Have you ever caught a whiff of freshly baked bread, or spotted a gooey chocolate brownie, and instantly been hit with a craving?
Do you run to the shops to buy yourself a treat, or just walk away and carry on with life?
Your response to food is a key part of eating behaviour, and your brain is an important hub for controlling these responses. By interpreting signals from our body, our brain directs us to eat (or stop eating) to maintain our energy needs. But eating goes beyond mere energy requirements – eating is often a social activity, and foods are a source of pleasure and reward. Our brain is able to incorporate these different factors to drive and control our eating behaviours. However, in the current environment, where we are constantly bombarded by food cues (such as the smell and sight of tempting food), it can be difficult to control our eating behaviour.
Our research looks to change how people respond to food and food-related cues. Specifically, we are looking to alter eating-related measures (e.g. in-the-moment food craving) using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), a form of non-invasive brain stimulation where a weak electrical current is passed through the brain via electrodes placed on the scalp.
You want to do what, to my what?!
Electric currents + your brain = nasty One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest vibes, but it’s not what you think.
The electric current is very weak, usually up to 2.0 milliampere (mA). To give some context, electroconvulsive therapy (as seen in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) uses electric currents of up to 900 mA. At 2.0 mA, you’re likely to feel a little tingling or itching, but research on the safety of tDCS shows no damage to either the skin or brain tissue, and the technique is widely considered safe for children and adults, as well as healthy individuals and patient populations. (However, do note the ‘do not try this at home’ message at the end of the blog!)
Photo credit: Jordan Beaumont
While the technique may seem a little elaborate, the equipment is relatively simple – it involves two conductive rubber plates (electrodes), housed inside saline-soaked sponge pads, which are connected to a stimulation device powered using 2x AA batteries. To hold the electrodes in place, you wear a (very flattering) elasticated cap – modelled by yours truly above. That is as exciting as the equipment gets. During stimulation, you’re usually asked to remain seated and relaxed, but can also be asked to complete a computer-based task or watch a short video.
But, what does it actually do?
The brain is like a packed room, with people (neurons, or nerve cells) constantly chatting to each other (sending chemical signals called neurotransmitters). This chatting, or the passing of neurotransmitters from one neuron to the next, is how the brain tells our body to perform certain functions, and is important for driving our behaviour. Through tDCS, we are able to increase or decrease the amount of chatting that occurs, and as such the level of activity within certain parts of the room.
This becomes important where we see low activity in some areas of the brain, such as those that help control our eating behaviours, which contributes to “problematic” behaviour. Through tDCS, we are able to alter brain activity, learning, task performance and behaviour.
The miracle cure for obesity!
Well, not quite. Obesity and eating behaviour are incredibly complex – although the techniques show promise for altering our response to food and food-related cues in some populations (such as those with binge eating behaviour), we’re a long way from testing the efficacy as a tool for obesity treatment. To fully determine the role tDCS may play in altering eating behaviours, and the potential use of this technique for weight management, we need to carry out many (many) more studies. As such, we’re in constant need of participants…
We need your help!
Share your views on non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) techniques.
Whether you’re a tDCS pro, or just hearing about brain stimulation for the first time, we’re looking for individuals over the age of 18 to share their thoughts of these techniques. Simply fill out this short survey around the perceptions of tDCS and other forms of NIBS.
On completion of the survey, you have the opportunity to be entered into a free prize draw to win one of three £50 vouchers.
If you would like to find out more about our research, or you would like to participate in one of our other studies, you can email me via j.beaumont@shu.ac.uk.
An important note…
Please do not try this at home. tDCS procedures within research and clinical settings are rigorously controlled and meticulously monitored to ensure the protocols are safe and ethical. Do-it-yourself (DIY) tDCS can lead to some worrying side effects (e.g. headaches, skin burns, persistent metallic taste) due to the use of unregulated devices and settings beyond safe limits. tDCS should always be delivered by a trained professional.
About the author
Jordan Beaumont (@JordanDBeaumont) is a Registered Nutritionist and Associate Lecturer in Food and Nutrition at Sheffield Hallam University. He is also a PhD candidate and Visiting Lecturer at Leeds Trinity University. The research discussed in this blog was conducted at Leeds Trinity University, under the supervision of Dr Martin Barwood, Dr Danielle Davis, Dr Michelle Dalton and Professor Mark Russell.
What’s Cooking is an update on all things related to CHEFS: the Culture, Health, Environment, Food and Society research cluster at Sheffield Hallam University. What’s been cooking since our last edition?
Something new! For the coming academic year, we’ll be hosting a series of CHEFS online research talks. Thanks to the advantages of Zoom, we have the chance to virtually bring in speakers to share their research on the socio-cultural dimensions of food and drink from around the world. Our first talk is by Warwick Frost and Jennifer Frost, from La Trobe University. On October 15th, 10am (UK time!), they’ll be joining us from Australia to talk about the gastronomic transformation of Melbourne. Details of the event with Zoom link are available on the CHEFS Online Research Talks Page.
Food, laneways and public art: The gastronomic transformation of Melbourne Dr Warwick Frost & Dr Jennifer Frost, La Trobe University Friday 15 October, 10am, on Zoom Abstract: In the 1980s, Melbourne was increasingly characterised as a ‘doughnut city’ in which night-time activities had deserted the Central Business District. A number of strategic policy reforms paralleling organic developments in public street art led to the rise of a strong cafe culture which reinvigorated the city and which has become central to the city’s destination marketing campaigns. Melbourne’s cafe culture was particularly characterised by small independent operators presenting themselves as cutting edge and in tune with the latest developments in artistic culture and environmental sustainability. This presentation outlines these changes, the challenges they have brought and explores attempts by other cities to replicate them.
If you’d like to recommend a future speaker, or self-nominate to deliver a talk, please let me know.
After a summer break, our monthly virtual research roundtables are back! The roundtables are an informal chance to check in, share updates, trade suggestions, ask questions and bounce ideas around. No prep needed—just a chance to meet up and talk CHEFS for an hour:
Meeting invites (with Zoom link and meeting password) will be sent out shortly via the CHEFS JISC list. Not joined the JISC list yet? See information on the very bottom of each CHEFS webpage. In the meantime, please email me directly (j.smith1@shu.ac.uk) if you’d like me to forward a meeting invite.
Be sure to check out our most recent blog post: Punita Chowbey reflects on her research with British South Asian mothers, and the complex relationship between healthy eating and time.
Below, we have:
updates on recent CHEFS members’ activities (findings report and webinar recording from an exploratory project on digital marketing, storytelling, and the regional wineries of the UK’s Midlands and North);
resources/calls for papers/conference announcements (including the ‘Digital Innovation and Wine’ CHEFS symposium on 13 September, and a BSA event on the lived experience of alcohol in social science research and teaching on 15 September);
the usual call for contributions and content for the November 2021 edition of What’s Cooking.
Lastly, some sad news to share: Deborah Harrop, one of the original forces behind the creation of CHEFS, passed away in August after a hard-fought battle with cancer. Deb’s food-related research interests focused on older people, care homes, and defining health and wellbeing outcomes; her humour, insight and capacity to bring people together were also key ingredients in the initial CHEFS launch events. Deb’s family has suggested donations in her memory to Cats Protection or the cattery that she used to volunteer at: Dove Cat Rescue Sanctuary. They are also planning a virtual book of condolences. Deb will be much missed.
Jen
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Recent CHEFS Activities
Jennifer Smith Maguire and John Dunning, in collaboration with Sheffield Hallam food and nutrition student researchers Samantha McCormick and Piotr Hipsz, recently wrapped up an exploratory project looking at digital marketing, storytelling and regional identity in relation to the wineries of the Midlands and North of the UK. Information about the project, ‘Innovation Opportunities and Digital Storytelling: An Exploratory Study of the Midlands and North Wine Region’ can be found on the project page, including links to download the findings report and to access a recording of the June 14 webinar that presented some of the findings to regional wine sector stakeholders.
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Resources/call for papers/conference announcements
Digital Innovation and Wine Online Colloquium, 13 September, 14.00-16.00 (GMT).
