Category Archives: research

by | May 1, 2021 · 7:42 am

What’s Cooking, May 2021

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!);
  • Updated members page reflecting some of our new additions. Not on there and would like to be? Please let Jen know (smith1@shu.ac.uk).

Below, we have:

  • 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.

 

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by | April 27, 2021 · 12:56 pm

Introducing SHARe: Sheffield Hallam Appetite REsearch

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’.

The world-wide high prevalence of obesity and overweight continues to represent a significant global public health challenge.  BMIs have risen steadily over recent decades and according to the most recent WHO statistics 39% of the world’s adult population and 18% of those aged 5-19 years are obese.  How to support individuals and populations to lose weight, or even maintain a healthy weight, has been at matter of much debate.  In July 2020 the UK Government launched its most recent obesity strategy to address the issue.  As, with my colleague Lucie Nield, I argued at the time, the strategy is both under-developed and likely ineffective in eliciting wholescale change such as is needed.

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 Government’s ill-conceived ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ scheme has been shown to have had limited effect on the UK’s restaurants and cafés. It was met with opposition from leading health experts who feared it would drive less healthy choices being associated widely with fast food options in particular, and has been shown to have contributed to the second COVID wave.

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.

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by | March 1, 2021 · 7:12 am

What’s Cooking, March 2021

 What’s Cooking, March 2021

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.

Digital cookbook archive

The Internet Archive is a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more. It’s Cookbooks and Home Economics Collection has over 10,000 vintage recipe books available for free in digital form (a useful overview introducing the collection is here).

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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.

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Filed under alcohol, Diet and health, inequalities & social justice, research, sustainability, What's Cooking?, wine

by | January 8, 2021 · 1:21 pm

What’s Cooking, January 2021

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

Online seminar: Bright Minds – Food Security
Thursday 21 January 2021, 12:00 – 13:00, on Zoom

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.

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by | January 7, 2021 · 12:03 pm

CHEFS profile: Researching Agricultural Shows – Caroline Westwood

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.

Penistone Agricultural Show scene

(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)

 

 

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by | November 2, 2020 · 11:42 am

What’s Cooking, November 2020

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 Dean has 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

 

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.

 

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by | September 23, 2020 · 10:48 am

A critical application of branding to promote acceptance of breastfeeding in public in the UK

picture of a couple and baby being breastfedRecent research by Dr Cecile Morris, Dr Peter Schofield and Dr Craig Hirst of Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) explores how members of the public perceive breastfeeding in public, identifying how different factors are associated with acceptance or opposition. They recommend adopting social marketing and branding as a means to improve the image of breastfeeding and to achieve long term sustainable behaviour of accepting of breastfeeding in public among the members of public.

Building on the above research, SHU doctoral candidate Anuradha Somangurthi 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. In this way, the research will contribute to increasing acceptance of public breastfeeding.

Why is it important to support breastfeeding?

Though breastfeeding is a natural process, mothers often require support to get started and sustain breastfeeding. The promotion of breastfeeding is the focus of World Breastfeeding Week, an annual event over the first week of August, and first celebrated in 1992. The theme of Breastfeeding week 2020 was “Support breastfeeding for a healthier planet”.

Malnutrition contributes to one-third of deaths among children under the age of five, often associated with inappropriate feeding practices during the first year of life. As per WHO recommendations, optimal breastfeeding practices include exclusive breastfeeding for first 6 months initiated within one hour of birth and continued for up to 2 years of age and beyond. To achieve global nutrition targets and increase breastfeeding rates, the WHO recommends implementation of campaigns and investing in breastfeeding promotion and support.

There are a range of public health benefits of promoting breastfeeding, especially in reducing mortality and morbidity and improving the wellbeing of mothers and infants. Breastfeeding cuts the incidence of ear, chest and gut infections in children and this helps the NHS save £50 million each year. It also reduces the incidence of breast cancer in women.

Breastfeeding acceptance in public: the situation in the UK

Though the benefits of breastfeeding for improvement of maternal and infant health have been widely acknowledged, the breastfeeding rates in the UK remain suboptimal.

