Is food merely fuel to keep us alive? Consuming food is not simply about biological and nutritional needs. Rather, food, like anything people engage with, is inherently multi-faceted. The context of food and its discourses involve an interplay of our cognition and is a medium for our memory and identity. Food, from its mundane modes of production to the consumption of a single meal or even to the global networks which bring foods from distant lands to one’s plate, reflects and creates hegemonic relations between groups and individuals, defining ‘good’ and ‘bad’ behaviour. Food has been discussed since ancient times, appearing in numerous ancient texts. It has both been described as art and is the subject of art. Food then, is an expression of how we understand our world and humanity’s place in it.
Author(s): Simeon S. Magliveras, Catherine Gallin
Publisher: Brill
Year: 2014
Language: English
Pages: 209
City: Amsterdam
Odysseys of Plates and Palates: Food, Society and Sociality
Table of Contents
Introduction: Odysseys of Plates and Palates: Food, Society and Sociality in the Past, Present and Future
Part I Historicity, Literature, the Visual Arts and Food
The Hunting Game: Chasing the Hare, Killing the Wild Boar
The Negative Banquet of Odysseus and the Cyclops
Plato on Food and Necessary and Unnecessary Appetites in the Republic
Why Do They Care? Understanding the Need to Explain the Kosher Laws
In Search of Sacred Tree: Consumption of Olive Oil in Evliya Çelebi’s Travelogue
From Eating by Necessity to Rather do Without: Food Habits, Social Classes and Wartime Food Situation in Britain
On English Food: Plain and Simple or Just Plain Bad
Part II Identity, Food and the Social Context
Food and Culture: Continuity and Change in the Yoruba of West Africa and Their Diasporas
Kneidalach, Paprika and the Spanish Omelet: Jewish Food and Identity in Barcelona Today
From ‘Clean, Fresh, Healthy’ to ‘Nehad the Jordanian’: Hummus Advertisements in Israel, 1958-2013
For the Love of Pork: Eating in Ethnic Enclaves
Nationalism and Food: The Morality of Eating within a Greek / Arvanite Community
Constructing Women Identities through Food Memoirs
Food, Nutrition and Older People Living in Rural Communities
Part III Edible Syncretism, Hybridity, Globalization and Food
How Christian Fasting Practices Affect Levantine Cuisine
Meat Is More than Food? Representations of Meat and Willingness to Change Consumption Habits
Standardization of Healthy Dinner Practices: The Case of Fish Consumption in Norway
The Global Grocery Store and the End of Grandma’s Traditional Recipe
