All About Julia
Drawing record crowds, Siting Julia, a day-long symposium hosted by the Schlesinger Library at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard explored three sites of Julia’s life: Post–World War II Paris; Cambridge, Massachusetts; and national television. From the symposium, I’ve put together four key attributes that speakers felt contributed to Julia’s legacy:
Her Personality
Keynote speaker Laura Shapiro (author of Perfection Salad, Something from the Oven, and Julia Child) recounted what Paul Child called “Juliafication” — the phenomenon by which Julia’s warmth and attention lit up those around her. While many speakers discussed Julia’s caring, generosity, and sense of humor, Dana Polan (professor of Cinema Studies at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and author of Julia Child’s “The French Chef”) credits Julia’s personality for her success on television. And Lisa Abend, TIME correspondent in Spain, argues that we have Julia to thank for transforming food into entertainment.
Her Love of Learning
Julia was the eternal student. Alex Prud’homme (Julia’s grandnephew and coauthor with her of My Life in France) spoke of how even at the age of 91, Julia was planning her next project — from learning to butcher in Chicago to teaching children to cook.
Michela Larson, a longtime restaurateur in Cambridge and Boston, told of Julia counseling one of her cooks, saying one does not have to go to culinary school to learn about food. The experience of cooking, working with food and under noted chefs, carried just as much weight with her. Julia’s own commitment to learning influenced her belief that cooking can be taught, a tenet central to her books and television shows.
Her Moderate Approach to Food
While Julia is often heralded for her focus on fresh ingredients, her ideas on food were far ranging, often diverging from those currently endorsed by foodies and alternative food movement advocates. For example, she found organic food elitist, thought McDonald’s French fries and Burger King hamburgers were the best, argued we ought not to worry about GMOs, and supported MSG. Julia did not see the point in vegetarianism, and according to Jane Thompson, who equipped Julia Child’s television kitchen and came to know her well, Julia once told her hair dresser, “I’m a card carrying carnivore. I eat anything and everything in moderation.”
Her Contributions to Women’s Issues
Keynote speaker Laura Shapiro, argued that Julia Child taught Americans to not belittle women in their domestic roles, and that her legacy is how she created a new way to be a woman that included a kitchen. Dorothy Shore Zinberg, an astoundingly well-rounded academic who was one of Julia’s Cambridge friends and neighbors, contended that Cambridge was a ripe environment for Julia because Cambridge was a town full of unemployed and underemployed women with PhDs who cooked and loved food as an intellectual outlet.
Julia Child began cooking on television the same year that Betty Friedan published The Feminine Mystique. Both women stand as key figures engaging in women’s issues, albeit in different ways. As artifacts of an amazing woman, Julia Child’s books, papers, and television shows now tell us the story of a woman who found her destiny and chose to fulfill it in the kitchen. So often credited with elevating food in America, Julia also elevated cooking and the women who do it.
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.
Perspectives on Sustainable Agriculture
by Noel Bielaczyc
On Tuesday, September 11, as part of the university’s ongoing efforts to promote sustainable practices and foster thoughtful dialogue, BU hosted a Sustainable Agriculture Panel at Sargent College. This was the first in a series of lectures & events this fall that highlight the interdisciplinary nature of Gastronomy. The specific aim of this symposium was to discuss the burgeoning topic of sustainable agriculture and to explore current news and future directions, from farmers markets to family meals.
The panel comprised a range of food experts: Rachel Black, BU Assistant Professor and Coordinator of Gastronomy, Kate Stillman, Farmer and Proprietor at Stillman’s at the Turkey Farm in Hardwick, MA and Britt Lundgren, Director of Organic and Sustainable Agriculture for Stonyfield Farms. Nathan Phillips, BU Associate Professor of Earth & Environment, provided moderation for the discussion and a viewpoint external to the food world. This variety of perspectives created an interesting dynamic and energetic discourse on what we eat and why.