There are multiple factors which affect the mother’s choice to breastfeed or to bottle-feed in public. It is not only a mother’s decision or attitude that matters; a vital role is played by her immediate and social circle. One obstacle to improving UK breastfeeding rates relates to how breastfeeding in public is viewed. Researchers at SHU have found that some mothers in the UK experience embarrassment while breastfeeding in public and hence discontinue breastfeeding. This is echoed by the Infant Feeding Survey of 2010: 47% of mothers in the UK faced difficulty to find a suitable place for breastfeeding and 11% of mothers were stopped or felt uncomfortable feeding in public.

Reducing the embarrassment mothers can experience when breastfeeding in public, and promoting acceptance of breastfeeding in public are thus two ways in which to potentially deliver improved health for infants and mothers, cost savings for the NHS, and reduced environmental impact from the production and use of formula milk.

Why is social marketing useful for promoting breastfeeding acceptance in public?

A range of social marketing campaigns have targeted mothers, their entourage, and health professionals in order to promote breastfeeding in public. Social marketing and branding campaigns have been shown to have some success in changing behaviour and  improving public health as can be seen through different campaigns targeting quitting smoking, water quality and use of fertilisers, teen health and use of bicycle. For example, branding strategies have had positive results in reducing teenage smoking. Branding is different from traditional approaches to public health campaign. By building a positive association between the target audience and the campaign, public health branding can encourage individuals to not only adopt, but also sustain positive health behaviours.

Thus, social marketing can be a powerful tool through which to change behaviour of a target audience, provided the health promotion campaign is based on realistic expectations and plans that reinforce the intention.

What does this research explore?

The overall aim of Anuradha Somangurthi’s PhD research is to critically evaluate social marketing breastfeeding campaigns, in order to design more effective social marketing interventions to increase acceptance of breastfeeding in public. The research will explore how to encourage members of the public to empathise with breastfeeding mothers and think about breastfeeding in public from the point of view of mothers, and how to change the image of human milk.

The first step in the research is to critically evaluate social marketing campaigns in relation to theoretical models of behaviour change. On that basis, a social marketing and branding campaign can be developed, which targets members of the public opposed to breastfeeding in public. Pilot testing of that campaign will determine the impact on levels of acceptance towards breastfeeding in public. The information from the pilot testing can then be used to develop, deploy and evaluate a larger scale social marketing campaign aimed at increasing acceptance of breastfeeding in public.

Potential impact of this research

The potential impact of this research would be increased acceptance of breastfeeding in public, which in turn could increase breastfeeding rates. Increasing breastfeeding rates may contribute to improving maternal health by reducing breast cancer incidence, and infant health by reducing infant infections.

The research also seeks to contribute to a more inclusive society, by helping creating an accepting environment for breastfeeding and improving the mental health of mothers who are at risk of isolation or embarrassment when electing to breastfeed their babies in public. Also, supporting breastfeeding helps in building climate resilience and build a healthier planet as breastfeeding has a very low carbon footprint compared to breastmilk substitutes.

About the author:

This blog is based on PhD research (A Critical Application of Branding to Promote Acceptance of Breastfeeding in Public in the UK) by Ms Anuradha Somangurthi, under the supervision of Dr Cecile Morris (Cecile.Morris@shu.ac.uk), Dr Craig Hirst (C.hirst@shu.ac.uk) and Dr Rachel Rundle (R.rundle@shuc.ac.uk), at Sheffield Hallam University.

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by | September 1, 2020 · 7:17 am

Energy drinks, caffeine and young adults

The puzzle:

There has been considerable recent interest in the impact of energy drinks on teenagers and young adults (BBC News 2018a, 2018b, 2019), and there is a statutory requirement to provide a high caffeine warning on drinks containing more than 150 mg/L of caffeine. The overt purpose of adding caffeine to soft drinks is as a “flavouring agent” as it possesses a strong bitter taste. There is, however, evidence that caffeine at concentrations found in colas and within a complex matrix cannot be detected by a trained sensory panel wich has led some to hypothesise that caffeine was added for its mildly addictive properties rather than its taste. The impact of caffeine at higher concentrations such as those typically found in energy drinks remained unclear. Additionally, although we know that labelling and marketing information can generate strong expectations and impact on the experience of consumption and liking of a product, there was little information on whether information relating to caffeine presence influences healthiness perception and intended use in young adults.

