Food-Related Lectures & Seminar Series, Hilary Term 2013

There are a number of interesting talks and seminars taking place in Oxford this term on the subject of food, covering an impressively wide range of issues relating to this topic.

You can also see all of these talks listed on the Events page on the Future of Food website.

Please note that the first Oxford Food Security Forum Seminar is taking place today, Monday 14th January at 12.30pm!

• Green Templeton Lectures 2013: Feeding a Better Future
• The Oxford Food Security Forum Lunchtime Talks Hilary Term 2013: Global Food Security
• Linacre College Lectures 2013
• Unit for Biocultural Variation and Obesity Seminars, Hilary Term 2013: Socialities and Childhood Obesity

Green Templeton Lectures 2013: Feeding a Better Future

In an annual series of four lectures in Hilary Term, the Green Templeton Lectures explore a given contemporary theme through a number of different perspectives, whether it be historical, political, educational or philosophical. Previous themes have included the pharmaceutical industry in 2009 and the sources and forms of uncertainty in modern life.

The theme of the 2013 lectures is Feeding a Better Future. The lectures take place on Monday 21 and 28 January and Monday 4 and 11 February.

One Billion Hungry: Can we Feed the World?
Speaker: Sir Gordon Conway, Professor of International Development, Imperial College.
Monday 21 January

The Role of Nutrition in Mental Health and Performance: Changing Diets, Changing Minds
Speaker: Dr Alex Richardson, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Evidence-Based Intervention, University of Oxford; Visiting Research Fellow, Depertment of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford, and Founder Director, FAB Research.
Monday 28 January

Food Democracy, Food Control and the Social Dimension of Modern Food Policy
Speaker: Professor Tim Lang, Professor of Food Policy, Centre for Food Policy, City University, London.
Monday 4 February

Global Malnutrition: Can We Make A Difference?
Speaker: Professor Jeyakumar Henry, Director, Clinical Nutrition Sciences, Singapore Institute of Clinical Sciences; Director, Functional Food Centre, Oxford Brookes University.
Monday 11 February

Venue: Tsuzuki Lecture Theatre, St Anne's College, Oxford.

http://www.gtc.ox.ac.uk/academic/lectures-seminars/gtlectures/green-templeton-lectures-2013.html

The Oxford Food Security Forum Lunchtime Talks Hilary Term 2013: Global Food Security

These lunchtime talks are organised by the student-led Oxford Food Security Forum

Mondays, 12:30-1:30 PM Hilary Term

Venue: Queen Elizabeth House, Meeting Room A, 3 Mansfield Road

Week 1 (14 January): “Climate Change and Rice in India”- TODAY
Prof. Barbara Harriss-White, School of Interdisciplinary Area Studies, University of Oxford

Week 2 (21 January): “Biochar, Sustainability and Food Supply”
Alfred Gathorne-Hardy, Research Fellow, 'The Materiality of Rice' project, University of Oxford

Week 3 (28 January): “Distributed Governance and Restless Consumption: The Case of Novel Foods in Europe”
Tanja Schneider, Research Fellow in Science and Technology Studies, Said Business School, University of Oxford
Javier Lezaun, PhD, Deputy Director of the Institute for Science, Innovation, and Society, University of Oxford

Week 3 (29 January): “Why Eat Local?” *NOTE: This talk will be on TUESDAY of Week 3
Julian Cottee, Cultivate Oxfordshire

Week 4 (4 February): “Diet, Environmental Sustainability and Chronic Disease”
Peter Scarborough, DPhil, British Heart Foundation Health Promotion Research Group, University of Oxford

Week 5 (11 February): “Food Security and Environmental Change: A Two-­Way Street”
John Ingram, Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Food Security Leader, Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford

Week 6 (18 February): “Food Security, Nutrition and Climate Change Mitigation: Exploring the Links”
Tara Garnett, Food Climate Research Network, Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford

Week 7 (25 February): "Environment and (not “or”) Economics and (not “or”) Ethics"
Mike Gooding, Managing Director at FAI Farms Limited

Week 8 (4 March): “The Role of ‘Gathering’ in Relation to Food Security and Reduced Vulnerability as Part of Agroforestry Development in Rural India”
Professor Steven Newman, Managing Director at BioDiversity International

http://www.futureoffood.ox.ac.uk/oxford-food-security-forum-lunchtime-talks-hilary-term-2013

Linacre College Lectures 2013

Urbanization and food insecurity in an unequal world.
Gordon McGranahan, Principal Researcher, International Institute for Environment and Development.
Thursday 17th January, 17:30
Department of Plant Sciences.

