Decolonizing the learning of sitopias in Toronto

The Canadian Cuisine Photography Challenge is a pilot experiential learning activity created at Ryerson University for the class FNU100-Canadian Cuisine: Historical Roots, a first/second year liberal studies course offered to students from diverse programs and cultural backgrounds. This activity is both a fun challenge and a required course assignment. It aims to engage students with Canadian cuisine and is inspired by a decolonial pedagogical approach (Mignolo & Walsh, 2018; Santos, 2018) to food studies, and elements of photovoice methodology (Wang & Burris, 1997). The Canadian Cuisine Photography Challenge consists of a field trip to different food places or sitopias in Toronto with the goal of learning about their histories and developing an appreciation of the role of food and people in the city (Newman, 2017). The activity includes a map, instructions and a set of ten challenge questions that students answer through photographs taken during their field trip. The field trip is followed by students’ presentations in class and a reflection of their experiences. In the first phase of the project, students explored two sitopias: Kensington Market and Chinatown. This paper will first describe the co-creation of the Canadian Cuisine Photography Challenge with students from the School of Nutrition at Ryerson University. This was a collaboration between the course instructor, two School of Nutrition students and included input from other students who had previously taken the course. It will present key learnings from the feedback of students who participated in the challenge in the fall of 2019, including how they described their experience, what they learned and suggestions for the future developments of this project. In particular this field reportwill discuss the use of a decolonial pedagogy in food studies, recognizing and challenging a Western hegemonic view of food places as representative of Canadian cuisine, while at the same time outlining the co-construction of experiential learning activities to engage students and provide content that reflects the multiple identities and food cultures of Canadians in Toronto. The main purpose of this field report is to share our experience co-creating and implementing this pilot project as one contribution towards decolonial food pedagogies.

‘How Goopy are you?’ Women, Goop and cosmic wellness

In this article, I’ll outline the phenomenon of ‘cosmic wellness’ which is now visible across on- and offline spaces that promote health and well-being products and practices to women. Cosmic wellness is a broad constellation of media, discourse, imagery, materials and foods (including crystals, dust and herbs) produced primarily by white, wealthy women. On the one hand, cosmic wellness can be read as a digital food culture that offers healthy and potentially necessary responses to fiercely neoliberal modes of working and living. But conversely, it is framed as the newest example of narcissistic self-absorption and, more seriously, as unhealthy and dangerous. Cosmic wellness is founded on various beliefs, including the moral necessity of pursuing the optimisation of self and the power of markets to provide the ingredients, tools and practices to achieve it. It is connected to histories that chart the incorporation of New Age health and well-being practices into ‘mainstream’ forms of lifestyle production and consumption and the simultaneous derision of these practices, especially when used and promoted by women. But there is also something new about cosmic wellness, especially as it is visible online on platforms such as Instagram. In the article, I outline the key features of cosmic wellness and analyse its contemporary cultural purchase, using theories of digital food cultures, spiritual production and consumption, postfeminism and critical whiteness studies. The article then conducts empirical analysis of a series of Instagram posts from one prominent space in which cosmic wellness currently circulates: Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle and wellness business Goop.

Variations in the Strength of Association between Food Neophobia and Food and Beverage Acceptability: A Data-Driven Exploratory Study of an Arousal Hypothesis

The negative impact of food neophobia (FN) on food and beverage (F&B) liking extends beyond foods and beverages that are novel. In addition, F&Bs that are high in flavour intensity, perceived as dangerous, or have connections to other cultures are likely to elicit rejection by those high in FN. Each of these factors have been established as producing increased arousal, potentially to an unpleasant degree. The aim of this study was to explore the hypothesis that increased arousal underlies all causes of rejection due to FN. To do this, we analysed and interpreted existing data based on online surveys that measured FN and liking for a broad range of F&B names from 8906 adult consumers in the USA, United Kingdom, Australia, Germany and Denmark. Negative associations between FN and liking of varying strengths were evident for 90% of the F&Bs. Consistent with the arousal hypothesis, F&Bs (a) with high flavour intensity, whether produced by chilli, other spices, or flavours, (b) from other cultures, (c) often perceived as dangerous, or (d) that were novel or had novel ingredients showed the strongest negative relationships between FN and liking. Conversely, F&Bs whose liking scores were only very weakly related to FN had low arousal characteristics: high familiarity, sweetness, mild flavours, strong connections to national food cultures, or some combination of these factors. Since this study was exploratory and conducted on existing data, there was no direct measure of arousal, but this is recommended for future, stronger tests of this arousal hypothesis.

