the men had found comfort in the fellowship provided by Freemasons and CBA membership, in the KMT they had Sun Yatsen (1866–1925) who, like them, came from a southern village and was now living away from China. This essay examines the front and back regions of everyday religiosity that emerged out of KMT involvement and relationships, reverence for Sun Yatsen, and a nominal Christian identity in a Western Manitoban Chinese Community.

Investigative Management and Consumer Research on the Internet

by Peter Lugosi

A final version of this paper will be published as Lugosi, P., Janta, H. and Watson, P. (2012) Investigative Management and Consumer Research on the Internet. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management Vol. 24, No. 6. Please consult the final published version if citing.

This paper introduces the notion of Investigative Research on the Internet (IRI) and conceptualises its processes... more This paper introduces the notion of Investigative Research on the Internet (IRI) and conceptualises its processes through the principle of streaming. It discusses the similarities and differences between IRI and netnography and considers various aspects of the IRI process, including site selection, sampling, data collection and analysis. It is argued that streaming can help to understand the processes involved in conducting netnographic research. Moreover, it is suggested that streaming is a more appropriate way to conceptualise some internet-based studies that do not conform to netnographic or ethnographic ideals. Three international empirical cases are used to illustrate the application of IRI and streaming in research on international workers, consumer cultures and on emerging business phenomena.

Il senso degli altri. Cibo, identità e metissage

by Cristina Balma Tivola

2010, licensed under CC3.0.

An introduction to anthropology of food, its interests and foci, and to intersections between food and culture(s). An introduction to anthropology of food, its interests and foci, and to intersections between food and culture(s).

The Cheeses of Hokkaido and other Milky Issues in a Ricist Society

by Michael Ashkenazi

A SHORT ESSAY ABOUT THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF FOOD FOR STUDENTS IN OTHER FOOD-RELATED DISCIPLINES

by Robert Dirks

Part of a paper submitted for publication and co-authored with Gina Hunter

Playing with Food

by Sabina Magliocco

In Studies in Italian American Folklore, ed. by Luisa Del Giudice

How Italian Americans in Clinton, Indiana use foods as symbols in a festival designed to bring tourists into their... more How Italian Americans in Clinton, Indiana use foods as symbols in a festival designed to bring tourists into their community.  Based on fieldwork in the 1980s; first published in 1993.

Conceptos y métodos para el estudio zooarqueológico de la cocción de los alimentos

by Daniela Ávido

AVIDO, D. N.
Conceptos y métodos para el estudio zooarqueológico de la cocción de los alimentos. Manuscrito en evaluación

Subsistence has been one of the core issues in archaeological research, especially to those dedicated to the study of... more Subsistence has been one of the core issues in archaeological research, especially to those dedicated to the study of hunter gatherers. In this contribution, I focus on one of subsistence aspects, food, by understanding it as a macroprocess that does not just include consumption but also those practices related to food processing and cooking (Goody 1995; Samuel 1996, Marschoff 2007).
I will start with a brief summary of the commonly used approaches to food from faunal assemblages in the Wet Pampas, and then I will focus on thermal alteration marks, as physical features of practices involving cooking. I will point out the variables used for the identification and measurement of thermal alterations, by comparing several researchers’ contributions. Finally, I will discuss the applicability of these studies for assessing cooking activities from zooarchaeological analyses.

Key words: food - cooking - thermal alterations.

Indagando en los habitos alimenticios de los cazadores recolectores de la Pampa Deprimida

by Daniela Ávido

Autores: Verónica Aldazabal, Emilio Eugenio, Daniela Ávido. En: Babot, Pazzarelli y Marschoff (eds.), Las manos en la masa. Arqueologías y Antropologías de la alimentación en Suramérica. En prensa.

Este trabajo pretende indagar en los hábitos alimenticios de los cazadores recolectores a partir del análisis de la... more Este trabajo pretende indagar en los hábitos alimenticios de los cazadores recolectores a partir del análisis de la evidencia arqueológica recuperada en el sitio El Divisadero Monte 6 que fue ocupado por cazadores-recolectores-pescadores del Holoceno tardío y localizado en la Pampa Deprimida (Buenos Aires, Argentina). Para ello se parte de un análisis espacial de los restos arqueológicos, asumiendo que su distribución, junto con la información obtenida de los restos faunísticos, vegetales, instrumentos líticos, fragmentos cerámicos y de cinco estructuras de combustión, permite inferir los procesos conductuales vinculados con los hábitos alimenticios, considerando las prácticas de aprovisionamiento, procesamiento, cocción, presentación e ingesta de alimentos.