This event is intended for colleagues based at Sheffield Hallam University and Excelia, and forms part of the ongoing exploration of potential collaborations between SHU and Excelia. The two-hour, online event focuses on digital innovation and wine. Please register as a participant by 9th September (extended deadline). Details, including a draft programme for the event, can be found on the CHEFS event page.
Relevant perspectives on the colloquium theme of ‘digital innovation and wine’ may include but are not limited to: Marketing and storytelling; Destination branding; Hospitality and tourism management; Experience economy; Cultural production and consumption; Provenance, authenticity, and heritage; Sensory analysis; Practitioner and industry perspectives. Equally, colleagues with no prior research engagement with wine as an empirical field of study are very welcome to take part. Wine is a fertile area of research, providing ample opportunity for inter-disciplinary and cross-cultural comparative work.
Thinking critically about lived experience of alcohol in social science research and teaching’, A BSA Alcohol Studies Group Workshop – Wednesday 15th September 2021 (9.45am-1pm BST)
This half-day online workshop will be structured around the broad theme of ‘lived experience’ of alcohol, in social science research and teaching. To view the presentation abstracts and to book please see the information online. The event is free for BSA members and £10 for non-members. Please get in touch with the convenors claire.markham@ntu.ac.uk or kat.jackson@newcastle.ac.uk if you are not a BSA member and would like to enquire about applying for a subsidised place, or if you would like more information about the workshop.
This book examines how Napa became a pre-eminent site for the production of great and sometimes iconic wines in a short space of time. Unlike its Old World counterparts whose development took place over centuries, Napa’s inception didn’t start until the beginning of the 19th century, and even then struggled to identify appropriate grape varietals and find a market for such wine, only to be frustrated when Prohibition occurred in the early 20th century and practically shut down the industry. It was in the 1960s that winegrowing would re-emerge on a scale and quality that began to be noticed by informed critics and neophyte consumers. In the following decades, critical information sharing networks of owners and winemakers emerged, facilitating a collective organization learning that fostered a commitment to quality and consistency that would cement Napa’s reputation. During these decades, technical skills were embraced, institutional support harnessed, and demand for premium wine in America grew. This book is a story about this evolving wine market, about how key individuals were able to shape its organization and build a brand that would increasingly be identified as amongst the best in the world. It starts with an early discussion of what constitutes quality and how wine has been evaluated over the centuries, and ends by exploring Napa’s apotheosis and the current critical issues facing the industry in that area.
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Call for content for the next edition of What’s Cooking
The next edition of What’s Cooking will be November 2021. Please send content (research updates, calls for expression of interest, relevant calls for papers/conference/event announcements) to j.smith1@shu.ac.uk by Friday 29 October.
CHEFS blog
Interested in writing a blog? These are usually 800-1200 words and written for a general audience in an informal style. Blogs can revisit work you’ve already done (e.g., highlighting a recent output/publication); discuss research or research-related activities (teaching, public engagement, etc.) that you are working on; offer your informed take on contemporary food/drink issues or policy; provide a profile on your research. If you’d like to contribute a piece, please get in touch with Jen (j.smith1@shu.ac.uk).
Want to stay updated? Follow us on Twitter (@SHU_CHEFS), subscribe to the blog and/or join our Jisc email list: see information on the very bottom of each CHEFS webpage.
Research shows demands of work have an impact on food choices and create challenges for balancing family values such as closeness and personal achievement (Devine et al. 2006). What happens when one adds additional layers of ethnicity and migration into the picture? To find out, I spoke to 35 women from Gujarati and Pakistani background from four groups: homemaker (both high-income and low-income); professional/managerial; skilled/clerical/assistant; and manual employment. These mothers are both first and second-generation migrants with dependent children.
I asked what women meant by eating healthily, their healthy eating practices and their experiences of healthy eating interventions/messages. There was a marked contrast between the narratives of two groups of women in particular: high-income professional women and low-income homemakers. There were a lot of differences in their understanding/definition of healthy eating. And yet, there was little difference in their eating practices. Surprisingly, a subset of relatively time-rich but income-poor mothers reported eating more healthily than high income—but time poor—mothers.
Professional mothers often provided an expansive account of what they meant by healthy eating, which encompassed not only food categories but quality of food, manners, cuisine, and rules around eating. Their narratives suggested the symbolic value of healthy eating practices in their households, such as ideals of equality, egalitarian gender roles, intimacy between couples, and parental ideologies. For example, for some curry symbolised not only traditional ways of eating but also labour and a lack of taste for healthy and international food. Professional mothers often made references to local, fresh and organic food. Rohini, a mother from British Gujarati background and professionally employed, stated:
Probably more expensive because you’re buying fresh stuff and fresh stuff is perishable and it costs, whereas you can get a vegetarian lasagne for 99p frozen from the Tesco counter, do you see what I mean?
In contrast, low-income homemakers and those in skilled work provided a brief description of healthy eating that was often limited to the consumption of fruit and vegetables and a reduction in salt and oil.
However, professional mothers’ ability to articulate an expansive discourse about eating healthily did not necessarily translate into healthy cooking and eating practices. Time appeared to be a major factor for some high earners. As a sub-group, some mothers in demanding professions (such as consultants working in hospitals, senior academics and bankers) often reported not being able to eat healthily due to time constraints. Some mothers in highly paid employment talked of cooking as something that had to be fitted in around their work.
Kishwar, a first-generation Pakistani professional in a very demanding job, was often unable to find time to cook food for her children:
I have only recently started making chapatti, otherwise, we used to have Naan [shop bought] or pita bread. Because, my son loves chapatti, so, I have started kneading flour at home, however the chapatti turns out, I am getting better at it. So, I make these things, when I am off, or when I am feeling energetic enough to do it, around the weekend and stuff.
While working mothers from all occupational backgrounds talked about ways of eating healthily and about how work commitments often got in the way, this view was expressed especially frequently by professional mothers. Muskan, a first-generation Pakistani professional, expressed her inability to spend time in the kitchen as follows:
Last week has been a disaster, so I’m not sure if that’s a good week to talk about… but generally, yeah we would prefer that we eat food cooked at home, but then what affects is what work you are doing, how much time do you have, that kind of thing … if I am at work , when I come back at 6.30-7 in the evening , so then do I have the capacity to stand and cook, that tends to affect a bit.
Muskan further suggests the need for her to work longer hours than others to be accepted and respected due to being from a minority ethnic background.
Professional mothers often cited time as a major constraint in eating healthily, whereas low-income mothers made more references to the cost of healthy eating. They felt it was cheaper to eat in an ‘Asian way’ on a budget as this makes food last longer, and it is economical to cook one big pot for many people. Soha, a second-generation British Pakistani low-income homemaker married to a first-generation Pakistani manual worker, reported:
Healthy food is a waste of money as well isn’t it? Tuna is healthy, it’s only going to fill you up two sandwiches, yeah, and how expensive are three packets of tuna, £4? How many sandwiches can you make? How many big families can you have? I’ve got six people in my property living. If it’s £4 I buy £2 or £3 chicken, make a curry and fill everybody up for two days, add a few potatoes in it. I show you a 60p curry, Lehsuni curry.
Amira, a British Pakistani university educated mother in a skilled employment also reported that she only bought vegetables when they are on offer because of the cost involved, otherwise she buys from a van man who provides reasonably priced fruits and vegetables:
Healthy eating is expensive …I mean sometimes, I tend to buy fruits and vegetables [from superstores] if there is a deal …but it is expensive, we have, the vegetable and fruit van comes every Thursday, and he is quite reasonable …, so I tend to buy my fruit and vegetables from him.
Many low-income homemaker mothers spoke of several strategies they adopted to feed their family healthy meals, such as shopping around for cheaper food items, buying items on offer, cooking in bulk, and choosing dishes that are nutritious but filling and cheap.
Although time was a constraint for all mothers, low-income homemakers were able to prioritise shopping and cooking healthy meals for their family despite budgetary constraints. They often referred to their culinary skills and creativity in cooking healthy meals on a budget. This suggests a need for reconsideration of cultural capital (Bourdieu 1984; Smith Maguire 2016) in healthy cooking in context of social class and ethnicity. Many mothers from both Gujarati and Pakistani backgrounds were able to cook and eat healthily because they knew how to purchase cheap and fresh food for example from a van man or food market as opposed to super store and buying groceries in bulk. They had extensive knowledge of various low budget and versatile recipes and ways to cook from scratch, and had developed relatively advanced cooking skills over the years.
