Three Food Anthropologists Gather Around the Italian Table
by Emily Contois
photo credit Lucia Austria
Featuring the work of three influential food anthropologists, the fall 2012 BU Gastronomy lecture series concluded with a flourish on November 12 with “Around the Italian Table: A Roundtable Discussion of Contemporary Food Ethnography in Italy.”
United in their methodologies and Italian focus, each explores different aspects of Italian foodways. The work of Carole Counihan, Professor Emerita of Anthropology at Millersville University and Visiting Professor of Gastronomy, spans more than thirty years. From studying the modernization of consumption in the late 1970s to analyzing the motivations and function of food activism in the twenty-first century, Counihan’s body of work demonstrates how a scholar’s study questions evolve over time. Valeria Siniscalchi, Associate Professor of Anthropology, EHESS, has studied food as a social connector and an economic object in Italy and France. Her recent work analyzes the Slow Food Movement, focusing on the economic and political dynamics of the organization’s leadership. Rachel Black, Assistant Professor of Gastronomy, has studied Porta Palazzo, the largest open-air market in Western Europe, as a field unto itself that prompts discussion of topics as far afield as immigration, culinary tourism, and urban renewal. She now focuses on the anthropology of wine, an understudied topic, exploring the construction of vino naturale and the economic contribution of wine cooperatives.
photo credit Lucia Austria
Taking questions from the audience, the speakers engaged in a lively discussion, beginning with the role of the anthropologist and the “schizophrenia of anthropology.” As they spend significant time in a culture not their own, anthropologists endeavor to see a culture with new eyes, but without ethnocentrism. In this process, there is a constant negotiation of the insider-outsider relationship. In the end, even for Siniscalchi, an Italian who studies Italians, the anthropologist is always an outsider.
photo credit Lucia Austria
The conversation later turned to the generational and gendered dimensions of Italian foodways, as even women who work outside of the home perform as much as 90 percent of domestic duties. Black shared that many Italian women in their twenties and thirties have never learned to cook, as their mothers have instead encouraged them to pursue professional careers outside of the home. Counihan and Siniscalchi discussed how youth are often drawn to the Slow Food Movement for political reasons, desiring to resist the hegemonic power of the agro-industrial food system. Older Slow Food members, however, are more highly motivated by the taste of good food that they recognize as Italian.
photo credit Lucia Austria
Italians often perceive good food as local food, grown in Italy, a perspective greatly impacted by globalization. Black discussed how market vendors post signs reading, nostrano, meaning “ours” and indicating a strong and intimate connection between food and place. Counihan posits that participating in a global economy has made Italians even more chauvinistic about local food. As new immigrants continue to enter Italy, however, tensions must be negotiated, determining the place of the “other” in Italian culture and foodways.
This dynamic roundtable event revealed that we in food studies are never studying only food. As Counihan stated, food is heavily inflected with emotions, customs, economics, politics, and power, which inevitably link up with other things in a culture. For food anthropologists, and food studies scholars more generally, food is our powerful lens of choice for viewing the greater world.
Emily is a current gastronomy student and graduate assistant. Check out her research in food studies, nutrition, and public health on her blog, emilycontois.com.
Taza Chocolate: An Experience in Flavor, Amongst Other Senses
Last month, Rachel Black's Food and the Senses class and Gastronomy lecturer Netta Davis took a field trip to Taza Chocolate in Somerville, MA. The class participated in a factory tour, and each student had the opportunity to closely scrutinize the facility not only with their eyes, but also with all of their physical senses. Student Robert Haley recounts his experience.
by Robert Haley
photo credit Lucia Austria
Taza Chocolate Factory provides any visitor to their facility with a multi-sensory experience that ensures the guest will leave with greater knowledge of their product, as well as familiarity with all of the types of chocolates they offer through firsthand interaction. The first sensory experience takes place when you enter the door, and you go from a dilapidated factory exterior in a rundown area of Somerville to a cozy gift shop well-decorated in a Central American theme. The shop is adjacent to the closest production room, which can be viewed through the large picture windows located next to the register. Though the interior of the production room is quite commercial and unflattering in color, it does provide the visitor a chance to see instantly a part of the chocolate making process as it is happening.
