Summer 2020, Volume 20 Number 2

Summer 2020, Volume 20 Number 2

Gastronomica

EDITORIAL LETTER
Editor’s Letter | Signe Rousseau

LANGUAGE, MYTHMAKING, TRANSMISSION
Disciplining Polenta: A Parody on the Politics of Saving Food | Zachary Nowak, Bradley M. Jones, and Elisa Ascione

The Yeoman Myth: A Troubling Foundation of the Beginning Farmer Movement | Adam Calo

“Blue Steak, Red Peas”: Science, Marketing, and the Making of a Culinary Myth | Joel Harold Tannenbaum

What a Little Hilltop in Abruzzo Can Tell Us about Words for Place | Susan H. Gordon

(CHANGING) TRADITIONS
The “Japanese Turn” in Fine Dining in the United States, 1980–2020 | Samuel H. Yamashita

Xylella fastidiosa and the Olive Oil Crisis in Puglia | Carl Ipsen

Worry-Nostalgia: Anxieties around the Fading of Local Cuisines and Foodways |
Sarah Trainer, Jessica Hardin, Cindi SturtzSreetharan, and Alexandra Brewis

Competitive Coffee Making and the Crafting of the Ideal Barista | Sabine Parrish

SAVING, FERMENTING, REMEMBERING FOOD
“Sandorkraut” and the Truth about Rot | Frances Cannon

Three Burgers | Corey S. Pressman

Viga’s Public Market: The Commons in the Hands of Farmers and the Poor | Text and Photographs by David Bacon

REVIEWS
A Foodie’s Guide to Capitalism: Understanding the Political Economy of What We Eat
by Eric Holt-Giménez, reviewed by Ali Brooks

The Fate of Food: What We’ll Eat in a Bigger, Hotter, Smarter World
by Amanda Little, reviewed by Donald C. Cole

Mouthfeel: How Texture Makes Taste
by Ole G. Mouritsen and Klavs Styrbæk,translated by Mariela Johansen, reviewed by Joel Dickau

Wilted: Pathogens, Chemicals, and the Fragile Future of the Strawberry Industry
by Julie Guthman, reviewed by Laura-Anne Minkoff-Zern

Whitewash: The Story of a Weed Killer, Cancer, and the Corruption of Science
by Carey Gillam, reviewed by Nick Rose

Domestication Gone Wild: Politics and Practices of Multispecies Relations
edited by Heather Anne Swanson, Marianne Elisabeth Lien, and Gro B. Ween,
reviewed by Daniel Allen Solomon

New Call for Submissions: “Food in the time of COVID”

Gastronomica

In addition to our standing invitation for scholarly research and “Food Phenomena” submissions, the Editorial Collective of Gastronomica will continue to highlight the impact of COVID-19 on local and global food systems. We invite the following submissions:

  • Research ‘briefs’ (500-3,000 words): shorter treatments of developing projects, vital research questions, and/or the essential methodologies for the study of food and pandemics. Research briefs will be blind peer-reviewed. 
  • Teaching ‘briefs’ (300-2,000 words): reflections on and studies of pedagogy (“remote” or otherwise) and food’s far-flung social, economic, cultural, and medical impacts in the context of pandemic(s).  (“Pedagogy” pertains to teaching practices from pre-school to universities, virtual spaces, as well as to public spaces, and includes an array of voices, from academics to tour guides to cooks to artists.)
  • “Dispatches” (100-1000 words), shorter pieces drawn from lived experience of this pandemic (and other pandemics): portraits, creative non-fiction, telephonic/digital interviews, photographs and other images, and more.  
  • Regular and full-length research and Food Phenomena pieces, including, but not limited to fully realized submissions about food in the time of COVID-19. As always, Gastronomica seeks to publish work that presents new and original research, advances our understanding of the pressing topics, theories, and methods in the world of food, and invites critical commentary.  

Deadline: Review of submissions will begin immediately. In order to be considered for issue 20.4 (Winter 2020), submissions must be received no later than 15 July 2020. Later submissions can be considered for future issues.  Some submissions may also be selected for online publication as part of our Web Exclusive series,* and/or featured on Heritage Radio Network’s “Meant To Be Eaten” (MTBE) podcast (in collaboration with host Coral Lee for a regular collaborative Gastronomica/MTBE mini-series).  

(*Note that any submissions selected only for online publication will not be indexed by Gastronomica)

Read more →

Food in the time of COVID-19: Call for Submissions

Gastronomica

Lockdowns, social distancing, quarantines, and simple fear in a time of uncertainty highlight the challenges of provisioning, the experiences of food workers, and the essential services food shops, hawkers, street vendors, bars, restaurants, markets, farms, and many more play in providing not only sustenance but also the liveliness upon which we depend in daily life.  

The Gastronomica Editorial Collective is seeking dispatches about food in the time of COVID-19. We seek as many diverse voices as possible, from as many affected, infected places as possible to provide a snapshot in time. We know that even as this next issue will go to press, the situation in many places may have worsened (but, hopefully, improved). We are, though, already immersed in stories and narratives of resilience that deserve to be remembered and documented. We seek, therefore, reflections in resilience. How do people feed themselves in times of crisis? What is the role of community and social ties in feeding ourselves, families, the ill, and each other? How has the crisis both highlighted the essential services provided by food workers and the precarity of those services? 

We invite shorter pieces (100-1000 words) in the form of personal dispatches drawn from lived experience: portraits, creative non-fiction, telephonic/digital interviews, photographs and other images, and more. If you are, or you know, someone who would like their voice heard, but might not have the time to put words to paper, please be in touch and we can arrange a conversation or interview with a collective member. We are eager to read, listen, and share. 

 Submissions can be sent directly to gastrome@ucpress.edu with the subject line “Food & Covid,” followed by your name and submission title. Please include a brief cover letter that can function as both an abstract and author bio, and include a word count. (If you have any citations, they should follow our general submission guidelines at https://gcfs.ucpress.edu/content/submit.) Please include (in-text) the date, place, and if possible, time, of writing in all submissions. 

In an effort to document, recall, and portray particular moments in the coming months, we are offering rolling submission deadlines. 

First submissions by: 10 April 

Second submissions by: 25 April

(We anticipate running more dispatches in forthcoming issues.)

(Empty shelves in a usually well-stocked supermarket in Cape Town, South Africa)

Meant To Be Eaten/Gastronomica Podcast #6

Gastronomica

In the sixth (and final, for this mini-series) instalment of our collaborative podcast with Meant To Be Eaten and Heritage Radio Radio Network, we bring you Collective Member Melissa Fuster in conversation with Chhaya Kolavalli on the topic of “Confronting Whiteness in the Local Food Movement.” We hope you enjoy the episode (and the article that this conversation is based on, free to read through 2020):

Meant To Be Eaten/Gastronomica Podcast #5

Gastronomica

In the fifth instalment of our collaborative podcast with Meant To Be Eaten and Heritage Radio Radio Network, we bring you Collective Member Melissa Fuster in conversation with Eric C. Rath on the topic (and taste) of funazushi, often said to be Japan’s most ancient form of sushi. We hope you enjoy the episode (and the article that this interview is based on, free to read through 2020):