The research:

Over 2017-18 and 2018-19, two learning sets of final undergraduate students in Food and Nutrition at Sheffield Hallam University worked under the supervision of Dr Cecile Morris to better understand the role of caffeine in model energy drinks and its impact on liking and perception. The information collected formed the basis for an article co-authored by one of the students, Jessica Elgar, in the academic journal LWT Food Science and Technology.  In brief, a consumer panel of 107 young adults (18-26 years of age) was recruited to assess one caffeinated and one caffeine-free model drink in both a blind condition (i.e. participants had no information about the presence of caffeine) and an informed condition (i.e. participants had information about whether the drink contained caffeine or not). Habitual caffeine intake was also measured.

The findings:

Energy drinks contributed only 5.2% to the participants’ overall caffeine intake, behind coffee and tea, and their consumption pattern appeared to be irregular rather than habitual. This broadly relates to what has been observed elsewhere and suggests that energy drinks may not be problematic with respect to overall caffeine intake. Caffeine in concentrations found in energy drinks could be detected by the participants. Both the presence of caffeine and information that caffeine was present in the drink had small, but significant detrimental effects on overall liking and liking of the bitterness level. This may explain why energy drinks often contain a lot of sugar as the sweetness masks off the bitter taste of caffeine. Healthiness perception also decreased when participants were informed that the drink contained caffeine.

A potentially bigger issue emerged from the findings with regard to how young adults planned to consume the model energy drinks: the most popular intended use for the caffeinated model energy drink, both in blind and informed conditions, was as a mixer with alcohol. This however is unlikely to be attributable specifically to the presence of caffeine in the drink as the most popular intended use for the caffeine-free model drink was also as a mixer with alcohol. Similarly, no significant difference was observed between intended purposes relating to the energy boosting properties of energy drinks.

These results and the enduring popularity of energy drinks suggest that there is more at play than taste, healthiness perception or their even energy boosting properties. Some have hypothesized that their acceptance may be linked to the positive feelings experienced when their consumption alleviates mild caffeine withdrawal symptoms. Unpicking this may prove practically challenging but would be particularly useful, as would exploring the views of younger teenagers.

About the author:

Dr Cecile Morris (Cecile.Morris@shu.ac.uk) is Interim Head of the Department of Service Sector Management, Sheffield Business School of Sheffield Hallam University. Her research focuses on sensory science, food perceptions, consumer attitudes and behaviours, health and food science.

Cecile and Jessica’s article, ‘Impact of caffeine and information relating to caffeine on young adults’ liking, healthiness perception and intended use of model energy drinks’ appears in the October 2020 issue of the Journal LWT: Food Science Technology.

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by | June 1, 2020 · 7:32 am

What’s Cooking, June 2020

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?

In this June 2020 edition, we have updates on recent CHEFS activities, including:

  • research on nutrition in care homes (Lucie Nield), family business dynamics in the catering sector (Rich Telling and Philip Goulding), and agricultural shows as a value creation platform (Caroline Westwood and Phil Crowther);
  • a summary of BMRC colleagues’ work with regional brewers, from Jillian Newton;
  • a call for expressions of interest to get involved with ShefFood, from James Ellerby;
  • a series of webinars aimed at helping the region’s hospitality industry in the context of CV19, organised by James Ellerby and Hospitality colleagues;
  • a call for expressions of interest to explore future collaborative links with La Trobe University for research on socio-cultural dimensions of food and drink, from Jennifer Smith Maguire.

Plus, the usual call for content for the September 2020 edition of What’s Cooking.

Cheers, Jen

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Recent CHEFS Activities

Lucie Nield is part of a group of colleagues from SHU, UoS & NHS and Social Care partners who have successfully progressed to a Round 2 submission for an NIHR Research for Social Care bid looking at the effect of good nutrition in residential care homes. The bid is a joint venture using qualitative and quantitative methodologies and process evaluation with the aim of co-designing an intervention. If successful in the next round, work will commence in January 2021 where we will be working closely with our health and social care colleagues.