Taza goes even further to ensure that your first moments at the factory are as connected with the coveted chocolate as possible, as throughout the shop area there are baskets of free samples containing a variety of their different types of chocolates. Unlike most tours associated with food items, Taza encourages sampling of their unique Mexican chocolates before beginning the factory tour. It seems that this multi-sensory exposure to the chocolate at the outset is beneficial for both Taza and its guests – the ingredients and processes behind the production of Mexican chocolate is different from what most Americans associate with more “traditional” chocolates. There are no dairy additives, and the resulting smell, flavor, and taste reflect this difference. The mouthfeel of the chocolate is grittier than its counterpart produced with dairy, and the flavor of the cacao is more defined here than in other chocolates. Taza seems to suggest that for the guest to fully comprehend the production process viewed on the tour, they should first expose themselves to the product using all of the senses.
While only a small section of the factory was in production while we participated in our tour, Taza Chocolate does an excellent job describing the process from farm to factory. As with the gift shop, Taza ensures the tour is a multi-sensory experience, where throughout the visit raw ingredients are made available for the guests to see, smell, touch, and taste. Our group was able to smell various cinnamon samples, handle a roasted cocoa bean, examine nibs created from the cocoa bean shell, and of course, sample many types of chocolate. The strongest sense experienced throughout the tour was smell, as even though production concluded for the day, the smell of the chocolate making process still lingered in each room, seemingly inviting the guest to experience more.
The Taza Chocolate tour is a welcome experience for anyone looking to learn the unique process behind the production of Mexican chocolate, and participate in a multi-sensory experience along the way. By allowing the visitor to experience all facets of the product at the outset, as well as throughout the tour, they ensure the guest has a greater understanding of what Taza is trying to achieve with their brand, and how they go about creating their product.
Rob Haley is working towards his Master's in Gastronomy, and is also the Senior Media Producer at the Office of Distance Education at Boston University.
Wine and Dine, Medieval Islamic Style
By Elizabeth Mindreau
Photo credit Elizabeth Mindreau
The students of Kyri Claflin’s History of Food (ML622) class were treated to a lecture and cooking demonstration by scholar of Medieval Islamic cuisine and food writer, Nawal Nasrallah. Nawal discussed what historians consider the Golden Age of the Arab World, between the 8th and 13thcenturies. She described Baghdad as the center of the world during that period and made medieval Baghdad come alive with descriptions of a cosmopolitan city with a bounty of ingredients in its markets brought by the many caravans passing through. Baghdad was full of nouveaux-riches with a taste for fine cuisine and the means to buy it.
Nawal followed her lecture with a cooking demonstration using recipes from the 10th century Baghdadi cookbook, Kitab al-Tabeekh by Ibn Sayyār al-Warrāq. She translated this medieval work under the title Annals of the Caliphs’ Kitchens. Using these age-old recipes, Nawal transformed simple shredded chicken into an aromatic delight by adding sibagh, a dipping sauce made from ground walnuts and pomegranate juice. Additionally, soy sauce was used to replace a medieval Arab condiment made of fermented barley known as murri. The chicken and sauce were blended together and presented on a platter sprinkled with fresh pomegranate seeds.
Photo credit Elizabeth Mindreau
Nawal prepared a few other dishes, like bazmaward, a pinwheel-type sandwich of cheese, nuts, mushrooms, and eggs, and badhinjan mahshi, a dish of boiled and chopped eggplant mixed with caramelized onions, ground almonds, fresh cilantro, chives, parsley, caraway seeds, cinnamon, olive oil, vinegar, and soy sauce. By the end of her demonstration, our appetites were in high gear. We filled our plates and dug in. So what does food from 10thcentury Baghdad taste like? The chicken and sibagh were bright and savory. The badhinjan mahshi was soft and succulent. The herbs in the bazmaward danced on my tongue while the finely minced ingredients of the sandwich melted in my mouth.
Recreating dishes from a medieval cookbook is an amazing way to immerse yourself into a sensory connection with the past. Of course, it can never be the same since the cooking environment, cooking technology, and taste of the raw ingredients (due environmental changes) are different. But, I believe that one can get close to the experience by physically recreating the movements that someone made so long ago to prepare the food and the final experience of tasting and eating it. It can bring us a new understanding of what life in the past may have been like in a very intimate way. It is also a thrill to taste flavor combinations that may not be available in the modern culinary arena.
