Local flavors: An exploration of food writing in the Shenandoah Valley

Food holds an intrinsic fascination for human beings. Not only do we rely on it biologically for nourishment, but we also identify with it culturally. This celebration of different types of food allows people to seek familiarity in a place and belonging in a community. This article discusses the rich food culture of the Shenandoah Valley through the exploration of food blogging

Food issues 食事

Food issues 食事. Interdisciplinary Studies on Food in Modern and Contemporary East Asia concentrates on the relationship among food, culture, literature, and language in a comparative, transcultural, or literary perspective. The contributions investigate these aspects from different approaches: historical, sociological, anthropological, religious, linguistic, and want to deepen issues such as the symbolic value of food; food as an essential element for the construction of individual identity and a sign of belonging to a community; food as an intercultural medium; food as language and the language of food. The articles included in the volume are organized in a Japanese and a Chinese section and use different approaches within humanities disciplines to explore topics ranging from classical and contemporary East Asian literature to present-day issues, focusing on Food Culture and its declinations

Organic food marketing and distribution in the European Union

The paper discusses the European organic agricultural sector from a socio-economical point of view and from a EU perspective. In the 1990s organic agriculture has known a strong development and today it is considered as a stable sector and with a certain economic importance inside agricultural sector. If originally organic food was the result of an ideological choice and was set inside the alternative culture in opposition to current models of economic development and social organisation, today it has the feature of an entrepreneurial phenomenon, belonging to a life style and to a finally acknowledged cultural model which is able to attract human and financial resources on its own, to produce profit and to satisfy a steadily increasing market. A description of the data obtained by the main available sources on organic food markets in Europe is provided, trying to analyse the present scenario for organic agriculture with the lenses of the 4Ps marketing management paradigm. The analysis may be useful to shed light on the several facets of the organic sector in Europe, and as a basis for further studies on the topic.organic food, distribution, marketing, communication, brand

Blended divergences: local food and medicinal plant uses among Arbëreshë, Occitans, and autochthonous Calabrians living in Calabria, Southern Italy

A study focusing on traditional uses of wild plants for gastronomic and medicinal purposes was carried out among three linguistic communities in Calabria, southern Italy. Ninety interviews with local elderly informants were conducted among Occitans and Arbëreshë, two linguistic minorities, and the dominant culture of autochthonous Calabrians. We recorded 85 taxa belonging to 39 botanical families and 66 different detailed use-reports including 35 culinary and 31 medicinal uses. Our overall data show the permanence of traditional ecological knowledge related to wild and semi-domesticated food and medicinal plants; however, high similarity indices among the three communities demonstrate that traditional ecological knowledge is following the pathway of homogenization and standardization toward the dominant culture, facilitated by a context of linguistic erosion, limited intergenerational transmission, and a centuries-old diffusion with Calabrian culture. Moreover, our study calls for further field surveys in isolated areas of Calabria to analyze how traditional ecological practices can be key tools in the development of local small-scale economies through the promotion of artisanal food entrepreneurship of wild food plant transformation

Food Porn and the Invitation to Gaze

In the digital world, notions of intimacy, communion and sharing are increasingly enacted through new media technologies and social practices which emerge around them. These technologies with the ability to upload, download and disseminate content to select audiences or to a wider public provide opportunities for the creation of new forms of rituals which authenticate and diarise everyday experiences. Consumption cultures in many ways celebrate the notion of the exhibit and the spectacle inviting gaze through everyday objects and rituals. Food as a vital part of culture, identity, belonging, and meaning making celebrates both the everyday and the invitation to renew connections through food as a universal subject of appeal. Food imagery as a form of transacted materiality online offers familiarity, comfort, co-presence but above all a common elemental literacy where food transcends cultural barriers, offering a universal pull towards a commodity which is ephemeral yet preserved through the click economy. Food is symbolic of human solidarity, sociality and sharing and equally of difference creating a spectacle and platform for conversations, conventions, connections, and vicarious consumption. Food images symbolise connection at a distance through everyday material culture and practices.</p

