Talk about cuisine has reached unprecedented levels in the US popular media. Part of that is a continuation of something quite old that dates back to the printing revolution. Cook books have been almost as popular as Bibles. Yet, part of the discourse on diets is new. A television network dedicated exclusively to cooking was introduced in the USA in 1993, and it has become possible to make a living as a food writer.

Scholars are coming around slowly to study the culture of cooking. Academic institutions in general tend to be suspicious of things that are popular and fashionable, as certain kinds of cooking and discourse about it have become today. This working group will provide an opportunity to engage across that barrier, between serious scholarship and purveyeors of popular culture, while recognizing the limits of both. We will focus particularly on menus in global cities, especially the public culture of cooking and consumption.

What do powerful people eat in times of conflict? Which meals end up recorded for posterity, and why? What does the identity of the cook reveal about the diner? What can we learn from written records about actual food practices (eating habits and dishes being prepared)? Food undoubtedly functions as a display of power, even when not consumed publicly by those who have that power. The power also...

In "Pupusas Come to Red Hook: A Tale of Globalization, Authenticity, and Power" Sharon Zukin, Broeklundian Professor of Sociology at Brooklyn College and the City University Graduate Center, uses the presence of IKEA and Latino food vendors in Red Hook, Brooklyn to discuss two different pathways of globalization, one of corporations, and the other of people (or immigrants). As a result she...

A panel featuring:
Amanda Hesser, Author, New York Times Columnist
Zak Pelaccio, Chef-Owner, Fatty Crab
Laura Shapiro, Writer
Rica Allannic, Senior Editor, Clarkson Potter

This panel will be moderated by Anne E. McBride.

Recipes are ways of transmitting, translating and fixing practical cultural information. They embody the tension between...

Jonathan Deutsch, assistant professor in the Department of Tourism and Hospitality/Center for Economic and Workforce Development, Kingsborough Community College, CUNY, will guide us through a discussion centered around culinary education and the training of chefs. Readings are the introduction and chapter six of his new book, Culinary Improvisation.

Here are some questions to consider while...

Whatever their perspective or approach, media scholars are interested in those moments of human action that store and exchange meaning in some fixed and tangible form.

Media studies often begins with a some kind of object, artifact, or technical process – in this case, a list of items on heavy-grade paper, perhaps embossed or laminated, or the standardized script of a bistro chalkboard –...

Frederick Kaufman, author of A Short History of the American Stomach, contributing editor to Harper's, and associate professor of journalism at CUNY graduate school, and Alan Madison, TV producer for the shows of Emeril Lagasse, Rachael Ray, Rocco DiSpirito, Jacques Torres, Sara Moulton, Rick Bayless, Charlie Trotter, and others, will lead the discussion, which will center on food television...

A panel featuring:

Heather Carlucci-Rodriguez, Chef-Owner, Lassi
Will Goldfarb, Chef-Owner, Picnick, WillPowder, WillEquipped
Frederick Kaufman, author of A Short History of the American Stomach
Adam Kaye, Vice President of Culinary Affairs, Blue Hill
Bret Thorn, Food Editor, Nation's Restaurant News

At a time of ever-increasing mediatization...

A Monk, a Neuroscientist and a Chef: A discussion about the nature of thinking in culinary work

An imagined conversation between a monk, a neuroscientist and a chef is one way of bringing together the various issues that my research study raises. The reason I specifically imagined a monk, a neuroscientist and a chef is because one of the key findings of my study titled: Thinkers in...

Two documents are posted here that we will discuss.

First, a menu from Lassi: Heather Carlucci-Rodriguez will talk about how she crafted the menu. What was driving her conception? She will give us instances of what she never imagined including, and why, and what was on her mind, but never made it to the final list, and why. She will also discuss if and how critics and reviewers figure in...

The thematic question for this session follows on our discussion of menus from the October meeting. We will continue to refer to the menus from last meeting so you might want to bring them along if you still have the print out. Attached here is a reading by JL Flandrin as well as some questions for discussion and additional menus.

With regard to the rhetoric of the menus under discussion Paul Freedman asks people to consider the following:

1. How much description of what the dish actually will be is provided?

2. Elaborate editorializing ("delicious")

3. Rhetoric of quality (local farms) vs. rhetoric of elegance or elaboration (associating dishes with famous people as at Le Grand...

Each participant will provide an introduction and short, informal, presentation on their current projects (e.g. proposed research, popular books, next issue of their magazine, opening of a new restaurant, curriculum changes at a cooking school, etc.). Then the discussion will be open to questions and comments by all present.