Photo Credit Elizabeth Mindreau
Nawal's lecture made me appreciate the rich, noble, and lengthy history of Arabic cuisine as well as of the Arabic culture in general. I am discovering that learning topics through a food-centered lens is highly effective. Because food is deeply embedded in one's daily life, it can be an excellent vehicle for transmitting knowledge. As we ate, Nawal discussed the challenges of translating Medieval Islamic cookbooks into English. She said that so much more work needs to be done, particularly with the cookbooks of Andalus, (Medieval Islamic Spain). More scholars, particularly with foreign language skills, are needed. Time to sign up for Arabic class!
Elizabeth Mindreau is a former graphic designer and first year Gastronomy student. When not studying, Elizabeth is busy trying to feed her two young sons anything but chicken nuggets and Oreos.
Course Highlight: Food and the Senses
by Lara Zelman
All Gastronomy students take the course Food and the Senses, a class that marries the humanities and scientific approaches to understanding the physical senses in relation to food experiences. Graduate student Lara Zelman questions and discusses the complex relationship between the senses, brain signals, and external influences on perceptions of food.
The article “Flavor and the Brain” by Dana Small defines flavor as “a perception that includes gustatory, oral-somatosensory, and retronasal olfactory signals that arise from the mouth as foods and beverages are consumed.” Small discusses that “although the sights, sounds and smells of foods that occur just before, or in the absence of eating, can impact flavor perception, it is argued that these sensory signals exert their influence by creating expectations based upon prior associations.” The discussion touches on “top-down” influences including attention, expectations, and beliefs and how they impact neural and perceptual responses. For example, being told about the intensity of a flavor can impact the resulting response in the brain. In the context of her article, Small discusses how vision influences flavor, similarly to how verbal labels and cues might create expectations about the sensory experience. These top-down mechanisms bias “the neural code towards expected experiences.”
After reading the article I began to think about how flavor is influenced by expectation, specifically in the context of dining out at restaurants. What information influences and shapes the diner’s expectations, and how does this impact the diner’s perception of flavor? Is it influenced by expectations created before the dining experience as well as during? When information is readily available, how does this change the dining experience? If the diner is armed with photographs and descriptions prior to eating, will the flavor he experiences be different than if he just ordered off the menu with no prior knowledge? There are numerous ways to get information before dining out. Information on restaurants is available on websites, on television, in magazines, in guidebooks, and in newspapers. How does this impact the diner’s sensory experience? Websites like Tasted Menu and smart phone apps like Nosh let users post reviews and photographs of individual menu items at restaurants. Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram allow users to post real-time accounts of their dining experience. How does this information and visual representation shape the diner’s expectations?
Information on food is also presented through both food advertising and television programming. There are numerous television programs that feature restaurant dishes, like Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. What impact does watching this type of program have on a viewer’s future dining experience? Viewers watch featured chefs prepare dishes, eat, and describe their experience. The viewer is getting a visual (and somewhat auditory) play-by-play of the sensory experience of the host – smells, texture, and flavor – but without actually experiencing them. Areas for future study could look at the impact that this prior information has on shaping expectations and the resulting brain response and perception of flavor. From a marketing perspective, restaurants and food companies could understand how this type of information either positively or negatively impacts the diner’s experience.
Lara is a BU graduate and works full-time as a marketing manager. She is currently taking the course Food and the Senses. Read her full post and follow Lara on her blog at GoodCookDoris.com.
November Events
Plenty of fun events to be had this November! Mark your calendars with these awesome food events and lectures!
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 3
Boston Event Guide presents Fall Wine Fest. Celebrate Fall and taste wines of the world. Guests will be given a passport (event layout) to travel to different regions around the world and taste wines from each.
12 pm, 3 pm, & 7pm; Cyclorama, 539 Tremont Street, Boston
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 5
Gastronomy Lecture Series - Join us in a conversation with Kyri Claflin, Gastronomy lecturer and co-author of Writing Food History: A Global Perspective.