Please check their website for further lectures later in the term:
http://www.linacre.ox.ac.uk/About/events/LinacreLectures

Unit for Biocultural Variation and Obesity Seminars, Hilary Term 2013: Socialities and Childhood Obesity

24 January (Thursday, week 2)
Karin ELI & Rosie KAY, ISCA, University of Oxford & Rosie Kay Dance Company
"Participant observation in motion: what dance can teach us about eating disorders"

31 January (Thursday, week 3)
Mariano BEGUERISSE-DIAZ, Department of Mathematics and Department of Chemistry, Imperial College London
"Network mathematics in the social sciences: concepts, applications, and perspectives into obesity and public health"

7 February (Thursday, week 4)
Angela DAVIS, Centre for the History of Medicine, University of Warwick
"Maternity and childcare in Britain: a historical perspective"

14 February (Thursday, week 5)
Brit OPPEDAL, National Institute of Public Health, Norway
"Social integration of migrant children: uncovering family factors promoting healthy development: experience from Norway"

21 February (Thursday, week 6)
Hiranthi JAYAWEERA, COMPAS, University of Oxford
"Minority families and barriers to health care"

28 February (Thursday, week 7)
Laurel EDMUNDS, Oxford Institute of Ageing, University of Oxford
"Treating obesity early in life: the common misunderstandings between parents and health care providers"

7 March (Thursday, week 8)
Lucy COOKE, Health Behaviour Research Centre, University College London
"Children’s eating habits and food preferences: determinants and consequences"

http://www.oxfordobesity.org/files/UBVOseminarsHT13.pdf

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COMIDA, CULTURA Y MODERNIDAD EN MÉXICO

 La alfombra roja de los libros gastronómicos

Por Marisa Ramos Abascal

Son muchos los Homo gastronomus que dedican parte importante de su tiempo a buscar y encontrar buena literatura culinaria y gastronómica. El acervo bibliográfico de todo cocinero que se respete debe tener algunos clásicos, como el Larousse gastronomique, el Escoffier, libros con recetas clásicas de su cocina de especialización, algunas referencias de ingredientes, algo de técnicas básicas y por supuesto libros que den sentido y referencia a las creaciones culinarias.

Es una constante entre los chefs que se destacan por sus aportaciones culinarias, que las mismas están soportadas por un consistente marco de referencia y coherencia, es decir platillos que cuentan una historia por sí mismos o que expresan una cultura, una filosofía o una escuela.

Pero como en esto de la literatura culinaria hay de libros a libros, siempre es un referente observar lo que pasa en las grandes ligas, las ceremonias de alfombra roja de los libros culinarios, en mi opinión son dos, la que organiza la James Beard Foundation quienes además manejan –ojo estudiantes- un magnifico programa de becas, y quienes se encargan de reconocer a lo más destacado de la edición gastronómica, pero que desafortunadamente se limita a los Estados Unidos de Norte América, y aunque es loable la gran cantidad de libros de calidad que en este género publican nuestros vecinos del norte, este importante reconocimiento no tiene un alcance internacional.

La otra alfombra roja, la que todos monitoreamos año con año, es la del Premio Gourmand Internacional, el cual por su impecable trayectoria en la selección genuina de lo más destacado en este género y la cobertura internacional, así como su amplio abanico de categorías. A lo largo de su historia ha construido un referente de prestigio indiscutible.

En lo personal una de las cosas que más admiro de esta organización es que ha sabido evolucionar con la época, y reconocer las particularidad y valía de cada cuisine por separado, haciendo del mundo un gran mantel sobre el cual se han expuesto los mejores libros, las ceremonias suelen ser siempre innovadoras y diversas y se han realizado a lo largo de 15 años en distintas ciudades de países como Suecia, Malasia, China, España, Francia entre otras –aunque ninguna edición se ha celebrado en América todavía-.

Se reciben en promedio poco más de 8,000 libros anuales para su evaluación, el comité precedido por Mon. Edouard Cointreau permanece constante en la cuidadosa evaluación y selección de los libros que por su calidad de contenido y belleza editorial serán considerados clásicos en los próximos años. 

