Putting Gender on the Table
Went for a a really fascinating conference at Harvard on April 12-13 on, believe it or not, Food. Mabe it is not a surprise for some more well-read of you out there, but I had no idea that there is a thriving discipline called food studies. And what was even more surprising was how much I enjoyed the conference even though I thought I know nothing about food studies.
Being me, I have to start with the non-academic highpoint of the conference for me : I passed the sugar to Amartya Sen, shared a smile with (a very unexpectedly red-dressed) Martha Nussbaum and stoodwaiting outside the restroom with Vandana Shiva! And don't feel too bad if you have to click on the links to figure out who they are, I know how US- centric life in the US can get. Ofcourse I planned a dozen questions and jokes to share with them after the talk but being me, I chickened out last moment and felt happy passing the sugar instead!
Although I accept that one is often less critical and more gushing - "Oh I learnt so much" syndrome when one knows NOTHING about the topic of the conference, it would not be fair to owe it all to my lack of foodies knowledge. The sessions were so wonderfully varied and so were the speakers, that even if I was not interested in gender (and eating food!) I would have loved it.
There was a speaker Sharmila Sen, who had a very fascinating anecdote at the end of her smartly worded talk on Recipes as cultural scripts - how the famous Lea and Perrins Worcestershire Sauce was brought back from India (in the form of an Indian chutney recipe) by Lord Marcus Sandys, ex-Governor of Bengal, who gave it to two local chemists, John Lea and William Perrins, with an order for a large batch to be made up from his recipe. A few weeks later he returned to pick up the sauce, only to proclaim upon sampling some that it tasted filthy and was nothing like how it should be, and left in disgust.
Nothing more was thought of this until the chemists discovered it at the back of their stores a few months later, and they decided to give it just one more try before tipping it down the drain. To their surprise, the foul-tasting anchovy broth, after being left to ferment, had matured into an interesting spicy condiment, and they immediately purchased the recipe from Lord Marcus. So thanks to this chance retasting,1838 saw the UK's best-known sauce launched, and the name of Worcestershire Sauce (originally called just Worcester Sauce).
Then there were equally smart talk by a geographer on how the invention of the refrigerater changed the meaning of "freshness" and how the word "freshness" is a social construct which differs overtime and between cultures. (Although, now that I am a "sociologist" I've realized that there is no word which is not a social construct and nothing that doesn;t change in time and space. That's what sociology is ALL about!)
I decided after today's morning session on Sidney Mintz's classic book "Sweetness and Power" that once I am done with my dissertation on surrogate mothers I am going to move onto some aspect of life that can be studies through the lens of a foodstuff. To tell you the truth, I landed up at the Mintz' session only cos I was scared that if I turn up only for the session with Sen I may not get a place to sit (how Indi-centric of me!). I had no idea who Mintz is. But I am so glad I made it at 8:30 in the morning.
Mintz studies the evolution of sugar (both the consumption and production of it) and links that to Britain's growing colonial strength and mercantilism. Whereas a historian might have focused on the details of the triangle trade, a geographer on growth regions, an economist on the evolving -isms of trade, and a political scientist on the balance of power after the Renaissance, Mintz studies all these but also grocery bills and recipes. What was even better that he turned out to be a great speaker as well.
Which brings me to my thought of the day 'why do I expect great scholars to be great speakers as well?" Somehow when I read Sen (and when he won the Nobel Prize) I assumed he would have this powerful sounding voice. well he doesn't. He actually has a very pronounced lisp. Ofcourse, that takes nothing away from his talk - he is still a great speaker. The session he was speaking on was right down my (developing country) alley, "Food and Famine".
Before the session started i spent about 15 minutes just staring wide-eyed at two people whose work I've grown up reading - Nussbaum and Sen - converse with each other while sipping their coffee. And all I kept wondering was "What are they talking about? Capability and entitlements or mundane normal people stuff like " why was the dinner they served yesterday so bad if they have so much money!" (Reminds me of something I read somewhere about someone saying Do famous people fart!"
Anyhow, to get back to the academic part - this session was what made me respect the conference more, cos otherwise it would have been too middle-classy and hence dismissable for the good-old "unless there is death and misery it's not good work" calling in me.
There was Megan Vaughan whose talk on everyday food shortage and the gender aspects of it in Malawi reminded me of the super-depressing book I am reading at the moment Nancy Scheper Hughes' "Death without weeping on the Violence of everyday life in Brazil. Boy, there is tooo much misery in my work. I should really start working on less dangerous topics (on the origin and evolution of Crepes?) before I kill myself!