Farm Subsidies and the Logic of Collective Action

by Eric Gallager

Wrote this at the end of the first semester of my Politics and Values class freshman year, for our American Politics unit. My professor was Steven Kelts and my teaching assistant was Richie Wilcox.

In this paper I show how the current distribution of farm subsidies is an example of the collective action problem. In this paper I show how the current distribution of farm subsidies is an example of the collective action problem.

Reassignment of Farm Subsidies

by Eric Gallager

This was my big research paper for my University Writing class, which is the freshman writing program that all GW undergraduate students have to take. My specific section was about food issues in America. The professor was Shelly Mackenzie.

In this paper I argue that farm subsidies be reallocated away from corn. In this paper I argue that farm subsidies be reallocated away from corn.

You Can Trust Starbucks

by Eric Gallager

This advertising analysis was written my freshman year for my University Writing class, which focused on food issues in American politics. The professor was Shelly Mackenzie.

In this paper, I show how a specific Starbucks advertisement makes an ethos-based appeal. In this paper, I show how a specific Starbucks advertisement makes an ethos-based appeal.

Food Representations in Early Modern Europe: Powerful Appetites

by Brian Cowan

chapter nine in: A Cultural History of Food, Fabio Parasecoli and Peter Scholliers, general editors, vol. 4, The Early Modern Age, Beat Kümin, ed., (Oxford: Berg, 2012), 165-83.

In both the visual and verbal media of early modern Europe, a number of new genres of food representation emerged. In... more In both the visual and verbal media of early modern Europe, a number of new genres of food representation emerged. In painting and printed images, the still-life and the genre scene developed as distinct genres of visual representation after the late sixteenth century. In the realm of written texts, innovation in genres such as the cookbook and early or proto-gastronomic writing developed somewhat later, in the later seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Food was central to these new genres. They were also works which sought to represent food and its consumption realistically, rather than works in which food served primarily as a symbol for something else. This chapter examines the emergence of these new, realist genres of food representations from the late sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries.

New Worlds, New Tastes: Food Fashions After the Renaissance

by Brian Cowan

Pre-Publication Draft Only. For the final version, please see:

Brian Cowan, “New Worlds, New Tastes: Food Fashions After the Renaissance,” in Food: The History of Taste, Paul Freedman, ed., California Studies in Food and Culture, 21, (Berkeley and Los Angeles: Univ. of California Press; London: Thames & Hudson, November 2007), 196-231.

A set of paradoxes lay at the heart of early modern European culinary experiences. The food culture of the period can... more A set of paradoxes lay at the heart of early modern European culinary experiences. The food culture of the period can be understood as perpetually torn between pressures to maintain continuity in the face of revolutionary changes as well as being divided between common cosmopolitan tastes shared by European elites across the continent and a growing sense of urgency behind defining national differences in terms of rival national cuisines. On the one hand, the cosmopolitan intellectual culture of humanism struggled to maintain and revive the culinary and dietetic legacies of classical antiquity. On the other hand, the ‘modern’ pressures for change were irresistible, particularly as access to, and knowledge of, new foods and new cooking techniques increased.

This chapter explores these paradoxes of early modern food culture by examining carefully the two most important influences on European understandings of food between the age of Columbus and the age of the French Revolution: humanism and mercantilism.

This chapter also explains the rise of a new culinary aesthetic in early modern Europe (c. 1500- c. 1800). It describes the transition from medieval and renaissance culinary ideal of 'intensive‘ flavouring through sugars and spices of a few select dishes to a more expansive early modern and enlightenment culinary aesthetic of 'extensive‘ spicing of a wider variety of new foods. This transformation in taste was part of a wider European cultural revolution that occurred in the wake of humanist neo-classicism and the expansion of European trading networks in Asia and the Atlantic world. While this post-renaissance cultural revolution had its origins in the late fifteenth and sixteenth-centuries, its impact on European taste was not fully felt until the mid-seventeenth century.

POTATO ONTOLOGY: Surviving Postsocialism In Russia

by Nancy Ries

Plan Colombia Under Clinton: 1993-2001

by Leif Brecke

U.S. intervention in Colombia was initially sold to the American public as necessary to contain the threat of... more U.S. intervention in Colombia was initially sold to the American public as necessary to contain the threat of Communism. Plan Colombian, under Clinton was sold to the American public under the guise of the “War on Drugs” to curb narcotics flow into the U.S. The hegemonic discourse is that the American public demanded “strong leadership” in a battle against the corruption of America's youth. In reality, the Clinton administration heavily financed a “manufacture of consent” under Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey. I will demonstrate this propaganda machine and Clinton's crony corporate network that profited from this war.