Food for thought
Was just talking to Cam Fraser, cool guy I met in Alberta at a graduate students’ humanities computing conference a few years ago. This is sort of a memo to self, but is also a great example of how THE INTERNET has changed the academic life. Multitask by chatting while writing a conference paper, get idea for a totally different thing, record it, go on. I *heart* these moments.
Cam: have you thought about bringing your cooking into your academic work?
me: Nnno. But it sounds like fun. How would you suggest I go about this?
Cam: boy, I have no idea.
me: drat.
Cam: Maybe something to do with bodies…
Cam: I’m thinking of the scene in “Woman on Top” where she’s smelling a chile and ends up cutting herself
me: hmmmm
me: Seriously, though: hm. Maybe I should take a look at how people (the *general populace*) procured and consumed food over the ages. It’s gone from a communal thing to a family thing and back so many times, I wonder if it’s correlated with the amount of cultural transmission that goes on.
Hmmm, indeed. Raw, but interesting.
March 31st, 2005 at 5:01 pm
I would *love* to have that research.
April 4th, 2005 at 8:26 am
Timely indeed. Personally, I’ve noticed how my female students in particular are becoming much more interested in analyzing food in literature. I’ve been putting it down to the mainstreaming of body-image anxiety; it certainly wasn’t discussed in classes when I was an undergraduate a decade ago. (Or is this phenomenon more a result of the mainstreaming of feminist academics and the creation of a classroom space where these discussions are allowed?). Hmm. Anyway, good to have you back, Vika!