5-6 pm, Fuller 109, 808 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8
The Harvard University Food Literacy Project invites all to join David Buchanan, author of Taste, Memory, to the event Forgotten Foods, Lost Flavors, and Why They Matter. A grower of over 250 heirloom varieties of plants, Buchanan explores how biodiversity impacts the future of food and farming. How can we strike a balance between preserving the past, maintaining valuable agricultural and culinary traditions, and looking ahead to breed new plants? To what extent should growers value efficiency and uniformity over matters of taste, ecology, or regional identity? In this talk, David Buchanan will discuss agricultural biodiversity, what it means, why it’s important, and how we can maintain it. Open to the public. Heirloom tasting to follow.
6:30 pm - 7:30 pm, Sever 103, Harvard Yard, Cambridge
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 11
Museum of Fine Arts presents Gallery Talk: Feasting, Food And Festivals In Ancient Art. Experience a banquet for your eyes as we examine the art of food and drink in the ancient world. Join guest lecturer Christopher Gilbert for a deep draught of knowledge as we learn about the role of feasting and food!
2pm, Sharf Visitor Center MFA, Boston
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 12
Gastronomy Lecture Series - Join us for “Around the Italian Table: A Roundtable Discussion of Contemporary Food Ethnography in Italy," with Carole Counihan, Visiting Professor of Gastronomy, Rachel Black, Assistant Professor of Gastronomy, and Valeria Siniscalchi, Associate Professor of Anthropology, EHESS.
6 pm, SHA Auditorium, 928 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston
--AND--
Boston magazine presents their annual Taste event. This event celebrates the November dining issue with an evening of delectable offerings, highlighting some of the best chefs, mixologists, and restaurants featured in Boston magazine this year. Purchase tickets here.
6 pm, Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Boston
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13
The Culinary Historians of Boston present BU Gastronomy Program Coordinator, Barbara Rotger. In this presentation she will shed light on her path through the wonderful world of gastronomy as well as some of the cherished recipes she has collected along the way.
6 pm, Schlesinger Library, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14
Rachel Black, Gastronomy Assistant Professor and Academic Coordinator, will present a special lecture, A Taste of Britain: From Post-Colonial Cuisine to Molecular Gastronomy as part of the Museum of Fine Arts course series, Cheers! Celebrate Enchanted England. Ticket purchase required; $25 for MFA members, seniors, and students, $30 for nonmembers.
1-2:30 pm, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Remis Auditorium, 161
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 16 & SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17
Get your tickets for the Beer Summit Harvest Fest. Celebrate the Fall beers from over 60 different breweries. It's a celebration of the best Autumn beers in the world, right here in Boston. Purchase are on sale here.
various times, 130 Columbus Ave, Boston
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18
Meet locals and exchange creative prepared foods in a Boston Food Swap. All swap items must be homemade, homegrown, or foraged by you. Bring as little or as much as you like. You can bring a bunch of one thing or multiples of a few different things. The possibilities are endless! Admission is free but RSVP is required.
2 pm, Space with a Soul, 281 Summer St, Boston
Gordon Shepherd on the Science of Flavor
By Miki Kawasaki
Photo credit Lucia Austria
Anyone looking for proof of the truly multidisciplinary nature of Gastronomy would have been well advised to attend Gordon Shepherd’s lecture Neurogastronomy: What is it, and why does it matter? on October 24th. Shepherd is a professor of Neurobiology at Yale University whose research has largely focused on the olfactory systems in the brain responsible for processing the sensory information humans receive via their sense of smell. Keeping in mind the significant role odors play in articulating flavor, he has coined the term “neurogastronomy” to describe the pleasures of eating on a biological level. The key concept behind neurogastronomy, according to Shepherd, is that flavor does not exist in food, but is created in the brain. His interests lie in how the brain shapes our experience of food and influences our decisions regarding what to eat. In many ways, his work is biological proof of Pierre Bourdieu’s maxim that personal taste is “produced by conditions of existence which rule out all alternatives as mere daydreams”.