Questions from the audience helped steer the conversation from the controversy of GMO’s to the US Farm Bill and the carbon footprint of eating local. The panel's responses to these topics were generally balanced and constructive with each panelist giving a unique response. Lundgren’s comments on politics, policy and economics reflected her experience working within the “big organic” industry, while Stillman contributed a down-to-earth voice from the local food movement. Black represented an independent middle ground in the discussion, bringing up critical questions related to media, culture and concept of taste.
One interesting discussion revolved around a recent Stanford University study that questions the health benefits of eating organic foods compared to conventional foods. There was agreement amongst all panelists on various weaknesses in the research methods used, but Rachel Black made the important point that the study fails to account for both the health of agricultural workers and the environmental impact of commercial farming. While many individuals do eat organic foods purely for personal health reasons, the narrow scope of the Stanford study seems to ignore the broader importance of sustainable agriculture to issues of human rights and ecology.
Following this Kate Stillman presented a spirited argument that simple labeling systems do not necessarily guarantee quality or safety. Since organic fruits and vegetables can be imported from across the globe she believes eating locally grown food is always the freshest, healthiest and most responsible choice. Her first hand experiences as a farmer and market vendor in the Northeast added substance to this point and illustrated the challenge of overcoming consumer’s (sometimes misinformed) perceptions. The complexity of our food system, from issues of production to accessibility, requires critical thinking and flexibility not passivity on the part of eaters.
Overall, the event was excellent food for thought. Refreshments were also served: The organic Greek yogurt was courtesy of Stonyfield and the apples were definitely not from New Zealand. Special thanks to sustainability@BU!
Noel Bielaczyc is an illustrator, fishmonger and cook. It is his first year studying Gastronomy at BU
Katie Dolph Defends Thesis on Sustainability in the Willamette Valley Wine Industry
Post and photos by Emily Contois
While many students have completed a thesis as part of their studies in the Boston University Gastronomy Program, Katie Dolph is the first to complete the new eight credit thesis, a challenging endeavor that includes a year's worth of research and a formal defense process.
Katie's research employs an interdisciplinary approach to investigate the role of sustainability, which integrates reverence for nature with cultural and economic factors, in the development of a unique set of winemaking practices that distinguish the Willamette Valley Wine industry.
Last week, Gastronomy students and faculty gathered for Katie's thesis defense.
Congratulations, Katie!
Summer Course in Review: Ethnic Foodways in the U.S.
by Lisa Philpotts
I did not come to BU for the gastronomy program. In fact, I didn’t even know that it existed! Instead, I had relocated from North Carolina to accept a job as a librarian at Mugar. It was only after I had started working here that I learned about the program, and it was one of those "OMG-this-is-amazing-how-did-I -not-know-about-this-before?!" moments.
I have a passion for food and a background in health, and if I were to get a second masters it would be in nutrition. As I browsed the gastronomy course offerings, I was excited to find that I could study why food is so important to individuals, but from a different perspective than the one I would get in a nutrition course. I decided to take the plunge and sign up for Amanda Mayo’s ML631 "Ethnic Foodways in the United States” class to explore the relationship between food and culture.
So how did it go?
Well, my friends were somewhat surprised to find out that I was burning the midnight oil. Perhaps for them, the phrase “gastronomy class” conjured up the image of relaxing, eating, and drinking. And yes, there were the mid-class snack breaks and the outings to area ethnic restaurants, because after all, what are food studies without food? But make no mistake: this was a graduate level summer class, with a graduate level workload.
Fortunately, the readings and class discussions were fascinating. I particularly enjoyed comparing the experiences of different ethnic groups that have immigrated to the US and how those experiences have shaped their foodways. I was amazed to discover how interdisciplinary the field is. We reviewed research on food and ethnicity by scholars from a wide range of disciplines, from anthropology to marketing. Amanda facilitated hands on practice with some research methods she personally employs as a food historian, taking oral histories and interpreting primary sources, the latter of which came in handy when I wrote my final paper.