Conversely, those employed in demanding professions often made reference to long working hours and a lack of energy and time for cooking. Time is often an issue with those working long hours and time scarcity has implications for food practices as shown with other populations (Blake et al. 2011). However, for the respondents in my research, there were the additional pressures of being a woman and from a racial minority, occupying higher positions. This is not surprising considering the gendered and ethnic labour market inequalities in the UK (Dale & Ahmed 2011).
Dr Punita Chowbey is a Research Fellow at the college of Health, Wellbeing and Life Sciences, Sheffield Hallam University. Taking a social justice and intersectional approach, she is interested in gender and ethnic inequalities in health and wellbeing. Her recent projects focus on: a) household food practices and she has published on healthy eating and ethnicity, social class and food practices, gender and micropolitics of food, mothering and food allergies; b.) economic justice, including publications on economic abuse patterns and strategies, employment, masculinities and violence. She is currently working on her book on gender and economic justice. She engages with media on a regular basis including The Conversation, BBC World Service, and BBC Asian Network.
What’s Cooking is an update on all things related to CHEFS: the Culture, Health, Environment, Food and Society research cluster at Sheffield Hallam University. What’s been cooking since our last edition?
Below, we have:
updates on recent CHEFS members’ activities (including a fantastic range of staff/student research collaborations, a recent webinar on digital storytelling and regional wineries, and Sheffield’s recent Sustainable Food Places Bronze Award);
resources/calls for papers/conference announcements (including details for SHU-based colleagues to register for our 13 September online colloquium on digital innovation and wine, plus upcoming abstract deadlines for the Drinking Studies Network Conference and Gastronomy Summit);
the usual call for contributions and content for the September 2021 edition of What’s Cooking.
Looking ahead: we’ll be taking a summer break from our monthly virtual research roundtables, but we will be back in September. The roundtables are an informal chance to check in, share updates, trade suggestions, ask questions and bounce ideas around. No prep needed—just a chance to meet up and talk CHEFS for an hour:
Wednesday 15 September, 3-4pm (after a summer hiatus!)
Further dates will be circulated once the autumn teaching timetable is set. Meeting invites (with Zoom link and meeting password) are sent out via the CHEFS JISC list. Not joined the JISC list yet? See information on the very bottom of each CHEFS webpage. In the meantime, please email me directly (j.smith1@shu.ac.uk) if you’d like me to forward a meeting invite.
Happy reading!
Cheers, Jen
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Recent CHEFS Activities
Some fantastic examples over the past academic year of student/staff research collaborations, with CHEFS colleagues’ research being supported through working with student researchers:
Samantha McCormick (BSc Hons Nutrition, Diet & Lifestyle) and Piotr Hipsz (MSc Nutrition for Sport and Exercise) have carried out a range of work (including doing an online media study, managing a Qualtrics survey, doing some qualitative content analysis, and preparing a literature review) as part of a project on digital storytelling, regional identity and the wineries of the Midlands and North region (see next news item!) led by Jennifer Smith Maguire and John Dunning.
Megan Flint (MSc Nutrition with Public Health Management) is undertaking a systematic review and meta-analysis on the effects of caffeine on appetite regulation with CHEFS colleagues Jenny Paxman, Lucie Nield and Tony Lynn and Hallam alumnus Beatrice Hunt (MSc Nutrition with Obesity and Weight Management).
Nazmin Begum and Grace Agi (both MSc Nutrition with Public Health Management students) have been entering 24 dietary recalls in Nutritics. This is part of a study led by Jo Pearce, which aims to look at mineral intake from both dietary sources and supplements in women, 6-12 months post-partum.
Katie Hamilton and Rebecca Gristwood (both BSc Hons Food Marketing Management) are currently undertaking longitudinal research exploring the media representation of stigmastised brands (including media data capture, thematic and content analysis) for Paul Beresford and Craig Hirst.
George Wheatley (MSc Food Consumer Marketing and Product Development) and Lauren Hellicar (MSc Nutrition with Public Health Management) have worked together with Jo Pearce and Lucie Nield to interview students in the current PG Food and Nutrition cohort about their thoughts on the Work Related Learning module and have suggested some interesting improvements and changes which the course and module teams are taking forwards for 2022 and 2023 iterations of the module.
Jennifer Smith Maguire and John Dunning have been busy over the past several months with a research project on digital storytelling and the regional wineries of the Midlands and North. (You can find out more about regional wineries here.) The project was funded by SHU (via the Connecting with Professional Practice seed corn fund, and Department of Service Sector Management fieldwork fund), which allowed us to bring Samantha McCormick and Piotr Hipsz onto the team as student researchers (see news item above) to assist with the literature review, media audit, and survey and interviews of regional wineries. On 14 June, the team presented initial findings in a SIP/ERDF-funded webinar, aimed at wine sector stakeholders: regional wineries, regional wine retailers and restaurateurs, and representatives of the national and regional WineGB professional bodies. The webinar recording is available on the CHEFS website, and a final report will be available later in the summer.
Great news for ShefFood! Sheffield (as a city) won a Sustainable Food Places Bronze Award in June 2021, a national award for efforts to create a more sustainable, healthy and fair food system in the city. The bid was submitted on behalf of the city by ShefFood which is made up of voluntary, community, faith, social enterprise, local authority, academic and commercial groups (which includes representation from SHU; CHEFS members Lucie Nield and James Ellerby contributed to the bid). ShefFood is an independent partnership who works with groups in the city and was challenged to evidence successful and wide-ranging action on key issues including promoting healthy and sustainable food, tackling food poverty, addressing diet-related ill health, improving access to affordable healthy food and reducing food waste as well as improving the ecological footprint of the food systems. The next challenge: to move from bronze to silver award and work is already underway! Lucie Nield is looking for another ‘foodie’ staff member of SHU to join the ShefFood group. If anyone is interested, please contact her directly at l.nield@shu.ac.uk.
James Ellerby has moved into a new role with Russell Partnership Collection, an international hospitality and food consultancy. James may have left SHU, but we’re delighted that he’s keeping his links with CHEFS, and looking forward to future opportunities to collaborate!
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Resources/call for papers/conference announcements
Digital Innovation and Wine Online Colloquium, 13 September, 14.00-16.00 (GMT). This event is intended for colleagues based at Sheffield Hallam University and Excelia, and form part of the ongoing exploration of potential collaborations between SHU and Excelia. The two-hour, online event focuses on digital innovation and wine. Please register as a participant by 1st September. Details, including a draft programme for the event, can be found on the CHEFS event page. Relevant perspectives on the colloquium theme of ‘digital innovation and wine’ may include but are not limited to: Marketing and storytelling; Destination branding; Hospitality and tourism management; Experience economy; Cultural production and consumption; Provenance, authenticity, and heritage; Sensory analysis; Practitioner and industry perspectives. Equally, colleagues with no prior research engagement with wine as an empirical field of study are very welcome to take part. Wine is a fertile area of research, providing ample opportunity for inter-disciplinary and cross-cultural comparative work.
Drinking Studies Network Conference, 13-14 November 2021, Virtual Conference. Abstract deadline: 31 July 2021.
Since its foundation in 2010 the Drinking Studies Network has grown into a dynamic research community of over 300 members worldwide, from an exceptionally wide range of disciplinary and professional backgrounds. To mark our 10th anniversary – at a year’s delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic – we want to bring together members, old and new, to identify and pursue the major challenges in our rapidly developing field. We invite panels and paper proposals that align with any of the main goals of the conference, which are detailed on the event page here. Papers should normally be no more than 20 minutes in length. Panel proposals (3 papers) are welcome; as are alternative formats. In the interests of the event functioning as a collective conversation we will follow our long-standing policy of not running parallel sessions. This means that the number of papers will be restricted. Priority will go to those proposals that most explicitly – and most interestingly – address the conference goals. Proposals should be of no more than 250 words per speaker, accompanied by a short biography of no more than 100 words. Please send to drinkingstudies@gmail.com by 31 July 2021. We welcome proposals from beyond our current membership: email drinkingstudies@gmail.com to join the DSN (this is free) to become eligible. The conference will take place virtually, and will be free of charge.
