Show Me Where You Live and I Will Tell You What You Call It

Joshua Katz, PhD Candidate at North Carolina State University has put together a great linguistic map of the United States, many of which are terms for the same dish/ingredient.  Coming from Connecticut, I would argue that there is a clear omission -- we call those sandwiches "grinders." Do you agree/disagree with Katz? Can you think of any other foods that have regional monikers?  Word Map of US

Session II: Fond of Food: The Essence of Culture through Sauce

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In this session (in which my paper was presented), there were four papers that considered the role of sauces and condiments as ways of preserving, asserting or negotiating culture.


"To Change the Sauce would be little short of Heresy": Spain and the Culinary Legacy of Convivencia
April Najjaj, of Mount Olive College and I considered the adaptation of many sauces from the Arab period (711-1492) in Spain, by looking through medieval Islamic cookbooks and their contemporary cookbooks in Cataluyna and Andalucia (up to the 17th century). Many of the techniques (escabeche in particular) were introduced to Spain, we can clearly see them incorporated into non-Islamic or Andalucian cookbooks, therefore becoming part of the court of the Catholic kings. These recipes, however, were no longer seen as "Islamic" (as part of their descriptive title) thus being thoroughly co-opted within the Catholic-Spanish identity at the very moment when Muslims were being expelled.


From Bacon and Greens to Sweetbread Ragout: Dissecting the Philosophical Bill of Fare: 1748-1785
India Mandelkern, PhD Candidate at UC Berkely investigated 38 years of menus that were offered to members of "The Thursday's Club called the Royal Philosophers," an elite dining club that met weekly in 18th century London. While the typical English rhetoric saw French sauces and ragouts to be suspect (at the least) and possibly even to be blamed for "popery," the philosopher-gastronomes justified their consumption of the specialized dishes as an act of gustatory education, thus shifting the meaning of these dishes. By doing so, these taste-makers also changed the very meaning of eating itself.

Steamed, Sealed, Delivered: How Canning Revolutionized, Unified, and Globalized Italian Cuisine
Teagan Lehrmann, a student of the history of science at Harvard University argued that it was the technology of canning, specifically tomatoes, that allowed a cohesive symbol of Italian-Americans to retain their strong ethnic identity, as well as become a national identity, rather than a regional identity, to both insiders and outsiders.

Je sauce donc je suis: An Examination of the Professional and Creative Identity of Chefs though the Sauces They Make
Anne McBride, PhD Candidate at NYU (and employee of the CIA!) traces the development of the role of the chef as a skilled professional based on the ability to make sauce. By looking at three seminal works -- Escoffier's Le Guide Culinaire, our own The Professional Chef, and the more recent Modernist Cuisine by Nathan Myhrvold, McBride argues that the role of chef has expanded beyond repetition to the scientific ability to manipulate, and through complex mother sauces, to light, fond-based sauce, to the ephemeral foams of the Avant-Garde.

ASFS 2012: Booze and Chews: The Cultural Politics of Civility and Intoxication

The first panel that I attended at the 2012 ASFS annual conference explored the intersection of civility and  "chewing" or of "boozing." Both the physical acts of chewing and drinking alcohol are practices that, in several cultures, are "ambiguous" (meaning both the action and the stuff).

CHEW
Ken Albala, University of the Pacific, explores the habit of chewing gum in America. He sees the practice stemming from a necessity (eating) but also a physiological outlet for dealing with anxiety, aggression, and even boredom. The word masticate, or chewing one's cud, originates from the mastic tree, from the island of Chios, whose sap the Ancient Greeks chewed. In the Americas, the tree Manikara chicle, served the same purpose, and was inspiration for the well-known brand, Chiclets. In Maine, the sap that was chewed was from the spruce tree and was consumed, in part, to ward off scurvy, as it contains Vitamin C. However, in the 19th century, chewing gum was equated with either backwardness or a practice of suspect characters! Albala plans on investigating this phenomenon further. We did, however, get to try some of the chicle that Albala made from the spruce sap. It ends up being a terrible business plan, however, as the chewing sap seems to last indefinitely as does its flavor (even if you stow it under a table for a while and pop it back in your mouth later)....

