Cooking Up Culture

What does food -- including the ways we obtain it, use it, and give it meaning -- tell us about the cultural spaces we inhabit? Here, we explore the spectrum of contentions surrounding food preparation, consumption, and representation through interdisciplinary lenses as a means interrogate the complexity of the human experience.

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Check out this interesting discussion of a study by Alia Crum that examines the relationship between our beliefs and perceptions about what we're eating and our metabolism.

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Bubba Watson celebrates his second Masters win at the Waffle House -- it's interesting here how the commentators use his dinner at the Waffle House to situate Watson in the context of the "regular guy" rather than the winner who would eat caviar after his win.

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Check out this discussion of changing perceptions about diet -- "Is Sugar a Diet Aid? The Answer Depends on the Decade" by Lisa Wade.

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Holocaust Cookery

Holocaust Survivor Cookbook

Irena Matusiak: Cookbooks and diaries

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West End Market Grand Opening

You might be interested to go to the West End Market grand opening tomorrow after class. Check out the event link for more information:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1432944510281529

Take a look at Lisa Kaylor's Augusta Chronicle article for more information about the Veggie Truck!

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Food maps! Check out Hargreaves and Levin's food maps. Slate has also put together an article on the project. 

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Project Models

Still struggling with your topic? Check out some of these models!

Maanvi Singh's "See More, Eat More: The Geography of Fast Food" -- what about mapping out spaces in the Augusta community where the density of fast food restaurants is high (ahem . . . has anyone been down Walton Way lately).

Check out Paul D. Swanson's investigation of the language of "organic" and "natural" foods historically in "We Are What We Eat."

What about moving into a space that isn't always known for its foodways and doing an examination there? Check out this article from an older issue of Gastronomica about Sandra Cate's exploration of how inmates in the California prison system create "spread" from the items they have available -- most commonly ramen noodles.

One thing that might be a motivating factor: think about creating a project that you could send in for publication with a food magazine! Gastronomica accepts submissions as do several of the magazines listed here.

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Manuel's Bread Cafe and Blue Clay Farm -- talking with Janice and Manuel . . . and of course the very entertaining Pepe le Pew.

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Rationing recipe success, complete with Darth Vader napkins! And, who doesn't need a close up picture of Shannon's ham loaf!

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A little too much like My Year of Meats . . .

Hmm . . . this sounds a little too much like My Year of Meats. What do you think? See Pagan Kennedy's "The Fat Drug," which came out on 3/8/2014.

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"Almost 500 Foods Contain The 'Yoga Mat' Compound. Should We Care?"

We've been talking a lot about food safety recently -- what do you make of Allison Aubrey's recent discussion, "Almost 500 Foods Contain The 'Yoga Mat' Compound. Should We Care?" 

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"How Tracing The Oil In Your Pop-Tarts May Help Save Rain Forests"

Check out Allison's Aubrey's recent discussion, "How Tracing The Oil In Your Pop-Tarts May Help Save Rain Forests."

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Meat Eating Around the Globe

Check out this infographic about meat eating around the blog. Luxemborg consumes more meat than the United States.

And, be sure to check out GeoCurrents discussion of the global consumption of meat and fish.

Here's the link to Peter Menzel's set of images that capture global consumption patterns.

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Here's the "I Am Man" song referenced in the Buerkle article. The commercial parodies the Helen Reddy anthem "I Am Woman Hear Me Roar" (1975). Buerkle also references the show Queer Eye for the Straight Guy -- the show is available on Netflix if you had never seen it but were interested to understand his references more thoroughly.'

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Cocoa-Nomics

Today, CNN's International edition is running this interactive infographic on chocolate production -- "Cocoa-nomics explained: Unwrapping the chocolate industry." Check it out!

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Breastfeeding in Public

Check out this great set of historical images of breastfeeding. Number 7 shows the image of breastfeeding from a 1977 episode of Sesame Street -- take a look. Do you think we'd ever see breastfeeding represented like this today?