Dr.
Myrna Tonkinson of the School of Social and Cultural
Studies at the University of Western Australia
parted the curtains (I was going to write "kimono")
on the rich and varied aspects of foods in a historical perspective.
Major points of the history of food production, storage and
distribution from the hunter-gather past to the domestication
of plants and animals and exploration with colonial expansion
were covered in the first session. This wasn't delivered in
turgid academia but charming illustrations, quotes, photos and
personal anecdotes woven into the culinary fabric.
Some
excellent sources were listed such as Michael Pollan's
(2006) The Omnivore's Dilemma. The cultural imperatives
and politics of foods creating choice and over-choice causes
a psychological stress on just what to eat anymore! Isn't this
sadly true with the fad diets and fasting (when not over-feasting
on fast foods) on one side of the planet and famines on most
of the other? Food is our friend not the enemy. And what happened
to conviviality at the table of food traditions, etiquette and
dining?
These
questions were covered in the second session along with defining
the edible, food taboos, excesses and restraints. Pictures of
foods around the world provided amusement and horror at what
is one or another's pleasure or poison. Slurping food in Japan
is a compliment but disdained in America-well, parts of it.
Francine
du Plessix Grey has a wonderful quote on all this.
"The act of nutrition is not purely a physiological
event...the family meal is a formality that cultivates in us...a
capacity for sharing, generosity, thoughtfulness a talent for
civilized conversation." Serial eating of fast foods
gulped down by feral teens affects the transmission of values
or lack thereof. What happened to leisurely dining a reverence
for eating well and thanking the farmers first?
The
third session covered famines past and present the inequality
of producers and consumers, child labour and then food fads
to trends.
All ended on a positive note of a return to farmer's markets,
regional seasonal foods grown in community garden's and organically.
When the food purchased is grown less than 100 miles away the
customer is a "locavore". Slow Food was brought forward
as a shining example of a better awareness of all aspects culinary
and cultured dining. When we eat ethically with an awareness
of Fair Trade, Global impact and Animal rights the buzz word
is "Ethicurean" (rather than Epicurean).
As
a pragmatic chef, writer, teacher, culinarian this course inspired
me to get back to growing and assisting in community and school
gardens to kitchens to carry on with the message of healthy
cooking, fast and Fresh but leisurely dining. In point of fact
I created the quote in my sixth cookbook: "Beasts feed,
man eats; only the person of aesthetics and intellect knows,
how to dine with all his (her) senses." This was after
too many dates of guys gulping their food as my guest when writing
restaurant reviews in Southern California.
By
Susanne E. Wilder