Category: Seminar Weekly

ComAlt, Sarah Williams.

Seminar Reading Response Paper, wk 9.

Zoe Wright.

Tompkins selections of chapter 5, Newman chapters 9, 10, & 11.

“But while the Meerrick’s Thread card follows the logic of post-reconstruction racism by recasting black men as criminals, it also draws a clear parallel between eating, purchasing power, and racial power: the white figure has been immobilized by the (advertised) product in order to allow the two black men time to eat.” (Tompkins, 166)

“Also aiding the industry were three new food trends. First was the increase in U.S. consupmtion of traditional Asian soy foods. The Kikkkoman Corporation noticed in the 1950s and 1960s that Americans began eating more often in Asian restaurants. American military men who were part of the Japanese occupation after World War II and who served in Korea came back with a taste for Asian food.” (Newman, 144)

“Klee believes that restoring heirloom quality flavor to standard tomatoes would require a drop in the yield, meaning farmers would only be able to produce perhaps 90 percent of their current crop size. Prices on those tomatoes would also have to rise accordingly. The question is: Will these high-taste, high-quality, and inevitably higher-cost tomatoes sell? Klee, for one, believes they will. ‘Look at craft beers, or what’s happened with coffee, over the past couple of decades,’ he says.” (Handwerk, 2017)

Referenced Article: Brian Handwerk. (2017, January 26). The Quest to Return Tomatoes to Their Full-Flavored Glory | Science | Smithsonian. Retrieved March 3, 2017, from http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/geneticists-quest-return-tomatoes-full-flavored-glory-180961933/?utm_source=keywee-facebook.com&utm_medium=socialmedia&utm_campaign=keywee&kwp_0=327382&kwp_4=1259730&kwp_1=561794

I chose the lines from Tompkins because I liked the connection of this advertisement to the new form of slavery that sprung up, which was that of criminalizing black people and gaining forced labor from prisoners. I also like the dynamic mentioned about purchasing power, eating, and racial power. I found this dynamic in connection with the note of criminalized black men really rich and thought provoking. I don’t have any conclusions from this interaction, but the language and connections pleased me.

I am always interested in the way cultural trends are formed and how they in turn form other cultural phenomena. This is a really rich piece of writing because it mentions soldiers coming home with new tastes, which is an interesting thing in itself to study. This influenced the taste of the rest of the country and it became something that an industry capitalized on.

I chose these lines from the article about tomato flavor because I think we’ve spoken about flavor versus yield before, and because of the way that producers will not allow flavor to trump production.

Perhaps also mention the paragraphs on page 168 of Tompkins in Seminar, about the ‘famine’ ‘fame in’ dynamic having to do with conquering food and exploiting the foreign body while congratulating themselves on being humanitarian. That is something that I would more appreciate the space of seminar rather than the space of writing to discuss.

ComAlt, Sarah Williams

Seminar Reading Response Paper, wk 8.

Zoe Wright

Tompkins section of chapter 5, bell hooks “eating the other”

“Just as transportation technology revolutionized what was eaten where, and what markets farmers, dairymen, or fishermen were producing for, the revolution in media was integral to the consumer phantasmagoria of the Gilded Age – the beginning of the unending barrage of visual stimuli that we now take for granted.” (Tompkins, 147)

“Cultural appropriation of the Other assuages feelings of deprivation and lack that assault the psyches of radical white youth who choose to be disloyal to western civilization. Concurrently, marginalized groups, deemed Other, who have been ignored, rendered invisible, can be seduced by the emphasis on Otherness, by its commodification, because it offers the promise of recognition and reconciliation. When the dominant culture demands that the Other be offered as sign that pro-gressive political change is taking place, that the American Dream can indeed be inclusive of difference, it invites a resurgence of essentialist cultural nationalism. The acknowledged Other must assume recognizable forms.” (hooks, 370)

“Gilbert & Sullivan addressed gender stereotyping in their operas, with characters such as Katisha of ‘The Mikado’ and the fairy queen from ‘Iolanthe’, blurring the lines between masculine and feminine gender conventions of the time. Lines and quotes from Gilbert & Sullivan operas have made their way into everyday usage. Phrases such as ‘short, sharp shock’ and ‘let the punishment fit the crime’ are used today, along with ‘Pooh-bah’, a phrase used to describe someone who is self-important or high-ranking, who either exhibits inflated self-importance or has a position and title, but with no real authority.” (2016)