Shepherd’s research has implications for a wide range of topics familiar to students of Gastronomy, from the role of language in advancing food procurement among early humans to the present day obesity epidemic. Underlying these themes are the difficulties in modifying human behavior due to the entrenchment of neurochemical processes. In the case of food, this involves the role that memory and emotion plays in driving our cravings (think of Marcel Proust’s famous example of the madeleine). Shepherd points to research showing that the formation of food memories determines individual eating behaviors, leading to the conclusion that humans are most vulnerable to forming bad habits during the developmental stages of youth. He strongly believes that it is necessary to start looking at the neurological causes of disordered eating and to consider recent developments suggesting that the brain is more adaptable than previously assumed. Unsurprisingly, in an echo of the woes of food scholars who lament the lack of recognition for their field, research on the brain flavor system is still quite underdeveloped.
Columbia University Press
Shepherd’s lecture ended in a lively question and answer session, with many members of the audience inquiring about the nature of food addiction. While some questions focused on dietary frustrations (Why is it so hard for some people to stop eating? Can I get addicted to broccoli?), others sought to reflect on our perceptions of unhealthy eating (Is addiction a disease?). Shepherd’s overall response was that it is not only necessary to recognize these problems as a concern of public health, but to also consider the terms by which we frame our discussion of them. Shepherd urges that even in light of the melancholic view that human perception is a slave to past experience, food activists must be adamant in questioning and reforming the institutions that have resulted in the food dilemmas society faces today.
Gordon Shepherd’s latest book, Neurogastronomy - How the Brain Creates Flavor and Why It Matters, was published last year by Columbia University Press.
Rise of Brunch
by Natalie Shmulik
Boston Brunchers began their mission on September 2010 thanks to social media mastermind, Renee Hirschberg. While many local dining groups have either lost interest or simply gone their separate ways, the Brunchers remain a strong force in the Boston food scene. What is most fascinating is that these bloggers focus their attention on an “in-between” meal. The concept of breakfast and lunch shacking up together is not new, but baby brunch, who typically borrows traits from mom and dad’s menus, is starting to grow up and take on a new and exciting personality, completely independent of the parent meals. No longer is brunch the provider of leftover dinners and stale coffee. Restaurants are now designing intricate dishes at their brunch tables, distinct from their usual offerings. Top chefs are hired for their innovative ideas and brunch-oriented culinary skills. Even luxury ingredients such as truffle, duck, and bourbon vanilla bean are gradually making their way into this increasingly popular mid-day meal. The weekend line-ups are growing, more fine-dining establishments are opening their doors to early morning crowds, and each of these restaurants are anxiously vying for the "Best of Boston: Brunch" title. It seems there is no slowing down this uprising trend, and the Boston Brunchers will be right there, getting a taste of what’s to come.
I accompanied the Boston Brunchers this past weekend to Catalyst in Cambridge. I couldn’t wait to dive into the modern, ever changing menu at this food-nerd hotspot. With free food flowing from the open kitchen, the 10 beaming Brunchees made a toast with refreshingly clever glasses of apple cider mimosas. We nibbled on in-house baked treats including buttery and irresistible chocolate scones, a slightly underwhelming skillet coffee cake, and maple syrup mini wings with a nice little kick.
I am a strong believer that eggs must in some form be part of a morning meal. Cracking open a pale shell to reveal a creamy, yellow yolk is the essential "break" in breakfast. I never thought it necessary to include a protein in addition to eggs, but Catalyst thinks otherwise. Egg-centered choices included; an egg sandwich with fennel sausage, a mushroom and mozzarella "omeletto", a pulled chicken frittata, and a poached farm egg with beef tournedo and parmesan cheese grits.
I took a chance on the beef and grits, though a large slab of meat in the morning is not usually my idea of a good meal. Steak for breakfast sounds like a rough start to the day. The last thing I want to do is tug at a chewy cut of meat while my eyes are still adjusting to daylight. Breakfast is meant to be delicate, relaxing and satisfying. Surprisingly, all these qualities were featured in this meaty dish.
The plate was beautifully put together. An eye-catching edible tower complete with a perfectly poached egg perched on an unintimidating slice of juicy beef nestled in a bed of pillowy grits. The 
meat was outstanding--a petite tournedo with a caramelized and slightly smoky exterior and a tender, carefully seasoned interior. All this was made even more remarkable once my fork sliced through the soft egg allowing the velvety yolk to spill over the delightful dish.
