*For our recently published special issue, “Food in the Time of COVID-19”, we received more submissions than we could accommodate in the print version of the issue, so the following article forms part of a series of submissions which will be published as Web Exclusives which speak to the theme of Gastronomica 20.3.
By Tess Nissen
March 22, 2020: New York, New York
A smile and a wave from me,
A term of endearment from Diana,
A “Hey, how you doin’?” from Ali.
This is how you know you have arrived in East Village Organic (EVO).
Since March 12, things have been different in the store located on First Avenue between Seventh St. and St. Mark’s Place.
“How are you?”
“How are you holding up?”
“This must be stressful for you…”
“Are you washing your hands?”
And before we were wearing them, “Why aren’t you wearing gloves? Or a mask? You should be wearing gloves or a mask?”
We’re thrilled to be back with a new series of podcasts produced in collaboration with Meant To Be Eaten on Heritage Radio Network. In this series, we focus on our upcoming issue 20.3, entirely dedicated to dispatches from the food world in reaction to the first months of the pandemic. Listen to issue editor Bob Valgenti talk to Stephen Meinster about his article, “The Sickness Unto Hospitality”, which describes the unique capabilities of the hospitality industry to respond swiftly in crises – as he (as General Manager of a Chicago establishment) and many of his colleagues were forced to do – and about how things have unfolded since the piece was written in April 2020.
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).
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)
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)
Are you a food studies student or scholar looking to get published, but you don’t know where to start?
Gastronomica is proactively seeking to increase the representation of early career scholars and authors from under-represented backgrounds, encompassing ethnic, gender, and abilities diversity. We are also seeking scholarship that addresses food experiences from the Global South and marginalized, underrepresented communities.
As one of only few journals managed through an editorial collective, Gastronomica has created an Acquisitions Cluster within the larger collective that aims to expand Gastronomica’s ability to showcase the broadest possible spectrum of ideas and voices, bridge the divide between academic scholarship and public engagement, and appeal to a diverse readership.
The Gastronomica Acquisitions Cluster seeks to address existing structural inequities in academic journals, which disproportionately affect women, scholars from marginalized, “minority” backgrounds, and those from the Global South who work in institutions outside North America and Europe. We engage authors at conferences and food-related events, and through direct communications. We also work with authors by providing constructive feedback before submission and through the review process (as needed). By doing so, we aim at strengthening Gastronomica’s place in the publishing landscape as a stimulating, accessible publication with fresh ideas, unusual perspectives, original formats, exceptional writing, a diverse authorship, and a fair and respectful review process.