Ganar un Premio Gourmand puede ser el sueño de una vida, y aunque son muchas las categorías es frecuente observar que los jueces declaran desierta ocasionalmente algunas, ya que a su criterio no se ha logrado cumplir con los estándares establecidos, es decir, este reconocimiento se reserva solo a los mejores, son pocas las referencias a México que han logrado este codiciadísimo galardón, destacando la Chef Lula Martín del Campo y Rodolfo Gershman que aunque no es mexicano sus aportaciones a la cultura gastronómica de nuestro país nos hace sentirnos sentirlo como paisano.

Sabiendo esto, no les puedo expresar la alegría que me dio cuando de boca de Catherine Good y Laura Corona me enteré que el libro que ellas coordinaron: Comida, cultura y modernidad en México. Perspectivas antropológicas e históricas; ganó el Premio Gourmand, como mejor libro de historia culinaria de México 2012. 

Un libro de 18 capítulos y más de 15 autores, en donde bajo una rigurosa metodología, dan un vistazo fresco a la gastronomía a través de los desprejuiciados ojos del antropólogo, del etnógrafo y del historiador. 

Relatos amenos que nos hacen lo mismo visitar Iztapalapa en día de muertos, que analizar los significados de las ofrendas de un pueblo purépecha o recapacitar sobre el protagonismo entre la torta y la hamburguesa en el escenario de la fast food en México.

Un vistazo a la comida cotidiana y ritual del México real, sin ficción, sin maquillaje, con su propia magia y encanto que hace al lector desear recorrer esta tierra tenedor en mano.

El libro tiene otra virtud que enaltece sus meritos y es que a comparación de otros ejemplares ganadores, su edición es sencilla, profesional pero simple, pasta blanda e ilustraciones pequeñas y en blanco y negro, impresas en papel bond de 90 g y un formato pequeño, en mucho diferente a las elegantes ediciones de papel lustroso, pasta dura y espectaculares fotografías que parecen ser una constante de justificación para que un libro sea siquiera considerado como “bueno”. 

En hora buena a los autores porque este libro brilla por su fondo y no por su forma, y así fue reconocido de inmediato por la comunidad gastronómica, prueba de ello es que está agotado, pero no se desanimen que se espera pronto se logré una reedición, para que muchos más se enteren de lo que pasa en las mesas de México.

Alimento:Direito Sagrado

Acesse a publicação que apresenta os resultados da Pesquisa Socioeconômico e Cultural de Povos e Comunidades Tradicionais de Terreiros, realizada em Recife, Belém, Belo Horizonte e Porto Alegre. A pesquisa reforça o compromisso com o direito humano à alimentação adequada, garantindo a esses povos e comunidades o respeito às práticas ritualísticas tradicionais.

Novos Receitas, Novos olhares sobre o patrimônio alimentar

Ya está editada la versión en castellano del CORPUS DEL PATRIMONIO CULINARIO CATALÁN- EL RECETARIO IMPRESCINDIBLE. 2012 - Autor(es), AA.VV. ISBN, 978-84-15541-40-0. Editorial RBA. Barcelona. 

 Es un proyecto vivo ya que los recetarios nunca son una obra cerrada, es una obra colectiva. Desde el Comité Científico tratamos de ir incorporando las propuestas que nos llegan...

Já esta editada a versão em castelhano do CORPUS DEL PATRIMONIO CULINARIO CATALÁN- EL RECETARIO IMPRESCINDIBLE. 2012 - Autor(es), AA.VV. ISBN, 978-84-15541-40-0. Editorial RBA. Barcelona. 

É um projeto vivo no qual as receitas nunca são uma obra finalizada, é uma obra coletiva. Assim, desde o Comitê Científico trataremos de incorporar as sugestões que nos chegarem...  

Edição especial: alimentos e manifestações culturais

‘Good to Eat, Good to Think: India’s Changing Food Cultures’

 

Amita Baviskar

1230 hrs

20 November 2012 

Old Committee Room, King’s College London, Strand campus, Second floor

 

In the last three decades, although India has witnessed radical shifts in the modes of producing and consuming food, this has stimulated surprisingly little analytical attention.  The changing political economy of food production and consumption and its role in reshaping social identities and agrarian environments remains remarkably understudied.  This lecture outlines the preliminary contours of a project that attempts to analyse some of these shifts through a selective discussion of changing food practices in post-Independence western India.  It delineates the widening circuits of food as a commodity form within the home and outside, spanned by the growth of processed foods and practices of 'eating out'.  It outlines the changing signification of food practices for different social groups, and considers some potential health and ecological implications arising from the transformation.  It makes the case for focused attention on food as a way of understanding social change in India.