PLEASURE, PRUDENCE AND PAAN: NEGOTIATING CIVILITIES IN THE GLOBAL METROPOLIS

Jaclyn Rohel, graduate student at NYU, followed with a fascinating paper on the the often contested cultural clash of chewing paan, a combination of betal leaves with spices, pastes, and sometimes tobacco, on the streets of London. This practice, from south Asia, is used to freshen breath, as a digestive, and is a social practice, by which the spitting of the juice becomes a form of communication by which to measure levels of intoxication. The juice, which stains the sidewalk red, has become a focus of aesthetics in London, where officials have begun "Don't Spit Paan" campaigns, becoming quite prevalent as a prelude to the London Olympics. Rohel argues that the discourse is a negotiation of post-colonialism, anti-social behavior, and changing spatial and personal ideals.

UNITED STATES vs. FIFTY BARRELS OF WHISKEY
Sierra Clark, graduate student at NYU delves into the issue of whiskey in the 1906 Food and Drug Act. Specifically, she examines the debate of what made whiskey "pure" vs. those which were seen as "imitation." The subtext of these court cases, she argues, considers larger issues of health and technology against a backdrop of social anxieties of immigration and urbanization. By framing tradition (both production and consumption) as a narrative of "frontier," "civility," and "heroic" the pro-whiskey camp also set an alternative to prohibition.

BATTLING SALOONS AND SPEAKEASIES: ANTI-PROHIBITIONIST AND THE CHANGING MEANING OF INTOXICATION

Lisa Jacobson, Professor of History UCSB, considers how supporters, who backed amending the Volstead Act (Prohibition), framed their argument, in the 1932/33 congressional hearings by using a multi-pronged strategy. By suggesting that low alcohol wine and beer be legalized, they used new scientific findings to suggest that the low-alcohol products were distinctly different from those beverages that encouraged public drunkenness. Furthermore, they employed economic arguments, in that legalizing these beverages would cripple the bootlegging business. Finally, the supporters looked to Europe, seen as the epicenter of cultural respectability, as examples of how beer and wine could be consumed with civilized aplomb.

Vegetables with Pedigrees

This post from Grub Street: As we learned (or will learn!) during the chef-bio presentations, it is now common practice for a restaurant to list on the menu the source of their ingredients. The writer of the article wonders, "Is putting the names of suppliers onto the menu a way of making us concentrate more on the ingredients, or a way of getting pretentious about some of the most basic and commonplace foods in the world?" I pose the same question to you.

Banning Kosher and Halal Slaughtering Practices

The Dutch government political party, The Party of the Animals, whose focus is animals rights, recently introduced a bill (which was supported and will soon take affect), that would mandate that all animals slaughtered in the Netherlands would need to be stunned before slaughter, a practice that is not allowed under Kosher and Halal dietary law (both require that an animal must be conscious at the time of slaughter). Dutch Jewish and Muslim citizens decry the move, which they see as limiting their religious freedom, while animal rights activists claim there is no motive outside of humane considerations. Here is the article -- what do you think about this?

What is your comfort food?

A reporter recently wanted to know my opinion on comfort foods -- so I'm posing two questions: 1) what is your comfort food & 2) why do you think this is so? Once we have a number of suggestions, we can start posing a theory! (I'm not even going to post a photo to try and influence you!

The Gourmet Generation

In this article in the Christian Science Monitor, I suggest a couple of reasons why some of the Y-Generation have embraced cooking-from-scratch. Apart from culinary/baking students, do you have close friends who have embraced "extreme" cooking and why do you think they choose to spend their time and money doing so?

The best food city?

The Huffinton Post has compiled the top "food cities" based on the number of Michelin stars (related to size). What is the best food city that you've visited and what makes it so?

Trying to eat local?

The Food and Water Watch has made a great map, showing where the concentration of meat & dairy production takes place in the United States. Check out the map -- and consider, why might this be problematic?