My paper was about the food voice (a concept explored by past researchers including Annie Hauck-Lawson and Carole Counihan) of Malaysians in the US. I coded for themes in cookbooks and memoirs written by Malaysians, but what I found most interesting was the use of online social media to communicate about food. Malaysians living abroad have created a particularly vibrant virtual food space, using blogs, Facebook, and Twitter to share recipes and reminisce about food from their home country. The course wrapped up with final presentations, and I brought in kuih to stick with my Malaysian theme. My classmates brought papusas, palitaw, fruit pies, and buffalo chicken dip- I’ll let you wonder what their research papers were about!
I’d encourage any BU students or staff considering a gastronomy class to give it a shot. The class I took was rigorous and rewarding, and the icing on the cake was getting to know the other people taking it: intelligent, articulate, and above all, passionate about food! Cheers to that!
Lisa earned her Masters of Science in Library Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is currently the Health Sciences Librarian at Mugar Memorial Library. Lisa tweets about academia, health, and food at @LisaPhilpotts.
BU Grads, Boston, and Beer
By Sawsan Kazak
First year gastronomy students met on the 8th of September, 2012 for the annual orientation of the program. After a brief in-class run through the program and its administrators, students and faculty were divided into three groups of about 10. We then set out to discover the great city of Boston through our ‘GPS Urban Adventures’. Armed with GPS gadgets and a vague list of random clues, the three teams headed off to discover Boston through the various scheduled waypoints.
It was fitting that the first stop on the challenge was Fenway Park as the Red Sox are a big part of the Bostonian culture. The second stop on the urban challenge was the co-op garden plot in the Fenway Victory Gardens that is run by BU Gastronomy students. Expecting to see rows of already planted tomatoes, cucumbers and herbs, I was pleasantly surprised to see the plot in quite a raw and organic state. The students participating, or thinking of doing so, have a real say in shaping the garden and its future; it’s not just going to be some light watering this season.
Between each meeting point, the students stopped and played games. Some games involved throwing balls at each other, others involved drawing on the ground with string and other featured strange playing cards with odd pictures. 
The aim of the games was to allow students to get to know each other better. Yes the games were a little silly, and it was hot and rainy at times, but the different teams were able to get to know each other’s pasts, present and futures, not to mention each other’s names.
The teams then split off into different directions in the city, only to meet again in front of a Clover’s food truck in downtown Boston. After a quick stop for some rosemary fries and another game, the teams were off again. Due to time constraints and students' energy levels dropping drastically, a few of the waypoints were skipped and students converged at Meadhall; a charming restaurant-bar with hundreds of local and imported beers on tap. The heat, hunger and long hours were worth the great beer selection and crispy pork rinds.
The orientation aimed to introduce us to each other; what I also realized was that different backgrounds, different passions, and different goals and dreams fuel foodies and food-enthusiasts in different ways. How people arrived at the program and the many things people intended to do with the gastronomy degree after they were done was endless. Also, talking to students that have already taken classes, I now have a clear plan of what classes I want to take in the future. All-in-all, a day is always going to be good when it is spent with other foodies.
Sawsan Kazak is a student in the Gastronomy program. She has a bachelors in psychology from Concordia University in Montreal and worked in Kuwait as a news reporter and editor.
Introducing Fall 2012 Graduate Assistants
Emily Contois will focus on research projects this semester. Emily was born in Australia and grew up in Big Sky Country in Billings, Montana. She spent a bit over a decade training in classical ballet before turning her attention to the study of food and culture. Emily studied Letters and Nutrition Science at the University of Oklahoma, writing her honors thesis on the rhetoric of the dieting industry. She then received her MPH in public health nutrition from UC Berkeley, where she also taught undergraduate nutrition courses, finding her true passion in teaching. Professionally, she’s been working in the field of employee wellness since 2008 and helped to launch Healthy Workforce at Kaiser Permanente in 2010.
Emily began the Gastronomy program in fall 2011 and will graduate in May 2013. Her research focuses on food and food-related phenomena in popular culture. She also explores the connections between food studies, nutrition, and public health. She has continued researching the dieting industry and presented the paper, “Keeping Americans Fat and Coming Back for More: A Rhetoric Analysis of Diet Literature” at the 2012 Association for the Study of Food and Society conference. Emily blogs about her research at emilycontois.com and tweets @EmilyContois. It would make her deliriously happy if you would follow her. After completing her MLA in Gastronomy, she hopes to pursue a Ph.D. in American Studies and aspires to be a professor.
