The Journal for Food Studies
Welcome to Gastronomica! Since its inception as Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture in 2001 , Gastronomica has been the go-to journal for important conversations about food. Read more About
We 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. Read more Submit
Don’t miss an issue! Gastronomica is published on a rolling start basis. All subscriptions including a print component also include electronic access to the journal. Read more Subscribe
Issue 20.3 will be available online and in print in late August. If you want to be notified when the issue is available, please sign up for an alert (or simply follow us on social media). The University of California Press is offering a 30% discount on purchases of single print issues, which can be redeemed using the offer code GASTROAUG2020 (offer valid through June 2021).
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
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:
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 moreLockdowns, 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.)
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):
