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The Pastries of La Festa di San Giuseppe: Roots to Italian sweet foodways
ARTICLE IN PRESS 396
Abstracts / Appetite 47 (2006) 384–401
The Pastries of La Festa di San Giuseppe: Roots to Italian sweet foodways. KARA S. NIELSEN. Department of Gastronomy,
Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA. [email protected] Pastries and desserts hold an important place in Italian cuisine. They are more symbols of culture than sugary treats to savor, imbued with religious, mystical, and historic significance. This significance appears during holidays, family events, and festivals, such as feast days honoring patron saints. With Italy’s longstanding tradition of distinct regional cuisines, the festival foods differ from place to place, though common traits link them to the season and holiday. Breads and pastries in unique and meaningful forms are a major part of festival traditions and their regional variations illustrate local heritage, typical ingredients, and cooking traditions. Examining the roots of the sweet foodways of La Festa di San Giuseppe in two southern Italian locales, Sicily and Naples reveals much about Italian food history and the evolutionary influence at the hands of invaders, courts, and peasants. Consumption patterns based on scarcity and annual feasting reserved for church holidays are illustrated by the rituals of this feast day. Regional identity is expressed through placespecific recipes, ingredient use, and cooking methods. Sustenance issues also surface though the liturgical calendar that allows for the occasional splurges that were once rare moments of abundance, a break from incessant hunger, and an opportunity for a community to feed itself and its poor. Sweets play an important part in the conception of abundance and celebration, serving as special treats consumed once a year, marking a meal as a festive one, spent with family and community in common observance of a holiday or special event. This group consumption reinforces social ties, creates common memories and defines regional practices while also elevating the status of pastries and desserts and honoring the cooks and saints that make this consumption possible. A seemingly unremarkable feast day gives a piece of fried dough much meaning to a local person, reflecting regional identity while celebrating abundance. 10.1016/j.appet.2006.08.042
Food and terroir in the education of Rousseau’s E´mile.
KRISTINA NIES. Department of Gastronomy, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA. [email protected] In Rousseau’s E´mile, the codification of educational theory and practice cannot be separated from its place of origin. The lessons created for the fictional E´mile are shaped by Rousseau’s French ideals. His theory and pedagogy are reactions to the educational theories and practices of 18th century Europe. As a naturalist, who focuses on the land, Rousseau identifies the significance of
agricultural products. Looking at the foods of land Rousseau is able to draw easy and necessary parallels to the nature of the land, products birthed there and the quotidian acts of consumption. The very act of consumption connects humans to the land. This connectedness is the root of terroir. The foods Rousseau chooses to incorporate in his lessons reveals as much about Rousseau and his ideology as it does about France and the pastoral ideals he tries to promote. These foods not only tie children to the land, they also construct a larger social and national identity. Much has been written on Rousseau’s E´mile from a philosophical and educational perspective. Yet, to date, there has not been anything written on the food Rousseau employs for his lessons or why Rousseau chooses food as an educational/instructional tool. The historical and/or social connections of food present in Rousseau’s E´mile can be interpreted to analyze the cultural norms and ideals that food fosters. 10.1016/j.appet.2006.08.043
The intersection of agricultural sustainability and new farmer education: A sociohistorical analysis. KIM NIEWOLNY.