Being me, I have to start with the non-academic highpoint of the conference for me : I passed the sugar to Amartya Sen, shared a smile with (a very unexpectedly red-dressed) Martha Nussbaum and stoodwaiting outside the restroom with Vandana Shiva! And don't feel too bad if you have to click on the links to figure out who they are, I know how US- centric life in the US can get. Ofcourse I planned a dozen questions and jokes to share with them after the talk but being me, I chickened out last moment and felt happy passing the sugar instead!
Although I accept that one is often less critical and more gushing - "Oh I learnt so much" syndrome when one knows NOTHING about the topic of the conference, it would not be fair to owe it all to my lack of foodies knowledge. The sessions were so wonderfully varied and so were the speakers, that even if I was not interested in gender (and eating food!) I would have loved it.
There was a speaker Sharmila Sen, who had a very fascinating anecdote at the end of her smartly worded talk on Recipes as cultural scripts - how the famous Lea and Perrins Worcestershire Sauce was brought back from India (in the form of an Indian chutney recipe) by Lord Marcus Sandys, ex-Governor of Bengal, who gave it to two local chemists, John Lea and William Perrins, with an order for a large batch to be made up from his recipe. A few weeks later he returned to pick up the sauce, only to proclaim upon sampling some that it tasted filthy and was nothing like how it should be, and left in disgust.
Nothing more was thought of this until the chemists discovered it at the back of their stores a few months later, and they decided to give it just one more try before tipping it down the drain. To their surprise, the foul-tasting anchovy broth, after being left to ferment, had matured into an interesting spicy condiment, and they immediately purchased the recipe from Lord Marcus. So thanks to this chance retasting,1838 saw the UK's best-known sauce launched, and the name of Worcestershire Sauce (originally called just Worcester Sauce).
Then there were equally smart talk by a geographer on how the invention of the refrigerater changed the meaning of "freshness" and how the word "freshness" is a social construct which differs overtime and between cultures. (Although, now that I am a "sociologist" I've realized that there is no word which is not a social construct and nothing that doesn;t change in time and space. That's what sociology is ALL about!)
I decided after today's morning session on Sidney Mintz's classic book "Sweetness and Power" that once I am done with my dissertation on surrogate mothers I am going to move onto some aspect of life that can be studies through the lens of a foodstuff. To tell you the truth, I landed up at the Mintz' session only cos I was scared that if I turn up only for the session with Sen I may not get a place to sit (how Indi-centric of me!). I had no idea who Mintz is. But I am so glad I made it at 8:30 in the morning.
Mintz studies the evolution of sugar (both the consumption and production of it) and links that to Britain's growing colonial strength and mercantilism. Whereas a historian might have focused on the details of the triangle trade, a geographer on growth regions, an economist on the evolving -isms of trade, and a political scientist on the balance of power after the Renaissance, Mintz studies all these but also grocery bills and recipes. What was even better that he turned out to be a great speaker as well.
Which brings me to my thought of the day 'why do I expect great scholars to be great speakers as well?" Somehow when I read Sen (and when he won the Nobel Prize) I assumed he would have this powerful sounding voice. well he doesn't. He actually has a very pronounced lisp. Ofcourse, that takes nothing away from his talk - he is still a great speaker. The session he was speaking on was right down my (developing country) alley, "Food and Famine".
Before the session started i spent about 15 minutes just staring wide-eyed at two people whose work I've grown up reading - Nussbaum and Sen - converse with each other while sipping their coffee. And all I kept wondering was "What are they talking about? Capability and entitlements or mundane normal people stuff like " why was the dinner they served yesterday so bad if they have so much money!" (Reminds me of something I read somewhere about someone saying Do famous people fart!"
Anyhow, to get back to the academic part - this session was what made me respect the conference more, cos otherwise it would have been too middle-classy and hence dismissable for the good-old "unless there is death and misery it's not good work" calling in me.
There was Megan Vaughan whose talk on everyday food shortage and the gender aspects of it in Malawi reminded me of the super-depressing book I am reading at the moment Nancy Scheper Hughes' "Death without weeping on the Violence of everyday life in Brazil. Boy, there is tooo much misery in my work. I should really start working on less dangerous topics (on the origin and evolution of Crepes?) before I kill myself!
posted by Amrita Pande at 2:10 PM
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