Breaking Bread & Boundaries : Finding Home In Every Bite

Raised outside of their “passport” countries, Third Culture Individuals (TCIs) often experience a lack of rootedness and belonging, and home is often everywhere and nowhere. Childhood food memories can provide the sense of connection and identity TCIs crave. Four Qatar-raised TCIs, from very different backgrounds share memories of their childhood comfort foods, now hybridized dishes, that reflect their unique third culture experiences. Each dish, in turn, inspired the creation of a bespoke set of cooking /dining ware designed to trigger a specific sensory memory: the sight, smell, touch, or sound associated with the original comfort dish. This specialized cooking/dining ware honors the unique experiences of TCIs, while (re-)creating a central identity for them and reconnecting them with cherished food memories so they can feel at home wherever they are

At the First Table

Research on European food culture has expanded substantially in recent years, telling us more about food preparation, ingredients, feasting and fasting rituals, and the social and cultural connotations of food.At the First Table demonstrates the ways in which early modern Spaniards used food as a mechanism for the performance of social identity. People perceived themselves and others as belonging to clearly defined categories of gender, status, age, occupation, and religion, and each of these categories carried certain assumptions about proper behavior and appropriate relationships with others. Food choices and dining customs were effective and visible ways of displaying these behaviors in the choreography of everyday life. In contexts from funerals to festivals to their treatment of the poor, Spaniards used food to display their wealth, social connections, religious affiliation, regional heritage, and membership in various groups and institutions and to reinforce perceptions of difference.Research on European food culture has been based largely on studies of England, France, and Italy, but more locally on Spain. Jodi Campbell combines these studies with original research in household accounts, university and monastic records, and municipal regulations to provide a broad overview of Spanish food customs and to demonstrate their connections to identity and social change in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries

At the First Table

Research on European food culture has expanded substantially in recent years, telling us more about food preparation, ingredients, feasting and fasting rituals, and the social and cultural connotations of food.At the First Table demonstrates the ways in which early modern Spaniards used food as a mechanism for the performance of social identity. People perceived themselves and others as belonging to clearly defined categories of gender, status, age, occupation, and religion, and each of these categories carried certain assumptions about proper behavior and appropriate relationships with others. Food choices and dining customs were effective and visible ways of displaying these behaviors in the choreography of everyday life. In contexts from funerals to festivals to their treatment of the poor, Spaniards used food to display their wealth, social connections, religious affiliation, regional heritage, and membership in various groups and institutions and to reinforce perceptions of difference.Research on European food culture has been based largely on studies of England, France, and Italy, but more locally on Spain. Jodi Campbell combines these studies with original research in household accounts, university and monastic records, and municipal regulations to provide a broad overview of Spanish food customs and to demonstrate their connections to identity and social change in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries

Food, Culture, Architecture, Lighting

In this study, I benefit from food as an interpretation of culture. Food is the most inspirational element of culture due to the emotional connections, a sense of belonging and ethic pride found in food. Food is important for our nutrition, but also has important cultural and symbolic meanings that make it more than what is on our plates. My childhood memories of traveling are mostly associated with the dining experience. Food is the most familiar way to interpret culture because it is highly associated with memories and experiences.https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/arch_grad_capstones/1008/thumbnail.jp

Fictional and Fragmented Truths in Korean Adoptee Life Writing

This article explores the ways that life writing allows transnational, transracial Asian adoptee authors to navigate their complex experiences of truth and authenticity. It also addresses the transformations adoptee authors make to the memoir genre in order to accommodate the particularities of their experiences. I analyze Jane Jeong Trenka’s foundational Asian adoption memoir, The Language of Blood, and Kim Sunée’s lesser-known text, Trail of Crumbs, paying attention to the ways that the authors’ hybridized and deliberately constructionist approaches to genre parallel some of the identity issues that are brought out in their respective books. I explore the significance of the scrapbook form in The Language of Blood and the recipe book structure in Trail of Crumbs, arguing that Trenka and Sunée create hybridized life narratives because, like many transnational, transracial Asian adoptee life writers (and subjects), their identities are so inescapably predicated on assemblage. I argue that these authors reconsider some of the customary structures, styles, and themes found in traditional memoirs, and in so doing they participate in the postmodern project of de-essentializing truth claims that is crucial to their negotiations of their identities as Korean adoptees