A sad day for the UK

I don’t often post anything political on my blog, at least not about my personal views, but today’s news that we are to be subjected to another 5 years of Tory government has made me feel angry, upset and disillusioned.   

This morning I posted the following status update on Facebook:

To which one of my friends – one of the few Tories I do associate with – replied:

I know she said this in jest and that much of the rant that follows does not reflect her views, but nonetheless I feel compelled to respond.

I am not a communist; there is not one historical example of it working in reality and contemporary examples are hardly textbook. However, I do believe that people less fortunate than me should be given a chance to succeed and that means affordable education and a welfare system. I know there are some people who take advantage of this, but what about people who are disabled or from an impoverished background who haven’t had the chances I was given in terms of education and a loving and nurturing family environment?

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Constructing Cuisine

Sorry I have been so quiet on this page. On the food front, I have only been thinking about one thing recently: my dissertation. I wrote a short article recently outlining my study, which I share here. Forget picnics, beaches and BBQs, this is what I'll be doing this summer...

The aim of my study is to investigate the context(s) in which having a national cuisine becomes significant. I will be looking at when, why and for whom it becomes important to talk about a national cuisine in Britain and Australia.

Like most aspects of culture that are the focus of anthropological studies, cuisines are never static, but constantly being made and remade. Nevertheless, it seems that at a particular moment, or moments, having a national cuisine becomes an important part of the ‘cultural capital’ of a nation. My research so far suggests that in Australia and Britain this becomes especially important in the 1980s and gains momentum in the 1990s. This is not to suggest that either country is lacking a rich culinary history, but rather that “the globally held view that every nation must have its own cuisine” (Cusack, 2000: 208) is actually quite a recent phenomenon.

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Interview with Anna Colquhoun: Food and Class

Photo courtesy of Anna Colquhoun

Meet Anna Colquhoun, chef, cooking teacher, food writer, and consultant on BBC Radio 4's, The Kitchen Cabinet. Anna is also studying the MA Anthropology of Food at the School of Oriental and African Studies. How she finds time to do all these things is wonder to me.

In this podcast I talk to Anna about her research interests: food and social media, seasonal and local food, and food, class and space in London. Here is a short video introducing Anna and some of the themes touched on in the interview:

In looking at food and social media, I ask Anna whether she thinks the rise of food in social media - for example, people tweeting their dinners - reflects an increased interest in food in the UK more generally or whether it might be distancing us from the food issues today. I am particularly interested in whether, like me, she has noticed a paradox between the rise of celebrity chefs, cooking programmes and food in social media in contrast with a general decline in cooking skills, as people buy more pre-prepared food and eat out more.

I'm also interested in finding out where Anna stands on debates around seasonal and local food, particularly with how this ties in with debates around ethical consumption.  

Food, class and space in London is a new topic for me and I ask Anna to elaborate on how these issues intersect.

I have called this interview 'Food and Class' because, although we talk about her three different research interests, class is a running theme throughout. I hope you enjoy the podcast.

If you are interested in finding out more about Anna, or attending one of her classes or supperclubs, you can find all the information you need and more on her website: http://www.culinaryanthropologist.org/

Interview with Shaun Richards: Food and National Identity

Meet Shaun Richards, my oldest friend. We first met when we were less than a year old in the UK when his family came to stay with mine in Cambridge. I have no memories of this, of course, but I do remember living with Shaun's family in their beautiful home on Sydney's northern beaches when I first moved to Australia. 

My family ended up moving to Balmain, about an hour's drive away, so I didn't see Shaun that often, but we developed a great friendship and I looked forward, in particular, to our big family Christmases. Food was a significant part of these days for me and I wondered whether Shaun had similar memories of them.

The theme of this interview follows on from the first podcast in this series, focusing again on food, memory and identity. This short video introduces Shaun and some of the themes in the interview.

I explore with Shaun whether he thinks there is such a thing as Australian cuisine and if there are any links between his national identity as an Australian and his foodways. It turns out that for Shaun being an Australian is no longer a big part of his identity. So what is? Listen to the podcast to find out.

Interview with Alex Carvajal: Food and national identity

Introducing one of my dearest friends, Alex Carvajal. This is the first in a series of interviews with friends, classmates, colleagues and acquaintances talking about their food interests (and mine).

Alex and I have known each other since I moved to London about 6 years ago. I had known him for about two years before I found out that he used to be a chef. That night we bonded over our love of food, and it has continued to be a focal point of our conversations ever since.

I have created this short video to introduce you to Alex and some of the themes covered in the interview. 

The main focus of this interview is on his Colombian heritage and how this has influenced his foodways in Britain. This ties in with the theme on the blog this week, which is around food and identity. In the interview Alex talks about his memories of Colombia, the important links for him between food and family, as well as sharing food, and his take on Colombian and British cuisines.

Having spoken to Alex so much about food in the past, I was surprised how much I learnt in conducting this interview. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did.