So, while eggs still reign supreme in my book of breakfast, this experience was just the catalyst needed for me to put a little quality meat on my plate every now and then.
Natalie is a current Gastronomy student and leads the Gastronomy Students Association. Boston Brunchers is featured in Foodies of New England Fall 2012 issue.
Today is Food Day
by Lucia Austria
On October 22, Oxfam America hosted “Plenty for the Planet: Sustainable Food and a Well-Fed World.” Co-hosted by Corporate Accountability International (CAI) and Small Planet Institute, the focus of the night was to illuminate the injustices present in our global food system and to discuss possible strategies to create a better one for a growing planet.
photo credit Lucia Austria
Talk about heavy. I knew that as a Gastronomy student, three hours in a classroom is barely enough time to discuss such broad-scoped issues, so I was interested to see how the two-hour event would pan out. About 150 attendees gathered together at the City Year headquarters in Boston’s Back Bay to listen to presentations and discussions by sustainable food advocate Anna Lappé, author of Diet for a Small Planet, Frances Moore Lappé, manager of Oxfam America’s Strategic Alliance work Liz Carty, and campaign director of CAI Sara Deon. Oxfam America’s Campaign Director, Judy Beals, moderated the talk, and audience members listened while enjoying a vegetarian spread of appetizers sourced from local farms and vendors.
The presentations focused on what the panelists considered the biggest “food myth” about our global food system—big business agriculture as the only way to feed a growing global population. Anna presented studies from the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) that supported global organic agriculture, and played a video titled Food MythBusters that exposes the detriments of industrial agriculture. Frances echoed her daughter’s arguments and expressed the community benefits of organic agriculture by describing her most recent visit to an Indian village that was positively transformed by adopting sustainable agricultural practices.
I’m not a skeptic, just a critical graduate student, and though I whole-heartedly support Anna and Frances’ call-to-arms against big agriculture, I was looking for more. The Food MythBusters video is a great way to bring a once solely academic issue to the minds of all consumers, but the real question that begs to be addressed is not “Is the system broken?” because that’s quite clear, but “How can we fix it?” More specifically, how can we as every day consumers who understand these issues take actionable steps that allow us to be active agents of the food system, to be food citizens?
It was Liz Carty who addressed my questions. She explained Oxfam’s new campaign “GROW” that guides everyday people to contribute to the building of a more sustainable food system. The campaign’s slogan “Fight world hunger starting at your kitchen table,” may sound idealistic, but the explanation of “The Grow Method” combines tangible steps that a consumer can take to hopefully yield realistic outcomes. Reduce waste, support socially conscious companies, conserve energy, buy seasonal produce, eat less meat—I appreciate that these familiar ideas are grouped together in order to empower the individual or household.
CAI’s Sara Deon put into simple terms what I thought was the event’s true takeaway, “talk about food every day.” Chances are, the questions you might have about the food you eat are being asked by hundreds of other eaters, and have come together to discuss and find answers. From activist organizations focused on fair labor, to conferences and symposiums on culture and nutrition, to academic programs that take on the whole gamut—if you have a question about your food, rest assured, there’s a food movement for you to join.
Lucia Austria is a current Gastronomy graduate student at BU. Her research focuses include learning culture in restaurant and food manufacturing industries and ethnic foodways in the United States.
Alumnus Profile: Avi Schlosburg
by Lucia Austria
It was chance that alumnus Avi Schlosburg took the class American Food during his senior year at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Little did he know that it would be taught by a pioneer of Food Studies, Dr.Warren Belasco. With a major in Ancient Studies, and an interest in American culture and policy, Avi excelled in Belasco’s class, opening him up to the gamut of topics and fields covered in Food Studies. It was Belasco who pointed Avi north to BU’s graduate program in Gastronomy.
Avi made the most of his graduate career by enrolling in challenging courses and taking on thought-provoking research projects. In U.S. Food Policy and Culture taught by Dr. Ellen Messer, Avi learned about the dynamic relationship between government policy and culture. Dr Carole Counihan’s class, Food Activism, broadened Avi’s awareness of the various organizational efforts towards creating fair foodways for our society. These courses were life-changing for Avi, “As someone who is extremely passionate about resource and information sharing as a means to push the food movement forward, I immediately connected with how the content of the courses applied to the real world.”