In the few spare moments when she’s not working for Kaiser, studying, writing, or working on Ph.D. applications, Emily loves going to the movies with her husband, visiting all of the amazing museums in Boston, and reading for pleasure.
Lucia Austria is the fall 2012 editor for the Gastronomy blog. She is a native Jersey girl from Jersey City, New Jersey. She moved up to Boston to earn her BS in Business Administration at Boston College in Chestunut Hill, MA. There, she spent much time involved in Asian-American student groups learning about issues, culture, and of course, cuisine. She then attended Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Cambridge, MA. After cooking around Boston for a few years, Lucia found her way to Taza Chocolate located in Somerville, MA working as a Chocolate Maker. She is now the production team’s Senior Shift Leader where she is responsible for factory training and purchasing. She is also a member of the test kitchen and sensory panel teams at Taza. Needless to say, Lucia eats chocolate every day.
Lucia has been a part-time student in the Gastronomy program at BU since spring 2011. She has research interests in ethnic foodways in the United States, as well as skill acquisition in restaurant and food manufacturing industries. Lucia presented her paper entitled “Teaching Taste: A look into how culinary school students learn food” at the 2012 Association for the Study of Food and Society conference. She is also featured in the Somerville community cookbook, Nibble, showcasing her recipe for chocolate-filled beignets and coffee crème anglaise. After graduation, Lucia hopes to pursue further research on Filipino-American foodways.
Lucia enjoys biking, dancing, gardening, collecting old cookbooks and going through cooking phases. Her latest obsession is pickling. Jerky is next.
September Food Events
As we kick off the fall 2012 semester, add not only all your assignment due dates to your calendar, but also some of these great food events.
From lectures on sustainable agriculture, spoons, and American terroir to festivals celebrating food, wine, and of course fluff, there's something for everyone. And while the Julia Child Centenary Symposium is currently full, you can register for the wait list.
Events are continually added, so check the Events section of the blog often.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11
Join us as Katie Dolph, candidate for the MLA in Gastronomy, defends her thesis, entitled “Willamette Valley Wines: Sustainability, Terroir and Place Making.”
4 pm, Fuller Building, 808 Commonwealth Ave, Room 122
--AND--
What will the tomato of the future look like? The landscape of modern agriculture and our food system is constantly evolving. The Farm Bill, the organic food industry, and small-scale local farms all play a role in what ends up on our plate every day.
Rachel Black, Gastronomy Assistant Professor and Academic Coordinator, will participate in a Sustainable Agriculture Panel along with Nathan Phillips, BU Associate Professor of Earth & Environment; Kate Stillman, Farm Proprietor at Stillman’s at the turkey Farm—Hardwick, MA; and Britt Lundgren, Director of Organic and Sustainable Agriculture for Stonyfield Farms. The panel will discuss the current state of agriculture and what the future may hold. Refreshments will be served.
To learn more about sustainability efforts at BU, visit bu.edu/sustainability.
6 pm, Sargent College, 635 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 101
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13 - SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15
The Taste of WBGH: Food & Wine Festival will feature more than 100 wineries, local chefs, restaurants, and local artisanal foods, produce, and purveyors across three delightful days.
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 17
Warren Belasco, Visiting Professor of Gastronomy, will present a special lecture, titled, "Can Food Save Washington? Inventing Terroir for the Nation's Capital."
6 pm, SHA Auditorium, 928 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21
Siting Julia, a Julia Child Centenary Symposium is hosted by the The Schlesinger Library at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Distinguished speakers will focus on three "sites" that Julia Child inhabited, learned from, and influenced: Post–World War II Paris; Cambridge, Massachusetts; and National Television.
The event is currently at capacity, but you can register for the wait list.