Slow Food Terra Madre: A Novel Pathway to Achieving Indigenous Australian Food Sovereignty?

The aim of this paper is to analyse the participation of Indigenous Australians in Slow Food International’s 2018 Salone del Gusto-Terra Madre meeting in Turin, Italy. Slow Food is a global grassroots organisation created to promote local food cultures and traditions, and the organisation’s Terra Madre network highlights the urgent need to pro- tect the food-production systems of Indigenous peoples, valuing their holistic approach and recognising them as custodians of biodiversity. By creating a platform for Indigenous peoples to meet and discuss their challenges and ideas, and by putting Indigenous knowl- edges and stewardship of the environment at the centre of discussions about tackling glob- al environmental challenges, the organisation encourages its Indigenous members to work toward food sovereignty in their respective countries as well as on an international level.

Exploring Food Cultures through Art: Meeting People Where They Are at

Engaging people in critical conversations about food practices is often challenging. In this paper, we explore how an exhibition was used as an educative site to explore food insecurity and food cultures and to promote food ethics and healthy eating. Surveys and interviews from the opening night of an exhibition were collected and Bourdieu’s habitus was used to theoretically inform analysis. The diversity of artworks displayed were found to provoke critical reflection about food cultures among participants. Findings revealed the exhibition was a non-intrusive space for meeting people ‘where they were at’ in understandings of food and food practice. Artworks were found to evoke reflections on food as a cultural phenomenon and as a deeply personal component of everyday worlds. The tensions in making food choices and food as agentic in participants lives were highlighted. Findings suggest that exhibitions may support critical engagement with food practice when audiences are given opportunities to discuss their thoughts and ideas.

Do traditional food cultures play a role in COVID-19 for health and immunity?

The goal of this contribution is to provide a summary report on the Scientific Roundtable of the International Union of Food Science and Technology (IUFoST) about the role of traditional food cultures on health promotion and immunity in the COVID-19 pandemic era. The role of food bioactive ingredients and effects on food safety and security as well as sustainability were discussed by the panel members and recommendations were made to take advantage of the historical evidence for providing scientific basis for the efficacy of the ingredients and their globalization.

FACTORS AFFECTING TO ORGANIC FOOD BUYING INTENTION

Organic food is one latest food cultures of Sri Lankan community due to the non-communicable diseases of the inorganic foods. After the green revolution and plantation culture of the country farmers used to use the pesticides, Insecticides, , Fungicides to manage the crops. After the green revolution, multinational companies who are based on the Monsanto concept started to distribute their chemicals under the faith of high yield. Today Sri Lanka is the country which has the most agriculture based chemical consumers in the world.

Food for social change in Peru: Narrative and performance of the culinary nation

This article discusses the most relevant scholarship produced on the rise of Peruvian cuisine and Peru’s gastro-politics. It focuses on the contexts, processes and protagonists behind the attempt to heal and re-found the nation through food after a period of decline and terror, and on the formulation of ideas of social change aimed at shaping and promoting Peru as an entrepreneurial, vigorous but also more equal and fairer society. It also considers the smaller societal changes that nurtured these ideas, which are varied in nature and scope. Methodologically, the article explores the semantics, practices and ideologies at stake as expressed in public discourse, media content, gastronomic trends and restaurant sourcing. By unfolding central processes of the culinary project: high-end cuisine, the refiguring of indigenous people as producers and the use of cultural identity as an authenticating force, it offers a critical reading of the so-called gastronomic revolution, highlighting the ways in which claims to unity and reconciliation, particularly in the incorporation of indigenous people and their food cultures, smooth over ongoing inequalities.