Making sense of urban food festivals: cultural regeneration, disorder and hospitable cities

This article examines urban food festivals, and in doing so it carries out a case study of Nottingham’s Food and Drink Festival (NFDF). It contends that such festivals need to be understood in relation to local contexts, such as the reputation for alcohol-related disorder associated with Nottingham’s night-time economy. Rather than being used to attract tourism, NFDF was primarily directed at existing residents of Nottingham, where it sought to produce particular kinds of guests who would be able to invest in the city’s wider regeneration. Here, the article draws on recent academic work on hospitality in demonstrating how NFDF attempted to rebrand the city centre as a more hospitable place. It concludes by showing how visitors to NFDF exhibited a sense of generosity and pride, and argues that the meaning of urban food festivals cannot therefore simply be reduced to the logic of neoliberal governance

Carcass composition and meat quality parameters of entire and castrate farmed blackbuck antelope (Antilope cervicapra)

This is the first report on the meat quality and carcass composition of farmed blackbuck antelope (Antilope cervicapra). Seventeen animals comprising entire males aged 7-10 months, entire males aged 13-16 months, and castrated males aged 13-16 months of age were raised on improved pastures, herded (one man plus a dog) into yards, transported 63 km and slaughtered in a commercial abattoir. Carcasses were Tenderstretched (hung by the pelvis allowing the hind legs to drop). Castration reduced liveweight gain but had no effect on carcass weight. All carcasses were very lean with mean separable fat ranging from 0.3% in 13-16 month entires to 3.5% in castrates of the same age. Primal cuts composition was similar for all three groups except that the castrates had a proportionately less developed neck and a proportionately heavier brisket than either group of entire males. Mean ultimate pH for each of four muscles (aged LD, unaged LD, aged ST, aged BF) from each treatment group ranged between 5.47 and 5.75. The meat was very tender, with mean Warner Bratzler initial vield values between 1.3 and 3.4 kg, and mean Warner Bratzler peak force values between 2 and 4.5kg. There was a tendency for the meat from 13-16 month entires to be leaner, have higher ultimate pH, and be slightly less tender than that of the other two groups. It was concluded that farmed blackbuck antelope can produce meat of high objective quality and that castration is useful as a management strategy. Copyrigh

Oral candidosis in community-based patients with advanced cancer

Oral candidosis is a significant cause of morbidity in patients with advanced cancer. The objectives of the study were to determine the epidemiology, etiology, clinical features, and microbiological aspects of oral candidosis among community-based patients. The subjects were recruited from hospice day centers in England. The clinical component involved completion of a study questionnaire, assessment of performance status, clinical examination of the oral cavity, measurement of unstimulated whole salivary flow rate, measurement of stimulated whole salivary flow rate, and performance of an oral rinse. Oral swabs were taken from subjects with appearances indicative of oral candidosis. The laboratory component involved standard procedures to isolate, enumerate, and identify yeasts from the clinical specimens. Three hundred ninety patients participated in the study. Two hundred seventy-two (70%) patients had oral yeast carriage, and 51 (13%) patients had combined clinical and microbiological evidence of oral candidosis. On univariate analysis, the presence of oral candidosis was associated with poor Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status, presence of a denture, usage of a systemic corticosteroid, the severity of xerostomia, a low unstimulated whole salivary flow rate, and a low stimulated whole salivary flow rate. Multivariate analysis identified poor Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status, presence of a denture, usage of a systemic corticosteroid, and the severity of xerostomia as being independently associated with the presence of oral candidosis. Oral candidosis is relatively common in community-based patients with advanced cancer. Hence, such patients should be screened for oral candidosis and should also be screened for reversible factors that predispose to oral candidosis, such as poor dental hygiene and salivary gland dysfunction