Gastronomy Summit 2022, Oxford Cultural Collective/Ulster University, 11-13 April 2022. Deadline for abstracts: 1 August.
The overarching theme of Gastronomy Summit 2022 is: Developing food and drink destinations in ways that benefit local communities. The Summit’s tracks (themes), which should be the focus of submitted abstracts, papers and posters are:
Food, drink and hospitality as catalysts for economic, cultural and social regeneration in urban or rural locations
Food, drink and hospitality as catalysts for equality and social cohesion
Food, drink and regenerative tourism
Food, drink and identity
Food, drink and hospitality as catalysts for sustainable development
Education in culinary arts and gastronomy (e.g. cultural contextualization, links to destination development)
Submissions may relate to conceptual or empirical research and should normally report on completed studies in one or more of the Summit’s tracks (noted above). Abstracts and papers reporting on substantially developed work in progress will also be considered. You may wish to consider the submission of a poster to report on work in progress. You are encouraged to include commentary on the possible application and impact of your research. The research committee encourages submissions from established researchers, as well as those in the early stages of their academic careers, including doctoral students. Deadlines: submission of paper abstracts (300 words) due 1 August, with full papers if accepted due 1 November; submission of poster proposals due 1 November. Details available online in the Call for Submissions and Posters.
Food and Drink Federation free webinars (registration required)
Call for content for the next edition of What’s Cooking
The next edition of What’s Cooking will be September 2021. Please send content (research updates, calls for expression of interest, relevant calls for papers/conference/event announcements) to j.smith1@shu.ac.uk by Monday 30 August.
CHEFS blog Interested in writing a blog? These are usually 800-1200 words and written for a general audience in an informal style. Blogs can revisit work you’ve already done (e.g., highlighting a recent output/publication); discuss research or research-related activities (teaching, public engagement, etc.) that you are working on; offer your informed take on contemporary food/drink issues or policy; provide a profile on your research. If you’d like to contribute a piece, please get in touch with Jen (j.smith1@shu.ac.uk).
Want to stay updated? Follow us on Twitter (@SHU_CHEFS), subscribe to the blog and/or join our Jisc email list: see information on the very bottom of each CHEFS webpage.
What’s Cooking is an update on all things related to CHEFS: the Culture, Health, Environment, Food and Society research cluster at Sheffield Hallam University. What’s been cooking since our last edition?
Check out our most recent blog from Jenny Paxman, which reviews the socio-cultural dimensions of the pandemic, highlights emergent inequalities, challenges and opportunities for change, and considers how these impact on food security, appetite, nutrition, and food behaviours. It’s a great introduction to SHARe: Sheffield Hallam Appetite Research, a new sub-cluster of CHEFS.
The blog site has recently had a major spring cleaning and update. Check out our:
New homepage, which highlights our three main clusters of work within the CHEFS, SHARe and SWEFS (Surplus Waste and Excess Food in Society) clusters;
New events page, with information on our monthly research roundtables, September’s Digital Innovation and Wine event (see below!), SHU Brew, and past events;
New research page, with an A to Z of highlights of recent member outputs. Have you got something to contribute? Please let Jen (smith1@shu.ac.uk) know—one entry maximum per member, plus a fun challenge to see who can complete the missing letters (A-G, O-P complete; we need H-N and Q-Z!);
updates on recent CHEFS members’ activities (including consumer perceptions of post-covid hospitality, a mentoring scheme for food studies students, a collaborative workshop on digital storytelling and wine, research on responses to breastfeeding in public (including a call for survey participants), and involvement in two bids to the Transforming UK Food Systems Call);
resources/calls for papers/conference announcements (including 15th May online event ‘Feeding Sheffield Sustainably’, upcoming May events/deadlines, a new report from the Food and Drink Federation, and two upcoming job opportunities at School of Wine & Spirits Business of Burgundy School of Business);
the usual call for contributions and content for the July 2021 edition of What’s Cooking.
Finally: a reminder of our monthly virtual research roundtables: an informal chance to check in, share updates, trade suggestions, ask questions and bounce ideas around. No prep needed—just a chance to meet up and talk CHEFS for an hour:
Wednesday 12 May, 3-4pm
Wednesday 16 June, 4-5pm
Wednesday 15 September, 3-4pm (after a summer hiatus!)
Meeting invites (with Zoom link and meeting password) are sent out via the CHEFS JISC list (September invite will be circulated shortly).
Not joined the JISC list yet? See information on the very bottom of each CHEFS webpage. In the meantime, please email me directly (j.smith1@shu.ac.uk) if you’d like me to forward a meeting invite.
Happy reading!
Cheers, Jen
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Recent CHEFS Activities
James Ellerby contributed to Come Back Strong: Hospitality Insight Report, an industry report developed in collaboration with Airship, on consumer attitudes and perceptions in relation to returning to hospitality venues post-covid. James, along with dan Brookman, CEO of Airship also presented the findings via an Institute of Hospitality webinar on 27 April which further laid out the simple steps that businesses of all sizes can take to implement a ‘value exchange’ and introduce a simple loyalty model to generate immediate revenue and drive footfall as the sector reopens.
Jenny Paxman has been working with the SHU Press Office to support ‘Flourish in Food’ a mentoring scheme set up by Hallam alumni Cameron Rigg. The scheme includes 150 food industry mentors paired with Food students all over the country (including Hallam students and alumni mentors). The scheme aims to help students gain general food industry advice, and offer application and interview support, motivation and guidance, and networking opportunities within the food industry. Further details available on Flourish in Food’s website, or email flourishinfoodmentoring@gmail.com.
John Dunning, Jennifer Smith Maguire and Valentina Kirova (at Excelia) will be hosting an online research colloquium on 13th September, on the topic of ‘digital innovation and wine’. Relevant perspectives on the workshop theme of ‘digital innovation and wine’ may include but are not limited to:
Marketing and storytelling
Destination branding
Hospitality and tourism management
Experience economy
Cultural production and consumption
Sensory analysis
Provenance, authenticity and heritage
Practitioner and industry perspectives
Colleagues with no prior research engagement with wine as an empirical field of study are very welcome to take part. Wine is a fertile area of research, providing ample opportunity for inter-disciplinary and cross-cultural comparative work. Full details are available on the CHEFS Events page. A formal invitation to register to participate will be circulated in mid-May.
Cecile Morris and MSc Nutrition with Public Health Management student Amy Furness are carrying out research on emotional responses to breastfeeding in public. The first phase of the research is a survey, which will act as a gateway to recruit interview participants for a second phase of the project. The survey is accessible here. Please share widely; the survey runs until 31 May. Amy’s research is part of a wider project on attitudes towards breastfeeding in public. The health benefits of breastfeeding are well documented for mothers and babies alike, however, breastfeeding rates remain low in the UK. Negative attitudes towards breastfeeding in public are an important contributing factor in breastfeeding discontinuation. Well publicised examples of breastfeeding mothers being asked to cover up have exacerbated this. We know that some segments of the population are more likely to support / oppose breastfeeding in public and attempts to identify articulated reasons for being unsupportive of breastfeeding in public have provided some valuable background information. However, readers’ comments on articles reporting breastfeeding in public incidents provide evidence of a charged emotional context. Despite this, emotional responses from members of the public to breastfeeding in public have not been rigorously investigated and reported. If you have any questions about the research, please get in touch with Cecile.
CHEFS members have been involved with two recent first stage bids to the second UKRI Transforming UK Food Systems Call. James Ellerby, Alisha Ali and Jenny Paxman were involved in a bid led by University of Sheffield on ‘Creating a micro-urban food system for catalysing capabilities to grow, prepare and share healthy sustainable food.’ Jennifer Smith Maguire was co-applicant on ‘Pulses for health and the environment’, a bid led by Professor Martin Howarth of the National Centre of Excellence for Food Engineering along with SHU colleagues Bipro Dubey and Robert Bradshaw.