Richard Telling and Philip Goulding’s article ‘Retaining the adolescent workforce in family businesses’ has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Family Business Management. The article explored the linkage between adolescent work, parent-child relationships and offspring career choice outcomes in a family business context. Findings were derived from 15 semi-structured interviews with members of five Italian families operating catering businesses in Yorkshire (UK). The findings were two-fold: first, that the ‘familiarity’ of the family business impacts on offspring decision making, on one hand providing a safety net and base from which the next generation can explore their career options, and a trapping device which can impede their exit on the other; and second, that negative experiences of adolescent work often have a detrimental impact on parent-child relationships and when this happens ‘escaping’ the family business assumes priority for offspring. The paper contributes to our understanding of the stay/go decision faced by next generation family members and suggests that parent-child relationships are instrumental in understanding this and previous stages of the socialisation process of embedding in the family business.

Phil Crowther and Caroline Westwood (along with Greg Langridge-Thomas from Powys Council) had their article ‘The Royal Welsh Show – the nations true cauldron’ accepted for publication in the Event Management journal.  Using the show as a single case study to really examine the catalytic role events have in the context of networks and knowledge economy and in this case, the impact the show has throughout Wales and beyond.  The show (as many UK agricultural shows), dates back to the early 1900’s, recognised as hugely influential on the development of rural areas, their role is high worth, contributing to significantly improving, husbandry techniques, stock quality and enabling the country to meet the needs for increased food production.  This extensive case study included 43 interviews and 1322 questions in addition to archival research.  Through this research a framework was derived entitled ‘Taxonomy of Platforms’ which demonstrates events such as the Royal Welsh Show are value creation platforms, offering a significant role in cultivating networks, across key industries (food, farming, agricultural innovations) both stakeholder and attendee focused.  Future research which Caroline is undertaking focuses on how these shows are also a stage for ‘families of choice’ to convene, share best practices, educate themselves and socialise.  This next stage of the research will consider partly the value of agricultural shows but also how individuals perceive the events in terms of space and place and the connection they have with certain events within the agricultural events calendar.

From Jillian Newton: Hello to all you fellow CHEFS from the Biomolecular Sciences Research arm, just to let you know what we’ve been up to during lockdown and the sheer madness of remote working. As many of you will know we have over the past 6 years been developing links with local microbrewers, running workshops and meetings helping to understand and develop this research area within the BMRC. Early on in 2020 in the heady days of pre-lockdown myself,  (Dr Jillian Newton), Dr Susan Campbell, Dr Daniel Allwood and Dr Tim Nichol set up a brewing research group, which included Tim’s master student  and my a final year project student. These two students have been working within the BMRC and the NCEFE looking at the beer brewing process and its effect on yeast. Since lockdown, however, we have kept ourselves productive in a written capacity. In the joyous haze of lockdown we have somehow put together:

  • A capital equipment grant for kit to complement our established pilot microbrewery plant at NCEFE, to allow SHU researchers and local brewers access to scientific data about brewing processes and the beers they produce. This would contribute extensively to our engagement with local brewers.
  • An application to the Brewers Research and Education Fund which is funded by the very aptly named ‘Worshipful Company of Brewers’ to help create a central hub for the communication of knowledge transfer, bespoke research, teaching and good practice between the craft ale community and researchers.
  • And finally, we have also applied for a GTA PhD studentship, working with Triple Point brewery, looking at one of the ‘Holy Grails’ of brewing: the scientific basis behind yeast flocculation.

All told a very productive brewing related few weeks.

