The Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery

The Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery 2005

I had the honour and pleasure of attending this year’s Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery. The Symposium took place over the course of two days (3-4 Sept.) and included about 50 presentations (primarily of papers, though a couple of performances were included as well). In addition, there were three meals arranged by the organisers for the attendees.

All in all, the Symposium was extremely well-run and the only regret I have is that, due to the number of participants and the limitations of time, it was necessary to have three parallel sessions for most of the meeting, though, of course, such a situation is hardly uncommon at such academic gatherings. In any event, the sessions were put together with a considerable degree of care and this reduced the likelihood that one would be forced to make impossible choices regarding which session one would choose to attend. That said, there were some papers which I missed but wish I could have heard, though I have now read the written versions of all of them. Here are a few of what were for me highlights (in chronological order of their presentation):
• the plenary session opening the conference, which featured an address by Colman Andrews (both very interesting and very entertaining), followed by responses from Fuchsia Dunlop and Bee Wilson.
• Colleen Taylor Sen’s talk on Indian restaurants.
• Fuchsia Dunlop’s talk on the history of the dish known as “General Zuo’s Chicken.”
• Bruce Kraig’s talk on the Illinois Riverfolk.
• Sally Grainger’s paper on Roman liquamen.
• Charles Perry’s discussion of recipes with regional associations in Medieval Arab cookbooks.

The three meals organised for the Symposium were all outstanding. Warranting first mention is the Moroccan Feast on Saturday night; the menu and recipes were from Caroline Conran and Anissa Helou and the meal was preceded and accompanied by a sampling of German ciders and wines. All the elements of the meal were excellent but especially noteworthy to me were two things: an hors d’œuvre of small merguez sausages which were so tasty that I could easily have eaten a mountain of them and the bastilla, stuffed with pigeon, which was part of the first course and was sublime in its balance of flavours.

Saturday’s lunch was comprised of traditional English pork pie by Anne Petch, which was delicious, and a selection of cheeses La Fromagerie, which were all of superior quality. Sunday’s lunch was provided by Jill Norman and Tourism Malaysia and, at risk of being repetitive, was excellent. I ate only the savoury dishes and all three were equally to my taste; beef rendang, a chicken curry and a rice preparation, the name of which I do not recall.

The Symposium was in all ways a great experience.

***

Here are a few photos:

High Street in Oxford. A more beautiful small city I cannot imagine.


A back-street at dusk.


On Saturday I got up at about 4:30 to go over my presentation. My breakfast was comprised of a bottle of Coke and a few of these excellent Arab cookies, all bought the evening before at a small and very friendly Arab grocery I came upon on my way back to my room from an evening in the pubs. The cookies were from London and were really very well made; I imagine that bought fresh at the bakery, they would have been even better and as it was, they were damn good.


German cider and hors d'œuvres on the grounds of Headington Hill Hall.


I arrived in Oxford a couple of days before the Symposium started and put the time to good use. In addition to visiting the Ashmolean and a number of bookstores, I also explored the local drinking establishments. The White Horse was one of my favourites; note too that it is literally surrounded by Blackwells. Books and beer; what more could one want?


Many thanks to all those who either publicly or privately offered me congratulations regarding the Sophie Coe Prize. I appreciate the kind thoughts and words very much. Thanks too more broadly to LTHForum, which provides such an excellent venue in which to present discussions of things obscure and not so obscure.

Antonius

Let me add, all too belatedly, my sincere congratulations. I've taken a look at the official program and, would there were more time (and perhaps a tad more money) in the world. It sounds as if it were a wonderful time and if this hasn't already been covered elsewhere (and isn't a silly request), could you offer a precis of your paper? I'm sure I'm in quite good company in wanting to know more. Indeed, can one obtain copies of the papers presented generally?

The warm reverberations from Antonius's talk has received even such out-of-the way places as Manhattan.

I understand that the theme of next year's Oxford Symposium will be Eggs, and that the one two years hence will be Morality.

Congratulations Antonius! You've done yourself proud, and by a bit of reflection, us, too. I second the notion that you give us a précis of your paper.