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Resources/call for papers/conference announcements
Feeding Sheffield Sustainably, Saturday 15 May, 1-4 pm. Register here. The Festival of Debate’s Feeding Sheffield Sustainably is a free, half-day conference that will happen virtually on Saturday 15th May, featuring talks from speakers working across Sheffield’s food system. The key purpose of the event is to bring civil society organisations who work in local food production, food waste and food poverty initiatives together to discuss how their work can complement and reinvigorate our approach to food in Sheffield. Speakers include:Prof Duncan Cameron (University of Sheffield, Institute for Sustainable Food); Dr Alexandra Sexton (University of Sheffield, Institute for Sustainable Food); Debbie Mathews (Manor & Castle Development Trust & S2 Food Bank); Gareth Roberts (Sheffield Food Partnership & Regather); Rene Meijer (Food Works); Sam Evans (S6 Food Bank); Martin Yarnit (Food Hubs); Sue Pearson (Heeley City Farm); Fran Halsall (Regather).
SHEFF-Yield webinar, Thursday 27 May, 6pm. Register here.
This is the sixth webinar from the SHEFF-Yield series that aims to teach Sheffield community how and why to grow your own food at home. Speaker Anton Rosenfeld from Garden Organic will give a talk on ‘Practical Organic Growing: Beyond not using chemicals.’
Sheffield Alcohol Research Group Early Career Alcohol Research Symposium, 6-7 July 2021 (online). Deadline for abstracts: 24 May. This two day online symposium is aimed at early career researchers (ECRs), working in the field of alcohol from both public health and social perspectives. The symposium is designed to give ECRs a new platform to discuss and present their research, in an environment that facilitates research dissemination, mentoring, and networking. Abstract submission and registration are now open. If you wish to submit an abstract, please fill in this form no later than the 24 May 2021. For more details and a registration link, please see attached or visit the website.
BSA Alcohol Studies Group Virtual Workshop, Wednesday 15th September 2021, ‘Thinking critically about lived experience of alcohol in social science research and teaching’. Deadline for abstracts: 30 May. Our next study group event will be structured around the broad theme of ‘lived experience’ of alcohol, in social science research and teaching. We aim for this to be a supportive event for open reflection and discussion. We welcome 20 minute presentations in the traditional PowerPoint type format but would consider presentations in other formats which can be delivered online. The event is open to all. The event is free for BSA members. There will be a £10 minimum charge for non-members, though some free places may be available for non-members on request. Please submit your abstract of no more than 200 words by 30th May 2021 to the convenors claire.markham@ntu.ac.uk or kat.jackson@newcastle.ac.uk, or please get in touch if you have any questions or would like more information.
Gastronomy Summit 2022, Oxford Cultural Collective/Ulster University, 11-13 April 2022. Deadline for abstracts: 1 August. The overarching theme of Gastronomy Summit 2022 is: Developing food and drink destinations in ways that benefit local communities. The Summit’s tracks (themes), which should be the focus of submitted abstracts, papers and posters are:
Food, drink and hospitality as catalysts for economic, cultural and social regeneration in urban or rural locations
Food, drink and hospitality as catalysts for equality and social cohesion
Food, drink and regenerative tourism
Food, drink and identity
Food, drink and hospitality as catalysts for sustainable development
Education in culinary arts and gastronomy (e.g. cultural contextualization, links to destination development)
Submissions may relate to conceptual or empirical research and should normally report on completed studies in one or more of the Summit’s tracks (noted above). Abstracts and papers reporting on substantially developed work in progress will also be considered. You may wish to consider the submission of a poster to report on work in progress. You are encouraged to include commentary on the possible application and impact of your research. The research committee encourages submissions from established researchers, as well as those in the early stages of their academic careers, including doctoral students. Deadlines: submission of paper abstracts (300 words) due 1 August, with full papers if accepted due 1 November; submission of poster proposals due 1 November. Full details available online in the Call for Submissions and Posters.
Food and Drink Federation/Santander UK food and drink export report:Food and Drink Industry Report 2021
The report looks at the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on UK food and drink exports in 2020, and finds that exports fell by 9.7% in 2020 compared to the previous year, totalling £21.3bn, despite sporadic re-openings of the hospitality and travel sectors. The report includes a focus on exports to four growth markets with insights from specialists in Santander’s export team: the United States, and key members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The report also looks at the export performance of producers in the UK’s nations and regions, with insights provided by FDF Scotland and FDF Cymru. Report is free to download.
Job opportunities: Burgundy School of Business The School of Wine & Spirits Business of Burgundy School of Business, in Dijon, France, is looking for initial expressions of interest, in advance of recruiting staff from September 2021. Expressions of interest (and/or requests for further details about the posts can be had from either Nikos Georgantzis nikolaos.georgantzis@bsb-education.com or Steve Charters steve.charters@bsb-education.com. There are two posts available:
Research-Teacher in Wine and Spirits Business. This is a senior position for an academic from one of the business disciplines to carry out research and to teach. We are a small but dynamic, multicultural research team who work very cooperatively, and this would suit someone who enjoys working with others. The teaching load is to be determined, depending on overall responsibilities, but will be designed to suit an active researcher. A background in any discipline will be welcomed, but applications from those with experience of general Management, Strategy, Hospitality or Distribution will especially welcome, as will those from academics who have done work specifically in the field of spirits. Experience in the wine and spirits is not essential, but a willingness to focus on the field is.
Research Assistant/Post-Doctoral Researcher. There is a post for a Research Assistant. This is designed either for a PhD student who is looking for some employment in the field whilst they complete their thesis, or for a Post-Doc. The responsibilities will include assisting our researchers on their projects (especially one funded by the European Union) and a level of teaching, to be determined. It is expected that the successful applicant will have some experience in the field of wine or spirits (or possible more broadly food) and be willing to concentrate on this area in their work. As we are a School of Business and anticipate that the applicants will submit/have a doctorate in one of these, but we would be willing to consider other disciplines if they were relevant to our focus.
For both positions good written and spoken English is essential (most of our courses are taught in English). French is helpful but not essential, and support and teaching will be available to any non-French speaking person who is appointed. A willingness to focus on wine and/or spirits is also a given!
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Call for content for the next edition of What’s Cooking The next edition of What’s Cooking will be July 2021. Please send content (research updates, calls for expression of interest, relevant calls for papers/conference/event announcements) to j.smith1@shu.ac.uk by Thursday 24 June.
CHEFS blog Interested in writing a blog? These are usually 800-1200 words and written for a general audience in an informal style. Blogs can revisit work you’ve already done (e.g., highlighting a recent output/publication); discuss research or research-related activities (teaching, public engagement, etc.) that you are working on; offer your informed take on contemporary food/drink issues or policy; provide a profile on your research. If you’d like to contribute a piece, please get in touch with Jen (j.smith1@shu.ac.uk).
Want to stay updated? Follow us on Twitter (@SHU_CHEFS), subscribe to the blog and/or join our Jisc email list: see information on the very bottom of each CHEFS webpage.
As a Registered Nutritionist and appetite researcher at Sheffield Hallam University, the food and nutrition impact of the ongoing COVID pandemic has resonated with me. We are only just beginning to understand the socio-cultural dimensions of the crisis; the emergent inequalities, challenges and opportunities for change and how broadly this impacts on food security, appetite, nutrition, and food behaviours. In this blog I set out some of my thoughts and reflect on the relevance of our collective research expertise, as members of SHARe (Sheffield Hallam Appetite REsearch), a new CHEFS (Culture, Health, Environment, Food and Society) sub-cluster, as we move into ‘the new normal’.
The coronavirus pandemic that spread across the world throughout 2020 has shone a light on human behaviour, social injustice, inequality, and the fragility each person’s own world construct. Researchers globally are still working through the science and social science lessons learnt so far and what this means for the future: the so-called ‘new-normal’. The pandemic has laid bare the glaring inequities in food security between and within all nations, whilst also highlighting the link between overweight/ obesity and ill-health, both chronic and acute. It is well recognised that higher BMIs present a significant risk factor with overall poorer COVID prognosis compared to when equivalent patients contract the disease at a ‘healthy weight’.
Energy balance lies at the heart of our understanding of obesity and, in turn, weight management. But for appetite researchers such as myself, the pandemic has re-emphasised that biological need is rarely what drives food and drink consumption. We eat because its lunchtime, because we’re celebrating, because cake tastes good or out of habit. Ubiquitously there are hedonic, social, habitual, environmental and other drivers, alongside biological ‘hunger’, that lead us to ingest specific food and drink items at particular times in certain quantities. I still eat Christmas pudding, even after the turkey!
