Special Roundtable: Translating the Foods of the World, 14 December, 9.30am (ET)

Gastronomica
A color book of sweets from the early modern period in Japan (1600-1868) called Illustrated Catalog of Confections (Kashi zufu) in the collection of the Ajinomoto Dietary Culture Library.

We’re excited to announce this upcoming special event, co-hosted by the Culinaria Research Centre at the University of Toronto and the Center for East Asian Studies at The University of Kansas. This follows our recent call for submissions on the same theme, published both on this site and in extended form in our latest issue, 21.4 (open access), so will be invaluable to both early-career and established scholars considering working towards such a publication.

Hosted by Krishnendu Ray, and featuring Eric C. Rath, Robert Valgenti, Miranda Brown, and Saumya Gupta, this is a FREE virtual event dedicated to critical questions such as:

What does it mean to translate food texts? What are the challenges and opportunities relating to such translations? How must translators develop new vocabularies to express Indigenous concepts? How do translators engage with historical non-English texts like recipes that may assume more information and insight than they provide, and how has culinary terminology changed over time in tandem with other historical developments?

What does it mean to translate food and culinary knowledge? How do we all translate food in everyday ways, through oral transmission, adaptation, food experiences, etc.? How are oral traditions translated into text? How should translators consider their audience, including those seeking culinary application?

See the EventBrite site for further details and to register, or simply register below:

Register on Eventbrite

Podcast Dispatches from Vol. 21: What to Read Now with Melissa Fuster

Gastronomica

For our sixth season of podcasts produced in collaboration with Meant to Be Eaten on Heritage Radio Network, we sit down (virtually) with authors who have contributed to our third issue of 2021, edited by Krishnendu Ray, and featuring articles and creative pieces which collectively address the issue of “gastropolitics,” as described in that issue’s editorial letter. You can find all previous episodes in the series under “Web Exclusives.”

For this episode, Reviews Editor and Collective member Jaclyn Rohel highlights three titles recently reviewed in Issue 21.4 which may be of interest to both food scholars and lay readers of topics related to food production, consumption, and representation:

The Uncertainty Mindset: Innovation Insights from the Frontiers of Food, by Vaughn Tan

FoodWISE: A Whole Systems Guide to Sustainable and Delicious Food Choices, by Gigi Berardi

Tasting Difference: Food, Race, and Cultural Encounters in Early Modern Literature, by Gitanjali G. Shahani

Jackie is then joined by Gastronomica colleague Melissa Fuster to discuss Melissa’s new book, Caribeños at the Table: How Migration, Health, and Race Intersect in New York City (UNC Press, 2021). An expert in both public health nutrition and food studies, Melissa weaves together research in history, policy, health, and everyday life to connect newcomers’ culinary practices to the complex structural factors that shape well-being. Melissa also discusses how this work led her to develop her community-based research initiative, the Latin American Restaurants in Action Project.

Podcast Dispatches from Issue 21.3: L. Stephen Velasquez

Gastronomica

For our sixth season of podcasts produced in collaboration with Meant to Be Eaten on Heritage Radio Network, we sit down (virtually) with authors who have contributed to our third issue of 2021, edited by Krishnendu Ray, and featuring articles and creative pieces which collectively address the issue of “gastropolitics,” as described in that issue’s editorial letter.

Join Editorial Collective member Paula Johnson in conversation with her Smithsonian colleague Stephen Velasquez, author of the recently published “Stirring the Pot: Calendario de Comida 1976, Chicano Art as Food Activism.” Paula and Steve discuss how the Calendario, created by California-based artist collectives in 1975, sought to bring attention to alternative foodways and indigenous food knowledges as part of a broader social justice movement, as well as the broader role of Chicano activists in reimagining colonial histories and identity.

Podcast Dispatches from Issue 21.3: Sucharita Kanjilal

Gastronomica

For our sixth season of podcasts produced in collaboration with Meant to Be Eaten on Heritage Radio Network, we sit down (virtually) with authors who have contributed to our third issue of 2021, edited by Krishnendu Ray, and featuring articles and creative pieces which collectively address the issue of “gastropolitics,” as described in that issue’s editorial letter.

For this episode, Krishnendu is joined by Sucharita Kanjilal to discuss her recently published article, “Beyond Bourdieu: What Tomatoes in Indian Recipes Tell Us about ‘Taste’,” which explores how this now staple ingredient became incorporated into Indian pantries in the 20th century. Weaving together the histories of two British imports – the tomato and the recipe – she discusses the fluidity of taste-making in postcolonial India.

Image courtesy of the author.
Winter 2021, Volume 21 Number 4

Winter 2021, Volume 21 Number 4

Gastronomica

Editorial Letter | Daniel E. Bender and Signe Rousseau

IMMOBILITY AND FRICTIONS

Uncontrolled Movements: An Overview of Abdicated Control in Florida’s Prison Food Spaces | John Daimoku Kingham

Challenging Power, Fighting for Food: A Gastronomica Call for Submissions on Food and Activism | Josée Johnston, Koby Song-Nichols, and Michael Chrobok

Adirondack Mountain Oysters | Luke McNally

Why I Am Mad about the Ducks | Amy B. Trubek

ON THE MOVE

“Swiggy it!”: Food Delivery, Gastro Geographies, and the Shifting Meaning of the Local in Pandemic India | Tulasi Srinivas

Playing with Our Food | Cheryl Cheung

Classical Dishes, Taste, and Violence | Joel Rodrigues

ACROSS THE LINES

Sake Journal (Goshu no nikki): Japan’s Oldest Guide to Brewing | Eric C. Rath

Toward “Translating the Foods of the World”: A Gastronomica Call for Submissions | Eric C. Rath

An Education of the Senses at the University of California, Berkeley: Alice Waters from Then to Now | Cari Borja

50 Years On, Did Alice Waters Change Food Forever? | The Gastronomica Editorial Collective

Tipping the Scales | David Szanto

Ferment | Monica Rico

Sacrament | Monica Rico

Food Activism and Language in a Slow Food Italy Restaurant Menu | Carole Counihan

What to Read Now: An Interview with Kim Walker and Mark Nesbitt, authors of Just the Tonic: A Natural History of Tonic Water | Jaclyn Rohel

REVIEWS

Farmsteaders, a film by Shaena Mallett
reviewed by Alissa Boochever

The Uncertainty Mindset: Innovation Insights from the Frontiers of Food, by Vaughn Tan
reviewed by John Broadway

Tasting Difference: Food, Race, and Cultural Encounters in Early Modern Literature, by Gitanjali G. Shahani
reviewed by Sakshi Dogra

Right to Harm, a film by Matt Wechsler and Annie Speicher
reviewed by Allison Gray

Epistenology: Wine as Experience, by Nicola Perullo
reviewed by Anthony Palmiscno

Craft: An Argument, by Pete Brown
reviewed by Katie Schwind

FoodWISE: A Whole Systems Guide to Sustainable and Delicious Food Choices, by Gigi Berardi
reviewed by Sarra Talib