Politics of Good Pizza

Not to mix politics with food (!), but here is a video with John Steward on The Daily Show with a monologue on eating pizza in NYC. Who decides what is good food or bad food? How do you define "authenticity"? Who decides what is "authentic"?

Poop Meat

Freegans and hard-core recycling have to go one step further. There is now a group of scientists in Japan who have found a way to extract proteins in human excrement into a new a new mix, which also includes soy protein. Here is a video and here is an article (kindly given to me by John S!). So, is this a good way to recycle and to feed the world? Why or why not? Does it challenge your food taboos?

Not Sure What to Eat for Dinner? Kraft will Tell You!

Not sure what to eat for dinner? Not a problem anymore. FastCompany introduces us to a kiosk now found in stores that will scan your face and then recommend items to have for dinner (the kiosk is owned/operated/funded by Kraft so only their products are recommended). Read the article & see it in action here. Is this a good thing for us? Why or why not?

Food for not eating?

An article from the NY Times suggests that garlic can cure Athlete's Foot. My question for you -- other than eating, for what other reason do you use food?

Conflict in Darfur: Food, Identity and the Other

We talk about how cultural groups can be defined, in part, by what they eat. The conflict in Darfur (Sudan) also plays out with regard to food and resources. Hunters/Gathering vs. Farmers each vie for the same resources and the tension over this spills out into larger conflicts. The Museum of Food has a great introduction (and photos) of this. Can you think of another conflict that starts over food and becomes something more?

Are you Eyes (and Drinks!) Bigger than your Stomach?

So Starbucks is introducing a new size -- the trenta. The new cup size holds 916 ml of liquids; the average stomach holds 900 ml. Here is an illustrated guide from the Huffington Post. And of course, there is still the Big Gulp, Super Big Gulp, Double Gulp, and Team Gulp. So who buys these? Why or why wouldn't you buy a portion size larger than your stomach? Does the restaurant industry have a responsibility to help us with our portion size and obesity epidemic?

Consuming Calories Helps You Lose Weight?

And perform better in school and work. We've all heard the saying, "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day" and here is the research to back it up... So... having read the article, do you find it is true? Do you eat breakfast and have the same results?

No small potatoes: Protest about government program to teach about food

So the US government has started an educational program to teach Americans about where their food comes from, entitled, "Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food" (the article in the Tri-City Herald) . Seems harmless. But 3 senators are arguing that it slights large farms & promotes small & organic farms that cater to the wealthy. To complicate this more, the budget for this program in $65 million (commodity producers have received $5 billion in the last two years). My question to you: should we (and if so, why) try to preserve a rural heritage in our country? What are the benefits & what are the costs?

"No, I don't have a children's menu"

When I was a waitress, I once waited on a table of 2 parents and a young girl, about the age of 4. When I took their order, the young girl proclaimed to me that she wanted the lamb chops (one of the more expensive entrees on the menu). Since she ordered like an adult, I decided to treat her as one and inquired directly to her, "and how would you like those cooked?" Without missing a beat, she replied, "medium rare." Sure enough, she cleaned her plate. That stays with me because I was so impressed by her knowledge and willingness to eat something that we would not equate with serving a child in a restaurant. In the NY Times food section, there is an article about childrens' menus and the impact of kids as the grow. What was your experience when you were a child? Did you order off the "regular" menu or kids' menu? How might this have impacted the kind of eater that you are?

Pay What you Want?

Former Intro2Gastro student, James Grill, sent me this link. Basically, Panera Bread is testing out a new concept: you order what you want & then pay what you want. The complete story is in USA Today. My question to you: how does this concept reflect one's philosophy on human nature? What is the larger question regarding necessities and commodities in our culture?

The Case of the GMO

The US Supreme Court, for the first time, has heard a case on GMO foods -- the question is not whether GMOs are safe to eat, but whether they ruin the environment, namely, the environment of organically grown alfalfa nearby. If you were on the Supreme Court, how might you rule?