In COVID-times, we’ve seen the Banana Bread Renaissance. Vogue magazine framed this as a way to make the most out of ‘the circumstances’ of the pandemic, resurrecting a ‘make do and mend’ war-mentality; it is also part of a wider rise in home-baking during COVID. In addition, the home-baking trend is likely driven by a range of reasons, from running out of staples as certain items disappeared from our supermarket shelves, to increased time at home and furlough, to the need, for many, to occupy children suddenly out of school and learning from home.
By the end of November 2020 take-home alcohol sales had increased in Britain by 18.1% (that’s half a billion litres) but this was reportedly off-set by an overall reduction in alcohol sales due to hospitality closures and lockdowns. In line with fears voiced about the potential health implications of increased home drinking in lockdown, WHO Europe produced an alcohol and COVID factsheet that highlighted that alcoholic products neither prevent nor treat COVID-19, and alcohol consumption comes with other COVID-relevant risks including impeding good decision-making and, with heavy use, weakening of the immune system. It remains to be seen whether the new levels of home drinking remain as the hospitality sector opens up over 2021, in line with the Government’s roadmap, and if so, what the longer term health implications could be.
The academic COVID literature emerging around eating behaviours and COVID suggests that emotional distress and poor quality of life during lockdown led to increased emotional eating and more frequent binge eating. It has also been found that motivation to pay for and expend effort obtaining food (across categories) was highest in those with higher COVID-related stress and highly processed and sweet foods had high motivating value across a range of measures of motivation. The lockdown effect has also been shown to be highly individualised. The ZOE COVID Symptom Study app allowed researchers insight into the lockdown effect on healthy behaviours. Findings have shown that for many with the unhealthiest lifestyles pre-lockdown, the gains and improvements made in diet, physical activity levels and sleep were greater than those who were healthier to start with.
So, what is the ‘new normal’ for appetite research? A recent BNF guest blog captures the outcomes from an MRC-funded workshop I was fortunate enough to attend. It outlines opportunities for reformulation and innovation for health, ‘Big data’ to improve our understanding of appetite, variability in response to obesity services and support for behaviour change. The take away message: “Cross-discipline, collaborative research is key to driving change in this area.”
This is precisely the approach that characterises the SHARe (Sheffield Hallam Appetite REsearch) cluster, which has members from across SHU: psychologists; registered nutritionists; dieticians; exercise scientists; biomedical scientists; nurses; pharmacologists and more. The diversity of discipline of appetite research is well recognised and the wide range of research methods used has been subject to recent review authored by some of the discipline’s most significant contributors. As SHARe is reimagined as a new sub-cluster within CHEFS, the Culture, Health, Environment, Food and Society research cluster, we have a unique opportunity to enhance our contribution, furthering and expanding the cross-disciplinary and collaborative work being undertaken to examine the socio-cultural dimensions of food and drink. We’re so excited to move forward working together.
If you’d like to know more about SHARe, or get involved, please contact SHARe lead, Jenny Paxman j.r.paxman@shu.ac.uk. For regular updates from SHARe and CHEFS and to hear more about events and funding opportunities join our JISC-mail list, subscribe to the Blog and follow us on Twitter @SHU_CHEFS.
What’s Cooking is an update on all things related to CHEFS: the Culture, Health, Environment, Food and Society research cluster at Sheffield Hallam University. What’s been cooking since our last edition?
Below, we have:
updates on recent CHEFS activities (including developments in working with the Wine and Spirit Education Trust; a research output on Chinese wine gifting; new research on lifestyle interventions for women with infertility, and community engagement in alcohol licensing; the 2022 Nutrition Society conference; and a Horizon 2020 bid on food waste and vulnerable consumers);
resources/calls for papers/conference announcements (including a fully funded PhD on food insecurity; online events on drug history and harmful drinking; an archival resource of cookbooks), and the usual call for content for the May 2021 edition of What’s Cooking.
Finally: a reminder of the upcoming monthly virtual research roundtables: an informal chance to check in, share updates, trade suggestions, ask questions and bounce ideas around. No prep needed—just a chance to meet up and talk CHEFS for an hour:
Wednesday 17 March, 4-5pm
Wednesday 14 April, 2-3pm
Wednesday 12 May, 3-4pm
Wednesday 16 June, 4-5pm
Meeting invites (with Zoom link and meeting password) have been sent out via the CHEFS JISC list. Not joined the JISC list yet? See information on the very bottom of each CHEFS webpage. In the meantime, please email me directly (j.smith1@shu.ac.uk) if you’d like me to forward a meeting invite.
Happy reading!
Cheers, Jen
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Recent CHEFS Activities
John Dunning is leading an application for the Department of Service Sector Management of Sheffield Hallam University to become a Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET) Approved Programme Provider (APP). This will mean that we will be able to run a range of WSET wine courses, which will provide great opportunities to widen wine study and research for our students, CHEFS members, DSSM colleagues and other interested parties. Further updates to come as this exciting development progresses. For more information or general enquiries, please contact Dr John Dunning, DipWSET, FWS: J.Dunning@shu.ac.uk
Jennifer Smith Maguire and John Dunning completed the first output from their research on Chinese wine gifting practices, which will appear as a chapter in the forthcoming Routledge collection, Wine and The Gift: From Production to Consumption. Wine is increasingly popular in China, but familiarity with and knowledge of wine remain relatively low. Gifting plays an integral role in the expression of Chinese cultural values, as a process through which respect is demonstrated and social ties and mutual obligations are fostered. However, how does that process unfold when knowledge of the intended honorific meaning of the gift cannot be taken for granted? Semi-standardized interviews, complemented by photo elicitation activities, were conducted with a small sample of Chinese consumers of varying ages and levels of wine involvement. The analysis highlights the contingent and laborious accomplishment of gifting: a well-chosen gift involves a series of adjustments made by the gift-giver, to ensure the gift is calibrated to reflect the giver-recipient relationship, and aligned to the recipient’s capacity to appreciate the gift. In adopting a sociological perspective on gifting as consumption, the chapter contributes novel qualitative insights to existing knowledge of wine-related Chinese consumer behaviour.
Lucie Nield is working with the Fit 4 Baby Research Group based in Teesside and coordinated by Tees Valley Sport. The aim of the research is to develop a co-designed lifestyle intervention for women with infertility. The work encompasses a systematic review, focus groups and interviews with services users and specialists in the field of fertility to look at the existing evidence base and what an ideal intervention would look like. She is involved in the systematic review and on the steering group. A co-designed intervention will then be developed, piloted and evaluated with further review undertaken. A second ‘tweaked’ intervention will then be piloted. The project is funded by Sport England and the systematic review should be complete by early Spring.
Joanna Reynolds has a new PhD student, Filip Djordjevic, starting in March as part of the La Trobe University – Sheffield Hallam University collaboration. Based primarily at La Trobe in Melbourne, but with co-supervision from Jo Reynolds and Paul Hickman (SHU, Department of Psychology, Sociology & Politics), Filip will be conducting research into processes and impacts of community engagement in alcohol licensing decisions in Australia and the UK. He will be exploring several case studies in each country, with particular attention on understanding impacts of engagement for disadvantaged groups. If you would like to know more, or know of any examples of communities influencing alcohol licensing, please contact Jo Reynolds: joanna.reynolds@shu.ac.uk
Jenny Paxman has been involved in a successful bid to host the 2022 annual Nutrition Society Summer Meeting in Sheffield (12-15 July, 2022). The competitive bid to host 400 delegates in the city across the four day conference was put together by Marketing Sheffield’s Conference Team, Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) and the University of Sheffield (UoS). The team in Sheffield brings together local expertise around the theme of food and nutrition and internationally renowned speakers with a view to exploring the pathway to a sustainable food future, looking at areas such as building ethical food systems, eroding nutritional inequalities and sustaining an ageing population. From Sheffield Hallam the conference team is led by Jenny Paxman, Subject Group Leader for Food and Nutrition at SHU, with support from Lucie Nield joined by colleagues from the University of Sheffield, Dr Liz Williams from The Human Nutrition Unit and Dr Sam Caton from The Institute for Sustainable Food.