I chose the line from Tompkins because it struck a chord in some of my previous interests and the early education I got from my family. I have had a lot of conversations about how technology, both transportation and media have influenced history and social interactions, and that really struck a chord with me. The phrases a short bit later ‘advertising poem’ and ‘consumer testimonial’ reminded me of the way my father used to describe television advertisements – thirty, sixty seconds long – as a form of high art, because it took such a short time to change a person’s mind, and to create an action in another person that that person wouldn’t have taken if they had not seen the advertisement. I also chose this line because recently I watched a video on what isolation and lack of stimulation does to the brain, and how the lack of stimulation, and interaction can for extended periods of time do so much as to cause brain damage, there was even a brief discussion of how solitary confinement affects inmates. The phrase about the unending visual stimuli reminded me of that video, and that stimuli of some kind is necessary to our lives.

I chose the lines from hooks because it felt like a very concise summation in a way of what had been discussed before about young men considering contact, in this case ‘fucking’, with the Other as a kind of experience gain, a rite of passage. That it was not to them a form of racism to expect that an other had more life experience, that it was an act to gain experience, to allow another to act upon them and change them. (hooks, 368) I found these passages interesting because it’s a really intricate and dynamic conversation to have, where the lines of racism and interaction intersect and why and how. It brings up discussions of tokenism, exoticism, the demand for ‘authenticity’, and many other discussions of racism and representation in media and cultural thought. Its exhausting to pick apart these discussions, especially in such a small space, but the act of noting it down as important or catching in a way saves it for me to come back to later, to allow it to be in the back of my mind until something else comes up and makes a connection that creates a kind of unified sense.

I chose the lines from the article because Gilbert and Sullivan’s Mikado was briefly mentioned in the tompkins chapter and I wanted to see if I could find a comment on the way Gilbert and Sullivan’s operetta’s played with various social and political dynamics in really interesting and intricate ways. Because of course there is very problematic language in G&S operettas, but there are also elements that are critiquing social structures that still exist in some form, and I find that really very cool and interesting to think about. Again, the thought is not necessarily complete or thoroughly processed for lack of time, but it is there waiting for further connections, as are many spare learned things in my mind.

Referenced article:

How did Gilbert & Sullivan influence modern culture? (2016, May 31). Retrieved from http://grimsdyke.com/cultural-influences-gilbert-sullivan/

ComAlt, Sarah Williams.

Seminar Response Paper, Wk 7.

Zoe Wright.

2/21/17.

Tompkins Chapter 4.

“When, late in the first novel, an ‘improved’ and ‘Americanized’ Fun See comes to dinner, he attaches himself to Rose’s overweight Aunt Plenty, ‘whom he greatly admired as the stoutest lady in the company; plumpness being considered a beauty in his country.’ The desire for not-thin and therefore ‘unfashionable’ women is clearly stereotypical, and both Fun See and Aunt Plenty, as well as Annabel, are sent up via the text’s burlesque tone. Fun See’s fatness – and his desire for fatness, for indeed Annabel Bliss is herself called ‘plump as a partridge’ – is wielded against him as a mark of his lack of conventional western manliness.” (Tompkins, 141.)

“’I’m not breaking any news to say that race and culture have been at the forefront of the discussion lately,’ Pashman said. So, he thought, ‘maybe we could have a different approach to that conversation by starting with food.’ . .  . But, as some see it, the alternative to simply asking that question—is this food racist or not?—would be taking a closer look what’s at stake. Who stands to lose or gain from that assessment? And what are the solutions that might advance us toward greater equality and justice in the food arena?” (Erway, 2016)

I chose the lines from Tompkins because it made connections to the racialization of beauty and attraction, as well as to the idea that certain body types are undervalued or somehow less civilized. This connected to a lot of conversations around body positivity, body stereotyping, and representation of beauty and bodies in media. It also references masculinity and western ideals, and these also connect to much larger conversations on masculinity, performance of gender, bodies, ideals, and the value that’s attached to certain cultures’ ideals. I find these intersections and connections really dynamic and interesting to study because of the many different variables that influence them.

