Spring 2022, Volume 22 Number 1

Spring 2022, Volume 22 Number 1

Gastronomica

Editorial Letter | Josée Johnston

FOODS ON THE MOVE

The Nation and the Noodle: Indomie and Identity in Indonesia | Joe Clifford

Who Eats, Where, What, and How? COVID-19, Food Security, and Canadian Foodscapes | Kimberly Hill-Tout, Claudia Hirtenfelder, Kiera E. B. McMaster, and Megan Herod

Follow the Ferments: Inclusive Food Governance in Arizona | Sara El-Sayed and Christy Spackman

FLOWS OF FOOD, POWER, AND TASTE

From “Isn’t It Raw?” to Everyday Food: Authenticating Japanese Food in Perth, Australia | Satomi Fukutomi

Farmworkers, Climate Change, and “Converging Crises” | Anelyse M. Weiler

“Nothing says gentrification like being able to order a cortado”: How does food reinforce gentrification…but also inspire resistance? A conversation with Alison Hope Alkon, Yuki Kato, and Joshua Sbicca | Josée Johnston and Michael Chrobok

ROOTEDNESS IN BODY AND PLACE

The Quest for an Ideal Culinary Hyperlocalism | Samuel Yamashita

Food Access, Identity, and Taste in Two Rural Cuban Communities | Krystyn R. Moon, Jennifer Rhode Ward, José Vazquez Rodriguez, Jorge Foyo

Does This Make Me Look Fat? | Nancy Gagliardi

“El Viudo De Pescado”: Living Waters, Living Food | Diana Bocarejo and Rafael Diaz

FOOD AND FAMILY

Lola’s Good Corn | Sandra Trujillo

Table for One: The Best Seat in the House | Michael DiMartino

A Personal History of Jamaican Black Cake | Corrine Collins

REVIEWS

The Problem with Feeding Cities: The Social Transformation of Infrastructure, Abundance, and Inequality in America, by Andrew Deeners
reviewed by Tiana Bakić Hayden

Peach State, by Adrienne Su
reviewed by Eric Himmelfarb

FAT, by Regina Hofer
reviewed by Kathleen LeBesco

Amber Waves: The Extraordinary Biography of Wheat, from Wild Grass to World Megacrop, by Catherine Zabinski
reviewed by André Magnan

Roadrunner: A Film about Anthony Bourdain, by Morgan Neville
reviewed by Signe Rousseau

On an Empty Stomach: Two Hundred Years of Hunger Relief, by Tom Scott-Smith
reviewed by Benjamin Siegel

Animal, Vegetable, Junk: A History of Food, from Sustainable to Suicidal, by Mark Bittman
reviewed by Johanna Wilkes

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 share this 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 was a 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?

For anyone who was not able to attend, please enjoy the recording below of a fascinating conversation between our host and panelists:

Thank you to everyone who joined us, and we look forward to exciting culinary translation submissions!

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.