Dianne Dean has been involved in a Horizon 2020 project bid: ‘A Systemic Approach to Reducing Waste and Producing Food with Improved Accessibility, Welfare, Affordability, and Sustainability that is Transformational and Engaging’ (AWAYSTE). Di, along with Pallavi Singh, Michael Benson and John Kirkby, are responsible for work package 1, which aims to build a deeper understanding of vulnerable consumer’s relationship with food. The research will focus on providing insight into how vulnerable consumers purchase food, what type of food they consume, what is the choice criteria, how they manage their food waste, if/how they recycle and understand their acceptance of novel food and sustainable packaging. This information will help guide other work packages in the project to co-create sustainable food products using new technologies that has the vulnerable consumer in mind.
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Resources/call for papers/conference announcements
Funded PhD studentship on food insecurity; deadline 12th March
Opportunity to apply for a fully funded ESRC CASE PhD studentship, to a suitably qualified candidate, working in the field of food insecurity. Based at the University of Liverpool, working in collaboration with a local social enterprise, Can Cook, we aim to critically evaluate food charity, taking into account diet, food choice, and psychological wellbeing and will look at the optimum process to support food security at the scale of community and household. Further particulars about the studentship can be obtained from either Alan Southern or Charlotte Hardman at the University of Liverpool. Details of how to apply can be found on the University of Liverpool web pages here. The deadline for applications is March 12th.
Zoom roundtable on drug history, 9th March
The Alcohol and Drug Historical Society are hosting a round table on ‘The Past, Present, and Future of Drug History’. The event is free and open to the public. Tuesday, March 9, 2021, 5-7PM (Eastern Standard Time—note the North American time zone!). Registration is required: register here. Participants:
Paul Gootenberg, Stony Brook University, “The Globalization of Drug History, 1990-2020”
Miriam Kingsberg Kadia, University of Colorado Boulder, “The Historiography of Drugs in East Asia”
Emily Dufton, George Washington University, “Still Searching for the Holy Grail: The Long History of Medication Assisted Treatment in the US”
Lucas Richert, University of Wisconsin, Madison, “The Intersection of Drug History and Pharmacy History”
DARC research seminar on harmful drinking, 17th March
Drug and Alcohol Research Centre seminar by James Morris on ‘Why harmful drinkers reject change: coping and cognition in maintaining heavy drinking’ on 17th March. Details and registration here.
Call for content for the next edition of What’s Cooking
The next edition of What’s Cooking will be May 2021. Please send content (research updates, calls for expression of interest, relevant calls for papers/conference/event announcements) to j.smith1@shu.ac.uk by Thursday 29 April.
Want to stay updated? Follow us on Twitter (@SHU_CHEFS), subscribe to the blog and/or join our Jisc email list: see information on the very bottom of each CHEFS webpage.
What’s Cooking is an update on all things related to CHEFS: the Culture, Health, Environment, Food and Society research cluster at Sheffield Hallam University. What’s been cooking since our last edition?
To start off 2021, be sure to have a look at our latest research blog out: a profile of Caroline Westwood’s research on agricultural shows. Caroline gives us an overview of her research journey and insights into how the pandemic has impacted on the world of agricultural shows, which are a fundamental part of local, regional and national food systems. Thanks very much to Caroline!
If you’d be interested in sharing your research profile, or writing a blog on your research, please let me know; we’re always keen to feature new authors, including PhD students.
Below, we have:
updates on recent CHEFS activities, including recent publications from Anna Stalmirska (on food tourism) and Caroline Westwood (on agricultural shows), and a findings report from Jennifer Smith Maguire (on wine farmworker heritage);
resources/calls for papers/conference announcements, and the usual call for content for the January 2021 edition of What’s Cooking.
Finally: a reminder of the upcoming dates of our monthly virtual research roundtables. These meetings are an informal chance to check in, share updates, trade suggestions, ask questions and bounce ideas around. No prep needed—just a chance to meet up and talk CHEFS for an hour:
Wednesday 13 January, 2-3pm
Wednesday 10 February, 3-4pm
Wednesday 17 March, 4-5pm
Zoom links and meeting passwords have been sent out via the CHEFS JISC list. Not joined the JISC list yet? See information on the very bottom of each CHEFS webpage. In the meantime, please email me directly (j.smith1@shu.ac.uk) if you’d like me to forward a meeting invite.
Happy reading!
Cheers, Jen
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Recent CHEFS Activities
Anna Stalmirska has had her first article accepted and published in Tourism Geographies. In the article, Cultural globalisation and food in urban destination marketing, cultural globalisation is discussed as the theoretical perspective that proves helpful in explaining the application of food in destination marketing. Taking the city of York, England, as a case study, it is shown how cultural homogenisation, heterogenisation and glocalisation influence both the cultural landscape of York, as well as in how food (global, local and glocal) is presented and marketed to visitors.
Caroline Westwood has had her second article accepted and published in Event Management, co-authored with Greg Langridge-Thomas and Philip Crowther. In the article, The Royal Welsh Show: The Nation’s True Cauldron, agricultural shows are discussed within the concept of the value of these events. They offer a variety of networks and platforms for ‘rural actors’ to connect both through planned and less planned interactions and linkages within the event. These events almost act as a canopy of connections which exist far beyond the annual 4-day event, engaging people and organisations alike, consequently, co-creating network value.
Jennifer Smith Maguire completed ‘South African Wine Farm Worker Heritage Stories and the Potential for Ethical Value Generation,’ the findings report of a pilot study funded by Sheffield Hallam’s Developing International Research Funding Opportunities (DIRFO) Scheme and the UK & Ireland Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) Seed Funding, carried out in collaboration with Ms Nikita-Marie Bridgeman as part of her MSc dissertation research for her degree in Food Consumer Marketing and Product Development, Sheffield Business School, and South African partners, Mr Charles Erasmus (from South Africa’s Wine Industry Value Chain Roundtable), and Ms Sharron Marco-Thyse (from the Centre for Rural Legal Studies, Stellenbosch South Africa). The pilot study focuses on the potential for South African wine farmworkers to take on a more active role as co-creators of winery brand value, and for wine farmworkers’ heritage stories to generate ethical value in a major export market (the UK). A review of research on how ethical value generation and value claims are articulated in the premium wine market highlighted the shortcomings of certifications as devices for product differentiation. In contrast, research underscores the power of evidence-led, credible, authentic provenance stories for achieving competitive advantage for premium wineries. Provenance stories are understood as outcomes of co-creation processes involving multiple actors all along the value chain, yet farmworkers remain a largely absent and unacknowledged group of stakeholders—both as subjects of provenance stories and as storytellers. The report shares findings from a five-phased qualitative, interpretivist research design, which explored the ways in which heritage, place and provenance shape South African wines’ presence in the marketplace, and the experiences, perceptions and evaluations of a network of stakeholders—farmworkers, producers, consumers, intermediaries—involved in the realization of brand value for South African wines.
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Resources/call for papers/conference announcements
Introduced by Professor Duncan Cameron, co-director of our Institute for Sustainable Food. Seminar by Mary Eliza, PhD student: ‘Hacking the soil microbiome’. Register here.
Hello everyone, I am Mary Eliza! I work with bacteria which live in the nodules of legume plants (peas, beans). These bacteria provide nitrogen (an element essential for plant growth and development) to plants in an accessible form. However, these bacteria face competition to colonise the soil and the nodules.
I want to investigate a potential solution to this challenge by looking inside bacteria. Sometimes, the nitrogen fixing bacteria naturally harbour viruses inside them which confer advantages or benefits to the bacteria. I am interested in looking at the benefits that these symbiotic viruses have on the survival of host bacteria when in competition with other bacterial populations. Do the viruses increase the competitiveness of their hosts?
Can they be used to increase the effective nitrogen providing bacterial populations in soil and the nodules of plants? If yes, can these virus carrying bacterial hosts be used as biofertilisers in the agriculture industry?
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Call for content for the next edition of What’s Cooking
The next edition of What’s Cooking will be March 2021. Please send content (research updates, calls for expression of interest, relevant calls for papers/conference/event announcements) to j.smith1@shu.ac.uk by Wednesday 24 February.
Want to stay updated? Follow us on Twitter (@SHU_CHEFS), subscribe to the blog and/or join our Jisc email list: see information on the very bottom of each CHEFS webpage.