I chose these lines from an article about food, race, and cultural appropriation because they were speaking about the connection between food and race that seemed really appropriate to this study. I included the second piece from the story because it’s talking about privilege and what factors influence and impact which people’s lives, and it hints to the discussion in the article of who is allowed to have these types of conversations – about food and race and appropriation – and who isn’t, and who should be and whether the discussion itself was appropriation in a way, or whether it was taking away space from people of color who should get equal air time when they discuss these topics.

I thought this was a really interesting quick look at the dynamics at play between food, race, and appropriation, and it was so fitting to the course I had to include it.

Referenced Article:

Erway, C. (2016, March 31). Searching For Real Solutions to Food Appropriation. Retrieved February 11, 2017, from http://civileats.com/2016/03/31/beyond-talk-the-search-for-real-solutions-in-the-conversation-about-food-and-cultural-appropriation/

ComAlt, Sarah Williams.

Seminar Response paper, Wk 6.

Zoe Wright.

2/14/17

LaDuke Selections; Newman Chapters 6, 7, and 8.

“Dubbed ‘Konvict Kush’, all the marijuana is grown on prison grounds. ‘The inmates enjoy the agricultural part of growing the cannabis plants,’ Norton said. ‘We have a waiting list of prisoners wanting to trim the buds.’ With rising prison costs, the economics of marijuana production makes good math. ‘We keep half of the crop and the rest goes to local Colorado pot dispensaries. Our current projection indicates prison weed sales will cover thirty percent of the incarceration cost by 2020.’” (LaDuke, 219.)

“England’s role in the development of America’s beef trade is considerable. As ‘the great beef-eaters of Europe,’ the English (at least the middle and upper classes) consumed far more beef than their continental neighbors. Meat, and particularly beef, was believed to ensure greater strength and vitality. It wasn’t just part of the meal, beef was part of the lifestyle, conveying affluence and contentment.” (Newman, 93)

“As the number of affected people, especially children, increases, one could say the food industry has entered an age of allergens. More people are avoiding certain food items because of medical conditions. The trend has researchers seeking solutions, or ways to make such foods safer for those with allergies.” (Gelski, 2016)

I chose the lines from LaDuke because of the connections this lines makes to so many complex systems in the country; the prison system, prison labor, and for-profit prisons, the economic implications of marijuana, the medical implications of marijuana, and all of the less direct connections these systems make to other systems. To study the words in these sentences and the meanings and connections they take will lead you to these larger scale connections I drew as I read the lines.

I chose these lines from Newman because I find the different dynamics between the way different cultures consider meat interesting, especially in the social and political forces that have changed the way people think of and eat various kinds of meat.

I chose this article “Special Report: Changing Food To Fit An Allergen Age” and this quote from it because it frustrates me. Because the conversations around allergies, food sensitivities, and pharmaceutical sensitivities frustrates me. These chosen lines illustrate why. The industry is focused on changing food itself, modifying it in various ways to make it safe. But there is no research going into why this change has happened. Why are more people allergic to food? Why are the types of allergies changing and broadening? Is it something we have done? A change in our evolution? The way we make our food? The way we store it, prepare it? What created this change? There is no research being done into that, and that makes me incredibly frustrated. Because until you understand the problem and its origin there can be no long term, well understood solution.

My first chosen lines mark connections to large systems that a simple program has. My second chosen lines look at a dynamic and a change in attitudes that the rest of the chapter in part tackles. My third selection is chosen out of frustration that those larger scale dynamics, systemic connections, and affects are not being studied whatsoever.

Referenced Article.

Gelski, J. (2016, February 6). Special report: Changing food to fit an allergen age. Retrieved February 11, 2017, from http://www.foodbusinessnews.net/articles/news_home/Research/2017/02/Special_report_Changing_food_t.aspx?ID={1D4DFC61-E553-4D31-B53A-A13C39894493}

ComAlt, Sarah Williams.

Seminar Response Paper, Wk 4.

Zoe Wright.

1/31/17.

Racial Indigestion Chapter 2; Secret Financial Life of Food Chapters three and four.