And thank you for the pictures of Oxford! As you note, a beautiful small city; indeed, a beautiful small city, that than which none could be more beautiful.

Geo
PS. The White Horse, btw, was one of the haunts of the indomitable Inspector Morse! Beer and books indeed...

A,

The city is, indeed, beautiful, but the shot of yours that I found most powerful was the somewhat barren one of the Coke, cookies, and paper. That kind of sums up, I think, the pre-presentation feelings one would have had were one in the remarkable position of presenting in Oxford. Just caffeine, sugar and your words.

Massively envious and hugely admiring,

Hammond

GB, Geo:

Here's an abstract for the paper:

Western Mediterranean Vegetable Stews and the Integration of Culinary Exotica

One aspect of the issue of culinary authenticity involves the borrowing and integration of new foodstuffs. In the proposed paper we address this aspect of authenticity in connexion with the family of western Mediterranean vegetable stews, namely, pisto, samfaina, cianfotta and ratatouille, a family of dishes which to some are emblematic for the cuisines of the region but which all feature multiple exotic ingredients (eggplant, peppers, tomato, courgette, potato). Our discussion begins with an analysis of the development of these dishes in time and across both geographical and social space. The linguistic evidence provides crucial clues which point to the original versions of these dishes likely being developed earlier than generally thought and specifically among the lower classes. What long remained exotic to the literate classes had much sooner been exploited and naturally integrated into the diets of the region’s poor, ultimately to become embraced as native delicacies by all.

An early version of the paper, Ratatouia, Samfaina, Cianfotta: Some Related Summer Vegetable Dishes (link), I posted on LTH last September. The tentative conclusions there have, I believe, stood up for the most part through a very considerable amount of further research. That further research did, however, lead me to a number of other discoveries and rendered the ultimate implications of my findings broader, with significance not just for the proximate topic within culinary history but also for the general social history of the region in question during the early modern period.

At the moment, I have two current versions of the paper, a shorter one (presented at the Symposium) and a longer one. One of the two will be published, inshallah, in the near future.

A

Antonius--

That is VERY cool; in fact it's kühl! I'm going to take a look at the older version as soon as I get a chance. I find it quite exciting that you'll be using comparative linguistics to trace and evidence the borrowings. I teach a unit on historical linguistics in my philosophy of language class (which I'll be doing again next Fall), and it would be nice to have an example of an application--such as yours-- of the historical/comparative/diachronic methodology. (BTW, I also compare this method to that used in historical systematics re: reconstructing the 'tree of life')

Do you know my pal Rachel Lauden's stuff on borrowings involved in curries and other spicy foods? If not, I think you'd really enjoy reading it. I've got a copy stashed on this computer somewhere.

Great stuff! Tnx sooo much for sharing it with us!

Geo

Geo:

The posted piece on LTH from last year doesn't contain really any of the linguistic argumentation but in the longer version I wrote this summer there are detailed discussions of some of the evidence. There remains yet more material in my notes and in my head which I didn't include there, due to space restrictions.

***

I had heard that the White Horse was featured in the Inspector Morse mysteries and, though I enjoyed watching those shows whenever I came across them, I do not remember the pub from there. It is a really great little pub with just a small front room and a further space in the back for one table. The ceiling is rather low with nice, hefty timber beams and the building is clearly quite old. They have a nice selection of British ales which, alas and alack, cannot be said about every pub in town. My favourite beverage there, the name of which I can remember without looking to my notes, was the Tim Taylor's.

Books and beer...

A

A--

OK, I'll await the longer piece from this Summer for the linguistics stuff. But I'll be waiting eagerly...

I didn't drink much at the White Horse--my college had/has a fine bar, and, needless to say, the price was right. But when I worked at the Bodley, I either nipped round the corner to the White Horse, or just crossed the street to the King's Arms, which is a much more boisterous collegiate-type bar. Morse wouldn't have been caught dead at the KA!

Funny thing, tho': I ran into Colin Dexter outside the White Horse one afternoon--he noticed the copy of a Morse that I'd just bought up the road at Blackwell's Paperbacks. So I had him sign it!!

If I'd had my wits about me, I'd have bought him a beer...

Geo