In 2011 I joined the world of academia and started teaching on event management degrees. I am currently a senior lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University. My research is building into a PhD by publication which will focus on agricultural shows, the role and function with the farming community and the wider public. As a farmer’s daughter I am intensely passionate about agriculture and am keen to combine my work with my passion and support agricultural societies in learning much more about their attendees and exhibitors to enable improved outcomes. Prior to teaching I worked within the events industry for over 10 years, designing and delivering business events for various clients.
(CC BY 2.0)
Research focus – where I started from
Increasingly agricultural shows are experiencing diverse audiences, which comes with its own challenges and opportunities. Challenges surrounding COVID-19 are also impacting these events and will shape their design for some time to come. All show organisers will need to consider how their events must adapt; social distancing will be a key consideration. Whilst show organisers need to preserve the traditional elements of their shows, such as farming and livestock, it is also vital in such a competitive event environment for show organisers to have a deep understanding of the motivations and expectations of their stakeholders (in particular their attendees) that extends far beyond straightforward demographical information.
Agricultural shows as a research setting
Since 2015 I have been collecting data at various shows. This has led to publications that have examined attendee motivations and experiences at agricultural shows, and have conceptualised agricultural shows as platforms for knowledge exchange. My most recent research, a book chapter (in print Summer 2021) focuses on ‘families of choice’ (a chosen family, not blood family) within livestock breeding and showing, highlighting the key role agricultural shows play within the ‘breeder’ families. I have also contributed content to industry publications, including a recent article in Farmers Guardian.
2020 research on livestock communities
I was able to interview seven members of the farming community earlier in the year (July 2020) all directly linked to livestock showing and breeding. These conversations were a great insight into how they value the connections made as a result of attending agricultural shows; these values were from varying perspectives of social, educational and networking opportunities. Many recall growing up showing livestock whether this be a pedigree herd or flock reaching back many generations of their family or some joining a ‘wider livestock family’ based on their love of animals and wanting to be part of showing community. What was clearly evident was their passion for the showing circuit and the sense of ‘loss’ of these opportunities to connect through the cancellation of the shows during 2020 due to the pandemic. This loss was felt both on a business level as shows were cited by several as their ‘shop window’ for interested buyers, and also on a social level, many seeing their holidays and social life diminish through the cancellation of events up and down the country. As most farming families will acknowledge, holidays that don’t have a ‘farming focus’ are few and far between; so, the show circuit, ‘beers in the stockman’s tents’ and attending stockman’s dinners up and down the country have sorely been missed by many this year. Several of those I spoke to have concerns over the future of agricultural shows and at the time of interviewing we were only partially through the worst of the pandemic. With many of those talking fondly of ‘growing up with a halter in hand,’ there is a fear that future generations may not fully experience the excitement and pride of leading their stock around a ring and equally the sense of achievement and gratitude when coming away with a winning rosette.
The future of shows
The worry is some shows may lose their livestock roots when difficult decisions over the commercial viability of the shows comes under scrutiny. This would undoubtedly impact the composition of the shows, the traditions, heritage, and the multifaceted nature of these complex and unique events. The 2021 show season currently hangs in the balance, with the rescheduling of some 2020 events skipping 2021 entirely, others now being moved from 2021 to 2022, and some planned to reduce just to livestock classes with spectators. Such a sparse event calendar poses a serious threat to traders, who rely on ten or more shows and doing their best trade with those with over 70,000 attendees. The implications of the pandemic extend well beyond the actual physical show and should not be under-estimated, as the events provide value to attendees, exhibitors, the local community, and the farming community at large. Let’s hope the traditions and heritage can be maintained and there aren’t too many permanent losses of shows from the show season calendar. However, realistically, these events will have to operate in an evolving environment, with the landscape of agricultural shows fundamentally changed forever.
My aim is for my research to inform what really happens in agricultural shows and for my findings to be usefully applied in agricultural shows. I welcome collaborations with shows and show organisers, to ensure future research is as real and useful as it can be.
Caroline Westwood is a Senior Lecturer in the Events Subject Group of Sheffield Business School, Sheffield Hallam University. (c.westwood@shu.ac.uk)
What’s Cooking is an update on all things related to CHEFS: the Culture, Health, Environment, Food and Society research cluster at Sheffield Hallam University. What’s been cooking since our last edition?
If you haven’t already done so, check out our latest research blog, ‘A critical application of branding to promote acceptance of breastfeeding in public in the UK’ from SHU PhD candidate Anuradha Somangurthi. Anu aims to critically evaluate the existing UK breastfeeding campaigns and develop a social marketing and branding campaign that will more effectively target those opposed to breastfeeding in public.
This autumn, we’ve experimented with monthly virtual research roundtables. These meetings are an informal chance to check in, share updates, trade suggestions, ask questions and bounce ideas around. No prep needed—just a chance to meet up and talk CHEFS for an hour. Unfortunately, the November 18th roundtable has been cancelled due to a teaching clash, but future dates for your diaries:
Wednesday 13 January, 2-3pm
Wednesday 10 February, 3-4pm
Wednesday 17 March, 4-5pm
Zoom links and meeting passwords have been sent out via the CHEFS JISC list. Not joined the JISC list yet? See information on the very bottom of each CHEFS webpage.
Below, we have updates on recent CHEFS activities, including:
a collaborative funding bid from several CHEFS members, led by Dianne Dean, on the impact of COVID on household food and drink practices;
a list of resources/calls for papers/conference announcements, and the usual call for content for the January 2021 edition of What’s Cooking.
Happy reading!
Cheers, Jen
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Recent CHEFS Activities
Over the past several months, Di Dean, Jo Reynolds, Katie Dunn, Pallavi Singh, Jenny Paxman, Jia Liu and Jennifer Smith Maguire have been discussing potential avenues for collaborative research on food and drink practices in the ‘new normal.’ The first outcome: Dianne Deanhas submitted an interdisciplinary UKRI bid to examine the impact of COVID on household food and drink practices, with Di as PI. The bid reflects the group’s interdisciplinary expertise with regard to marketing and consumer culture, public health and nutrition, and economics. Focusing on the intersection of family practices and social stratification, set against the current moment of radical disruption and uncertainty, the bid proposes an arts-based and quasi-ethnographic research design to explore the diversity of food/drink experiences and practices across a sample of households in the north of England.
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Resources/call for papers/conference announcements
Webinar from the Royal Society of Medicine: An imminent food crisis: Fact or fiction? Wednesday 18 November 2020, 6:00pm to 7:00pm. Information here, including registration link. (Please note this is free only for RSM members; there is a scaled fee for non-members with lower fees for trainees and students).
Various new resources relevant to CHEFS in the current (CV19/Brexit) moment
House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee COVID-19 and food supply First Report of Session 2019–21
Food and Drink Federation Virtual Convention 2020, 1-2 December.
Covid-19 has been the main focus for many producers since March and there is still much to be decided around the end of the EU transition period shortly. Yet our 2020 FDF member survey shows that aside from Covid and Brexit there are still many issues challenging you. To help inject some much-needed clarity we are bringing together expert panels across two days to discuss the key topics from their perspectives and answer your questions.
SESSION ONE takes place on Tuesday 1st December and brings together three of industry’s key issues – Sustainable Healthy Diets; Climate & Carbon Net Zero; and Plastics & Packaging. Find out more and register here – https://bit.ly/2GbvB0O
SESSION TWO takes place on Wednesday 2nd December and will focus on The Food and Drink Manufacturing Sector: Immediate Needs for an Automated and Digitised Future?; Commercial Focus: How the industry can regain commercial ground in 2021; and the key issues for Scotland and Wales. Find out more and register here – https://bit.ly/2JhmKfb
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Call for content for the next edition of What’s Cooking
The next edition of What’s Cooking will be January 2021 (published a little late to allow for holiday recovery!). Please send content (research updates, calls for expression of interest, relevant calls for papers/conference/event announcements) to j.smith1@shu.ac.uk by Thursday 07 January.
Want to stay updated? Follow us on Twitter (@SHU_CHEFS), subscribe to the blog and/or join our Jisc email list: see information on the very bottom of each CHEFS webpage.