“The magnitude of popular interest in bread may also have been due to the changing dietary habits of Americans. Early in the nineteenth century many reformers were concerned with the increase in meat consumption and the decline in the amount and quality of bread production.” (Tompkins, 60)

“The disparity was clear: cotton was for the rich and powerful; corn was for the poor. Corn was the main staple of slave diets (the standard ration of corn for slaves was a peck of corn a week, or about 2 pounds of corn a day).” (Newman, 32)

“In a new study in Applied Economics, Palma et al seek to reveal consumer motivations behind willingness to pay for expensive foods versus valuation of food attributes. Could it be fashion, a bid for prestige or a statement of wealth and social standing?” (ScienceDaily, 2016)

I chose the lines from Tompkins because it connected to the conversations around diets and nutrition that happen in current times. These conversations being around what foods are considered healthy, fad diets, and a seemingly opposite view of bread and meat than is expressed in these chosen lines. In current times meat is considered the healthy staple while bread is the carb and sugar ridden demon of weight loss represented in Hollywood films.

I chose the lines from Newman because the connection it made between the perceived value of food by different social classes. There are still foods that are associated with being low class, poor, or from particular racial or ethnic backgrounds. There are sections in supermarkets labeled ‘hispanic’ or ‘asian’. And there have been fairly recent dog whistle campaigns that connect certain foods with being lower class, on welfare, or of those particular backgrounds.

I chose this report of a study done on social class and perceived value of food because it makes it evident that these discussions are still being had recently, and are still important.

I find these connections between the perception of value placed on food based on associations with race, class, or wealth interesting because of the way they are used for things like dog whistle politics, targeted advertising, and the cultural shame that is associated with consuming certain foods because of the interactions of your various social status.

Reference: Palma, M., Ness, M., & Anderson, D. (n.d.). Food purchasing and social status perceptions — ScienceDaily. Retrieved February 1, 2017, from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/07/160718104332.htm

SOS:ComAlt

Sarah Williams

Seminar Reading Response. Wk 3.

Zoe Wright

1/23/17.

Racial Indigestion Chapter 1; Secret Financial Life of Food Chapter 2

“It is, as animal studies scholars and animal rights activists have noted, permissible to eat meat because animals represent a lower social order than humans, and even then this is not true for all animals: Pets such as Dame Trot’s cat and dog are in a separate category. Those that are eaten are not persons but things, and their thingness is the result of a system of social degradation. For a human to take the place of an animal means becoming the object of a similar social degradation.” (Tompkins, 30-31)

“Although European explorers, particularly the Dutch and Portuguese, would continue to search for new spice islands and spice routes to control the lucrative flow of the spice trade, by the nineteenth century, spices were no longer viewed as exotic. ‘Pepper-pot’ stews were considered mundane affairs for the middle and lower classes and not to be eaten by courtiers.” (Newman, 21)

“The outbreak points to a lack of understanding consumers have with disease risk related to raw ingredients, particularly flour, which isn’t often treated to kill bacteria. ‘Flour is derived from a grain that comes directly from the field and typically is not treated to kill bacteria,’ said Leslie Smoot, a senior advisor in the FDA’s office of food safety, in a press release. This bacteria can be rendered harmless during normal food preparation — what the FDA calls ‘kill steps’ — such as baking, frying or microwaving. However, consumers who spurn such time-consuming processes can put themselves at risk with a quick lick of the spoon. The agency notes products that intentionally contain cookie dough, such as ice cream, use flour and eggs that have been pasteurized and are therefore safe to eat in their uncooked state.” (Visser)

I was caught by the lines from Tompkins because of its connections to how people justify eating meat and treating animals badly to gain meat. The way we order and value beings, is very much connected to whether animals are becoming people or people are becoming animals. I really appreciate these notes about how humans and animals are valued in the text because they put the rest of the work into context for me, and they connect to the studies I am doing of social justice and education, which are topics that are very connected to which people are valued in what way and why.

Newman’s discussion of an exotic spice becoming mundane, common and thus less valuable, relates closely to Tompkins’ discussion of how class and race influence perception and consumption of food.

There is mention in Tompkins’ chapter discussing how to keep your kitchen clean, attractive, and safe, which reminded me of our brief discussion of how the perception of soil has changed over time. The news article I chose mentions that companies don’t expect flour to be eaten raw, thus they don’t treat it in a way that would make it safe to eat raw. Soil and flour seem very similar in this instance. Neither is safe to be around or eat raw, but food that is supposedly safe to eat springs from them both. It is interesting to consider what temperatures flour would have to reach to be safe, and whether it actually does reach that temperature through-and-through during normal cooking processes.

References:

Racial Indigestion, Kyla Wazana Tompkins.