9:15 am, Radcliffe Gymnasium, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 24
As part of the Pèpin Lecture Series in Food Studies and Gastronomy, Mary Beaudry, professor of Archaeology, Anthropology, and Gastronomy, and chair of BU’s Archaeology department will present There’s a Spoon for That! The Lives and Times of an Ubiquitous Utensil.
She will explore the myriad forms of—and uses for—spoons, from ancient times to the present, looking at the ways in which the qualities of “spooniness” take on cultural significance.
Please register here.
6 pm, 808 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 117, Boston
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 29
The "What the Fluff?" Festival, dedicated to the delicious marshmallow spread, features events, performances, games, and more. The festival is free and open to the public. Note September 30 is the raindate.
3-7 pm, Union Square, Somerville
BU Gastronomy Program Welcomes 39 New Students
This semester, the Boston University Gastronomy Program is pleased to welcome 31 new candidates for the MLA in Gastronomy and eight Food Studies Certificate students.
With varied backgrounds, such as anthropology, psychology, chemistry, journalism, and the culinary arts, this cohort of students will contribute to the intellectual diversity of the program.
A number of students come from New England, while even more hail from states across the US, as well as abroad. We welcome them all to their new home in Boston — and to the Gastronomy program.
To learn more, read the new student profiles.
A Summer in the Field
by Rachel Black
Silvio reached up and pulled down a curled up leaf from one of his vines. He unfurled the leaf to reveal the larva of a leafroller (Platynota stultana). Pests like this, he explained, could do serious damage to a vineyard. He named off the various fungal diseases he regularly has to combat as the grape growing season progresses. Winegrowing was starting to seem more like chemical warfare than some bucolic agricultural activity. Walking through the steep vineyards of Donnas on a warm June day, I learned a great deal about vineyard management, changing traditions, and one man’s reality as he worked amongst the vines—all things that are difficult to learn from only reading books.
As an anthropologist, fieldwork is the cornerstone of my research. By talking to and working with people, I learn about local issues, customs, and beliefs. Last summer’s visit with Silvio was a first step in learning more about cooperative wine production in the towns of Donnas and Carema in Northern Italy.
Food News Round Up: On Obesity, Eating Rodents, & the Economy (Yes, in that order)
by Emily Contois
The past couple of weeks have provided fecund fodder for the food news enthusiast. Any fan of the CDC's year-by-year ever-increasing obesity map will be intrigued that the 2011 data was released recently, alongside other obesity news. The news also turned up studies of disgust, which you can explore firsthand in articles on cooking up rat and squirrel. And finally, the struggling economy continues to affect life in the U.S. and abroad, especially dining trends.
So, dig in to this edition of Food News Round Up...
Food and Obesity
Obesity remains a key issue both culturally and politically, especially with the release of the CDC's most recent obesity statistical analysis.
- New 2011 obesity statistics analysis finds 12 states exceeding 30% obesity
- Pondering Mississippi obesity: Southern diet or culture on the skids?
- Study links healthier weight in children with strict laws on school snacks
Food and Disgust
Disgust is an always interesting element of eating. Would you consider rat or squirrel?
- How and why to eat rat meat
- ‘Chicken of the trees:’ A history of eating squirrel
Food and the Economy
As the 'Great Recession' continues to be felt by citizens across the globe, the restaurant industry also tightens its belt.
- Dining survey shows New Zealand residents dine out despite economic struggles, but less
- Chefs in Spain must adapt to economic crisis or fail
- In struggling economy, shopping malls grow appetite for sit-down restaurants
- Even for gastrocrats, luxury foods aren't worth it
Delightful Leftovers
These tidbits of food news defy categorization this week, but should still satisfy.
- Studying India's changing food culture
- Artist and chef, Julia Ziegler-Haynes, photographs death row inmates' last meals
- Chef argues story-telling is key to making good food television
- Food waste prompts the most green guilt, survey finds
Emily is a gastronomy student and graduate assistant, editing the Gastronomy at BU blog, January-August, 2012. Check out her research in food studies, nutrition, and public health on her blog, emilycontois.com.