James Ellerby sits on the steering group of ShefFood, a local cross-sector food partnership. James would like to hear from anyone in CHEFS who would be interested in getting involved with the partnership. A few recent ShefFood updates on the local food system include:

  • Food Works has moved their focus to meal deliveries, serving about 3500 meals to date.
  • Food Banks: the need for food has increased 20%. The increase in food prices is having a big impact (e.g. S2 Food Bank currently spends £2000/week to supplement donations).
  • City Farm Federation/Heeley City Farm: the main focus for local growers has been maximising food production, supporting the increased demand for food cooperatives such as Regather. With the loss of farm visits, school tours etc., city farms are needing to consider longer term solutions. There appears to be a need for improved digital infrastructure, e.g. online resources for virtual tours etc.
  • Regather food cooperative: a current success story in this crisis. Household subscriptions for their veg box scheme went from 320 to 650/week in just five days. They have accelerated their own farm development to supplement this and the loss of their events business.
  • Moor Market fruit and veg traders have had some great examples of pivoting businesses and moving to home delivery.
  • Sustainable Food Cities have rebranded as Sustainable Food Places. Some great case studies of other food partnerships/cities and their reaction to the crisis. See: https://www.sustainablefoodplaces.org/coronavirus/

Please let James know (j.ellerby@shu.ac.uk) if anyone is interested in getting involved in/supporting any of the above issues. If anyone is currently working on anything that may be of use to the partnership/local food businesses please do let him know.

James Ellerby and colleagues from the Hospitality Business Management group in Sheffield Business School have organised a webinar series, ‘Covid-19 Support Resources for Hospitality,’ delivered through the ScaleUp 360 programme. The team have developed a series of completely free online resources, available to businesses within the Sheffield City Region. The resources will be delivered as a series of online webinars and will included a blend of taught content, panel discussions and live Q&As. The initial list of topics currently includes:

  • 04/06 – Lessons from the past: restaurant recovery in a global recession
  • 11/06 – The future of service in hospitality
  • 17/06 – Hospitality revenue management for the Covid-19 recovery
  • 25/06 – Innovation: re-think, re-visit, reinvent – Developing resilient hospitality business models 02/07 – Food supply chain challenges and solutions
  • 09/07 – Food and business ethics: making the ‘right’ decisions for the future

Details of each event will be available here. For any further information about the hospitality webinars please contact James Ellerby (j.ellerby@shu.ac.uk).

Please note: in order to participate, businesses must register (free) with the ScaleUp 360 programme via an expression of interest form, and a short registration meeting via a phone call with a business growth coach at ScaleUp 360. Registered businesses are then eligible to an additional range of fully funded enterprise and entrepreneurial skills development opportunities, including Business Workshops; Mentoring; Incubation Support and Networking; Design and Prototyping; 1:1 Business Advice. ScaleUp 360 is part-financed by the England European Regional Development Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020, and is run in partnership with Sheffield Hallam University, Barnsley Business and Innovation Centre, Doncaster Chamber of Commerce, and East Midlands Chamber of Commerce.

Jennifer Smith Maguire, in collaboration with Jennifer Frost and Warwick Frost of La Trobe University (LTU), was awarded a 2020 SHU-LTU Collaborative Research Seed Grant. The bid had three objectives: (1) to progress our collaborative research on cultural institutions and wellbeing (initiated through a 2019 LTU-SHU Collaborative Research Seed Grant); (2) to scope a cross-cultural comparative project on wine tourism and the social marketing of terroir; and (3) to develop a cross-university food/drink/culture research network, by promoting CHEFS and SBS expertise to LTU colleagues, and identifying potential areas for collaborative research. The funding was to allow Jen to travel to La Trobe for an intense week of writing, research scoping and networking in June 2020. The global pandemic has put the trip temporarily on hold, but objective 3 is nevertheless underway! To that end: this is a call for expressions of interest from SHU-based CHEFS colleagues who want to develop links with LTU colleagues, with a focus on future collaborative research on the socio-cultural dimensions of food and drink. Please submit your information through this google form. As part of the SHU-LTU global partnership, there have already been two rounds (2019, 2020) of collaborative research seed grants, and there is currently a call for joint PhD proposals. The google form is intended to help with proactively building a CHEFS/SHU-LTU research network, to enhance the likelihood of success in bidding for these (and other, external) funds, and developing productive, collegial partnerships. Please get in touch with Jen if you have any questions (j.smith1@shu.ac.uk).

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Call for content for the next edition of What’s Cooking

The next edition of What’s Cooking will be September 2020. 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 27 August.

 

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.