Department of Education, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA. [email protected] The literature in sociology and rural studies suggests that since the industrialized agro-food system continues to dominate the influence of production and marketing towards a global trajectory, the flow of information and opportunity pertaining to agriculture and rural development is predominantly oriented along this same path. In this view, some authors argue that in order to have sustainable agricultural development, we need to have an alternative system of research and education, one that contrasts with the way the US public system of agriculture has operated for the past 50 years. This paper examines ‘‘new farmer’’ education as one such alternative to the industrial extension project developed by a number of agricultural organizations providing sites of learning and resource for new kinds of agriculturists, particularly farmers engaged in alternative food systems. While it appears new farmer education is informed by the sustainable agriculture movement, it remains uncertain as to what this expression looks like and what purpose it serves. By reviewing the sociological and educational literature, this paper investigates the structural and cultural patterns that contribute to the formation of new farmer education since the Second World War. Thus, the paper further elucidates the ideological and discursive forces constituting and challenging new farmer education. Insights are offered for future in-depth studies of the implications of sustainable agricultural education and policy from political economy, epistemological, feminist, and new social movement perspectives. 10.1016/j.appet.2006.08.044
Abstracts / Appetite 47 (2006) 384–401
The Pastries of La Festa di San Giuseppe: Roots to Italian sweet foodways. KARA S. NIELSEN. Department of Gastronomy,
Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA. [email protected] Pastries and desserts hold an important place in Italian cuisine. They are more symbols of culture than sugary treats to savor, imbued with religious, mystical, and historic significance. This significance appears during holidays, family events, and festivals, such as feast days honoring patron saints. With Italy’s longstanding tradition of distinct regional cuisines, the festival foods differ from place to place, though common traits link them to the season and holiday. Breads and pastries in unique and meaningful forms are a major part of festival traditions and their regional variations illustrate local heritage, typical ingredients, and cooking traditions. Examining the roots of the sweet foodways of La Festa di San Giuseppe in two southern Italian locales, Sicily and Naples reveals much about Italian food history and the evolutionary influence at the hands of invaders, courts, and peasants. Consumption patterns based on scarcity and annual feasting reserved for church holidays are illustrated by the rituals of this feast day. Regional identity is expressed through placespecific recipes, ingredient use, and cooking methods. Sustenance issues also surface though the liturgical calendar that allows for the occasional splurges that were once rare moments of abundance, a break from incessant hunger, and an opportunity for a community to feed itself and its poor. Sweets play an important part in the conception of abundance and celebration, serving as special treats consumed once a year, marking a meal as a festive one, spent with family and community in common observance of a holiday or special event. This group consumption reinforces social ties, creates common memories and defines regional practices while also elevating the status of pastries and desserts and honoring the cooks and saints that make this consumption possible. A seemingly unremarkable feast day gives a piece of fried dough much meaning to a local person, reflecting regional identity while celebrating abundance. 10.1016/j.appet.2006.08.042
Food and terroir in the education of Rousseau’s E´mile.
KRISTINA NIES. Department of Gastronomy, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA. [email protected] In Rousseau’s E´mile, the codification of educational theory and practice cannot be separated from its place of origin. The lessons created for the fictional E´mile are shaped by Rousseau’s French ideals. His theory and pedagogy are reactions to the educational theories and practices of 18th century Europe. As a naturalist, who focuses on the land, Rousseau identifies the significance of
agricultural products. Looking at the foods of land Rousseau is able to draw easy and necessary parallels to the nature of the land, products birthed there and the quotidian acts of consumption. The very act of consumption connects humans to the land. This connectedness is the root of terroir. The foods Rousseau chooses to incorporate in his lessons reveals as much about Rousseau and his ideology as it does about France and the pastoral ideals he tries to promote. These foods not only tie children to the land, they also construct a larger social and national identity. Much has been written on Rousseau’s E´mile from a philosophical and educational perspective. Yet, to date, there has not been anything written on the food Rousseau employs for his lessons or why Rousseau chooses food as an educational/instructional tool. The historical and/or social connections of food present in Rousseau’s E´mile can be interpreted to analyze the cultural norms and ideals that food fosters. 10.1016/j.appet.2006.08.043
The intersection of agricultural sustainability and new farmer education: A sociohistorical analysis. KIM NIEWOLNY.
Department of Education, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA. [email protected] The literature in sociology and rural studies suggests that since the industrialized agro-food system continues to dominate the influence of production and marketing towards a global trajectory, the flow of information and opportunity pertaining to agriculture and rural development is predominantly oriented along this same path. In this view, some authors argue that in order to have sustainable agricultural development, we need to have an alternative system of research and education, one that contrasts with the way the US public system of agriculture has operated for the past 50 years. This paper examines ‘‘new farmer’’ education as one such alternative to the industrial extension project developed by a number of agricultural organizations providing sites of learning and resource for new kinds of agriculturists, particularly farmers engaged in alternative food systems. While it appears new farmer education is informed by the sustainable agriculture movement, it remains uncertain as to what this expression looks like and what purpose it serves. By reviewing the sociological and educational literature, this paper investigates the structural and cultural patterns that contribute to the formation of new farmer education since the Second World War. Thus, the paper further elucidates the ideological and discursive forces constituting and challenging new farmer education. Insights are offered for future in-depth studies of the implications of sustainable agricultural education and policy from political economy, epistemological, feminist, and new social movement perspectives. 10.1016/j.appet.2006.08.044