Seminar offers new thinking on food and gastronomy

posted by Geoff Andrews at Thursday, May 01, 2008

The gastronomy, politics and citizenship seminar held at the Open University this week set in place some new international networks on the new politics of food. The lively and stimulating discussion addressed topics such as whether gastronomy should be given status as an academic subject area in its own right, the politics of the new social movements that have grown around food, such as Slow Food, and the links between food, place and identity. Academic specialists from a range of disciplines included Nicola Perullo from the University of Gastronomic Sciences; Anne Murcott from South Bank/Nottingham; Rick Wilk from Indiana; Harry West from the Food Studies Centre at the School of Oriental and African Studies; Roberta Sassatelli from Milan University and Martin Caraher from City University. The seminar also brought together practitioners from the Bulmer Foundation and Sustain as well as a network of PhD students. The discussion addressed many topical and thought provoking issues, such as the reasons why obesity gets so much attention in food policy, the politics of bottled water, the implications of the cittaslow movement for the relationship between food and identity, and whether gastronomy can escape elitist connotations. It was a very convivial gathering which included an excellent meal at The Plough in nearby Wavendon, organised by Bedford Slow Food Group. The mixing of pleasure and serious thinking is obviously still a difficult combination to grasp as this comment on the seminar from Tuesday's Guardian suggests. http://education.guardian.co.uk/egweekly/story/0,,2276625,00.html