Amita Baviskar is Associate Professor of Sociology at the Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi.  Her research focuses on the cultural politics of environment and development.  Her first book In the Belly of the River: Tribal Conflicts over Development in the Narmada Valley (2004) discussed the struggle for survival by adivasis in central India against a large dam.  Her subsequent work further explores the themes of resource rights, subaltern resistance and cultural identity.  More recently, she has focused on urban environmental politics, especially bourgeois environmentalism and spatial restructuring in the context of economic liberalisation in Delhi.  Her latest research examines changing food practices in western India in relation to the transformation of agrarian environments. She has edited Waterlines: The Penguin Book of River Writings (2004);Waterscapes: The Cultural Politics of a Natural Resource (2007);Contested Grounds: Essays on Nature, Culture and Power (2008); and Elite and Everyman: The Cultural Politics of the Indian Middle Classes (with Raka Ray, 2011).  She has taught at the University of Delhi, and has been a visiting scholar at Stanford, Cornell, Yale and the University of California at Berkeley.  She was awarded the 2005 Malcolm Adiseshiah Award for Distinguished Contributions to Development Studies, the 2008 VKRV Rao Prize for Social Science Research, and the 2010 Infosys Prize for Social Sciences.

 

RSVP: india-institute@kcl.ac.uk

 

 

King’s India Institute

King’s College London

Strand

London WC2R 2LS

Tel.: 020 7848 1432

www.kcl.ac.uk/indiainstitute

Call for proposals: Nutritional guidelines and standards: past and present perspectives

According to the WHO, 925 million people in the world are undernourished and 1.5 billion adults over 20 are overweight. From the 19th century onwards, nutritional guidelines and standards have been devised to both counteract and measure these dual problems. In 1894 W. O. Atwater of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), for instance, drew up the first dietary standards for protein, total calories, fat and carbohydrates for the American population. Seebohm Rowntree used Atwater’s and the work of other early nutritional scientists in his famous study of poverty in York in 1901 to discover the minimum calories and nutritional balance needed before people got ill or lost weight,

Yet nutritional guidelines and standards have not only a long but also an evolving history. The USDA, for example, issued a food wheel in the 1940s that was gradually replaced by a food pyramid and more recently by a food plate, while major supermarkets in the UK have recently replaced the Guidelines Daily Amount (GDA) with traffic-light labels on their food products. And the history of nutritional guidelines and standards is contested, especially when norms created for particular populations are imposed upon others. The tendency for proxies for good and poor nutrition to universalise the human condition has, however, been challenged. For example, with the rise in obesity levels, the Body Mass Index (BMI), which was first devised in the early 19th century, has increasingly come under attack as a useful means to measure obesity. And many scholars fiercely criticised Robert Fogel and Stanley Engerman’s use Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) and other nutritional standards to assess the health of the American slave population and make inferences about the profitability of American slavery.

By bringing together scholars from various fields, this one-day conference will explore the politics behind and the usefulness of past and present nutritional guidelines and standards.

We welcome proposals for 20-minute papers from any discipline and on any geographical setting that engage with one or more of the following questions:

• What role does nutritional science play in dietary guidance?

• How useful are nutrition surveys in the construction of nutritional guidelines?

• What factors other than developments in nutritional science give rise to and lead to changes in nutritional guidelines and standards issued by national governments, supranational bodies such as the WHO, and national and international NGOs?

• How do producers and distributors of food affect nutritional norms?

• What effects do nutritional guidelines, including food labelling, have on population behaviour?

• How useful are BMR, BMI and other nutritional diagnostic tools to assess the health and wealth of past and present societies?

We may offer a limited number of Postgraduate Bursaries to assist postgraduate presenters with registration and travel costs. Those seeking a bursary should state so on their submission.

Proposals for papers must include the following: - Title - Summary of proposal of maximum 250 words - 1 page c.v. including author’s name, address, email , institutional affiliation

All proposals must be sent to Dr. Henrice Altink (henrice.altink@york.ac.uk) or Dr. David Clayton (david.clayton@york.ac.uk) no later than Friday 15 March 2013. Notifications will be sent by 15 April 2013.

This message has been forwarded by the SOAS Food Studies Centre, located in the Department of Anthropology at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. The Centre is chaired by Harry G. West, Professor of Anthropology. Enquiries concerning the SOAS Food Studies Centre or the SOAS Food Forum, or content for distribution to Centre members, may be directed to this email address.