 

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by | November 29, 2019 · 12:01 pm

The Sparkling Symposium, 28 November 2019

photo of symposium programme

Photo credit: Judith Boyle

Many thanks to all who could join us yesterday at Sheffield Hallam University for the Sparkling Symposium, hosted by the CHEFS research cluster and sponsored by Sheffield Business School, Department of Service Sector Management.

The event brought together academics and industry professionals, including wine makers, winery owners, wine retailers and wine writers, to discuss present and future directions of champagne and sparkling wine, with a focus on the British context.

The afternoon began with comments from co-organisers Professor Jennifer Smith Maguire and Dr John Dunning, welcoming 48 participants from across the UK and beyond. The Symposium marked the external launch of the CHEFS (Culture, Health, Environment, Food and Society) research cluster, and signalled the group’s commitment to fostering interdisciplinary dialogue and collaboration between academics and practitioners with regard to the socio-cultural dimensions of food and drink. What could be a better first topic of discussion than sparkling wine?

John Dunning and Jennifer Smith Maguire open the symposium

Photo credit: James Ellerby

Professor Marion Demossier delivered the first keynote: ‘Critical Reflexions on Terroir,’ in which she explored the questions of ‘What do people do with the notion of terroir?’ and ‘What does terroir do to wine?’ Drawing on 30 years of fieldwork in Burgundy and recent work in New Zealand and the UK, Marion outlined the powerful instruments and strategies that have linked place, taste and quality, and highlighted some of their potential disadvantages, including the homogenization of local cultures and environments, and the loss of authentic connections between people and place.

Marion Demossier delivering keynote Marion Demossier delivering keynote

Rebecca Gibb MW delivered the second keynote: ‘Uncorking the sparkling wine world,’ exploring some of the socio-political struggles and technological advances that underpinned the historical development of champagne. She then provided a critical analysis of the relative successes and failures of other sparkling wines. Drawing comparisons between champagne, cava, prosecco and New Zealand sparkling, Rebecca concluded by outlining some of the key factors for champagne’s enduring market success.

Rebecca Gibb delivering keynote Rebecca Gibb delivering keynote

Following a lively question and answer session, and a break for tea, coffee and cake, the Symposium resumed with Jennifer Smith Maguire outlining ‘A changing market context’ for champagne and sparkling wine in the British context. Jennifer discussed four factors that help to understand the increasingly diverse UK sparkling wine market, highlighting changing attitudes of consumers, producers and market gatekeepers such as wine journalists with regard to luxury brands, hierarchies of cultural legitimacy, desires for the hand-crafted and authentic, and a sense of taste for place and novelty.

Jennifer Smith Maguire delivering presentation

Photo credit: Helenka Brown

Participants were then treated to an entertaining and educational tasting of four champagnes, led by Rebecca and John. A highly scientific poll of participants revealed a wide spread of favourites, with each wine receiving votes for best in show: à chacun son gout!

4 tasting glasses

Photo credit: Emma Martin

John Dunning and Rebecca Gibb leading the tasting

The final major portion of the Symposium was devoted to a panel discussion of the present and future of sparkling wine. The panel included Marion Demossier, Rebecca Gibb, Mr John Mitchell and Dr Gregory Dunn. John, the owner and director of Sheffield’s Mitchells Wines, shared his insights as to the changing tastes of British consumers over his 50 years in the wine and spirits trade as a retailer and wholesaler. Greg reflected on the industry from the perspective of his research, role as the Head of Plumpton College’s Wine Division and experience as the Programme Manager for Plumpton’s MSc Viticulture & Oenology. Greg skilfully chaired the session to ensure ample contributions from the audience of both comments and questions. The panel ended with a final challenge to the panellists, asking for their recommendations as to how best to attract under-30 consumers to English sparkling wine.

Panel discussion (Greg Dunn, Rebecca Gibb, John Mitchell, Marion Demossier) James Ellerby pouring for the reception

After a stimulating afternoon of presentations and discussion—and many rounds of thanks to all involved—the Symposium concluded with a wine and canapé reception. Judging by the volume of conversations in the room, there was plenty of appetite for further discussion.

Thanks once again to all who took part. Until next time!

 

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