The Secret Financial Life of Food, Kara Newman.

FDA Warns Against Eating Cookie Dough, But Not Because Of Eggs, Nick Visser. Huffington Post, 6/30/16. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/fda-cookie-dough-flour_us_5774bf5fe4b042fba1cf2b6d

SOS: ComAlt. Sarah Williams.

Seminar Response Paper. Wk 2.

Zoe Wright. 1/15/17.

Racial Indigestion and The Secret Financial Life of Food.

“However, in Racial Indigestion eating culture is also understood as a privileged site for the representation of, and fascination with, those bodies that carry the burdens of difference and materiality, that are understood as less social, less intellectual, and, at times, less sentient: racially minoritized subjects, children, women, and, at times, animals. Often referred to as ‘hyperembodied’ in this book, racially minoritized – mostly black and sometimes Asian – subjects are at times closely aligned with what we might think of as the bottom of the food chain.” (Tompkins, pg 8)

“I thought of the BLTs and cartons of Tropicana orange juice I’d consumed over the years. Although I had a vague notion of the agriculture and manufacturing associated with bringing food to the table, never before had I contemplated the secret financial life of my meals.” (Newman, pg 1)

“This is not a book on how to trade commodities; it is a book about culinary history and the role that the commodities market has played in shaping culinary history.” (Newman, pg 5)

“Panera Bread Co. has achieved a “no no list” goal first announced in May 2015 as its entire U.S. food menu and portfolio of Panera at Home products are now free from all artificial flavors, preservatives, sweeteners and colors from artificial sources, the company said Jan. 13. To achieve its goal, Panera reviewed more than 450 ingredients, delving several levels into the supply chain.” (Gelski)

I chose the lines from Racial Indigestion about ‘bodies that carry the burden of difference and materiality’ because in part of the words it used to describe the expectations put on those bodies by society, and because it seemed to be a good piece of foundation for connections to other thoughts on commodification and political economy. The words that I found interesting were hyperembodied and minoritized. I heard the word minoritized used by a speaker at the 2015 Diversity Conference at Olympic College. I don’t remember the content of the lecture exactly, though I’m sure some of the analysis and thoughts have stuck with me, but the word minoritized has stuck with me because of the richness implied in the word. It doesn’t feel like the description is static and unmoving, like saying that a person is a minority. It speaks to social and structural factors that keep people belonging to target identities from having the same advantage that a straight white cis male would have. The word hyperembodied was interesting to me because it made a lot of connections to sexism and media representation and the way people in the media are shown existing in their bodies.

I chose these two short sentences from The Secret Financial Life of Food because I thought they fit together really well and set up some interesting connections to think about. The connections I made in my mind to these quote have a lot to do with the discussions I’ve had with my family about food. There is a lot to be learned about which foods are seen in which way in the public eye by looking at the financial backgrounds of that food. Which foods are considered healthy at what time is heavily influenced by who is doing the research on those foods, who’s paying for that research, and how that research is being shifted into advertising. (Things like olive oil or milk are some things that have been heavily influenced those pathways.) Further, when the media attention a food receives moves from direct advertisement to product placement to popular culture. It becomes entirely ingrained into the culture of life, becomes taken for granted, and the validity of that value and placement is never questioned. This fits very well in with the type of analysis that is being advocated for in Racial Indigestion.

I attended a speech by Angela Davis several nights ago. There were several moments where she encouraged the audience to critically think about and question the things we take for granted most. Where she advocated the kind of education that stems from those inquiries into items we most take for granted. This relatively small note of her speech is very powerful when juxtaposed with the topics we’re beginning to study in this course.

I chose these lines from this media article about Panera because of its connections to this questioning of things taken for granted, and also the examination of what happens to food at various levels of production and why and what affect that has on the food itself and its nutritional and monetary value.

References:

Newman, K. (2013). The secret financial life of food: from commodities markets to supermarkets. New York: Columbia University Press.

Panera achieves “no no list” goal. (n.d.). Retrieved January 16, 2017, from http://www.foodbusinessnews.net/articles/news_home/Business_News/2017/01/Panera_achieves_no_no_list_goa.aspx?ID={EEE484BD-6D60-4EE3-900F-FBB4C719EE12}&cck=1

Tompkins, K. W. (2012). Racial indigestion: eating bodies in the nineteenth century. New York: New York University Press.