Outside of the classroom, Avi participated in a number of academic conferences. In 2010 he presented his research, “Representations of Hunger in America since the Recession” at the Association for the Study of Food and Society Conference (ASFS). He also participated at the 2011 Real Food Challenge/Northeast Food and Justice Summit as a panelist with other BU Gastronomes in a discussion entitled, “Redefining the Food Studies Vocabulary.” Avi’s final graduate project, “The Theory and Practice of Food Studies at the High School Level” addresses the dearth of food education programs for high school students and aims to help education professionals introduce comprehensive food pedagogy into high schools.
It’s not surprising to learn that Avi currently works for the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) as their Food Day Project Assistant. First launched on October 24, 2011, Food Day is a nationwide campaign toward more healthy, affordable, and sustainable food. It seeks to address five priority food and diet issues: promote healthier diets, support sustainable and organic agriculture, reduce hunger, reform factory farms, and support fair working conditions for food and farm workers. Events held by thousands of people across the country throughout October address each of these issues and work towards both unifying the food movement and informing sound food policies.
“There is so much incredible work being done throughout the country around food access, healthy school food, sustainable agriculture advocacy and education, and other critical issues within the food system, but much of this work is done within the silos of each of these issues and regions. The appreciation I get from connecting someone in Cleveland working on a project similar to someone else in New Jersey, both of whom are clearly stretched for resources, says so much about the current state of the food movement, and our food system. Food Day is the logical next step to connect the dots, and unify the country around these issues that affect every one of us as eaters.”
For Food Day events happening in your area, search here. Hosting your own, fellow gastronome? Tell us about it! Send your story and photos to laustria[at]bu.edu.
Spooniness: Mary Beaudry Serves Up Spoon’s History
by Lucia Austria
Forged metal, seven inches, thin and slender, teardrop shaped bowl.
Wood, round bowl, letters “KP” carved into the handle.
Sterling Silver, embossed flowers, bowl with diamond shaped perforations.
Each of the three objects described above are as unique as the purposes they serve, yet all three are known by one name--spoon. On September 24th, department of Archaeology chair at BU, Mary Beaudry, presented the evolution and myriad uses and designs of the spoon in a lecture called, “There's a Spoon for That! The Lives and Times of a Ubiquitous Utensil.” Beaudry’s lecture kicked off this academic year’s Pépin Lecture Series hosted by Metropolitan College’s office of Lifelong Learning.
What started as a graduate school assignment at Brown University, Mary Beaudry shared her vast knowledge and fondness of the seemingly quotidian spoon. Some of the oldest, spoon-like tools date back to the Paleolithic period made of animal tusk and bone. Since then, spoons have evolved into highly customized eating utensils, with spoons made for infinite uses like steeping tea, eating olives, or drinking absinthe.
Beyond the breadth of functions a spoon serves, Beaudry discussed its cultural representation as a personal artifact. Since medieval Europe, it was customary to engrave initials in one's own spoon. Personal spoons were rarely shared with others and used throughout life. The gifting of “apostle spoons” to newly christened babies was a common Christian tradition during the English Tudor period. Mini representations of Jesus’ twelve apostles adorned the handles of these silver spoons. From this design, you can infer that each use of an apostle spoon reminded its owner that it is God that nourishes and sustains the human body. This integration of religious beliefs and utility within the design of a spoon supports an archaeological value of analyzing the mundane: achieving a broader understanding of the cultural ideals of past societies.
Finally, Beaudry took a brief, semiotic analysis of the word “spoon.” From the Anglo-Saxon word sponmeaning “sliver of wood,” the term signifies a number of different ideas today. Beaudry investigated the idea of “spooniness,” that which has spoon-like qualities. To be “spoony” is to act silly or foolishly. A person who “spoons” for another openly shows their love and affection. And of course, the act of “spooning” involves close, full-body contact, similar to two spoons nestled neatly together.
Mary Beaudry’s analysis of the ubiquitous spoon was an opportunity to engage in a fun, light-hearted discussion about culture and technology. Her research was not just about the spoon, but also of the individuals who used them, for a culture’s beliefs and ideals manifest in the objects they create.
Learn more about Dr. Mary Beaudry's research here.