Category Archives: Uncategorized

by | March 1, 2022 · 8:37 am

What’s Cooking, March 2022

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?

We had another great instalment of our online research talk series on February 10th, with ‘paired papers’ focused on beer, consumption and authenticity. Nadine Waehning and Victoria Wells (University of York Management School) shared their current research on how beer consumers ‘forage’: in addition to exploring between patch (pub) and within patch (product) consumer choices, they also gave us insights into some neat methods and a York pub tour to boot! Andrey Sgorla (University of Siena) then shared insights from his research into the narrative construction of the Brazilian craft beer market and brewers’ performances of passion and authenticity. A recording of the session is available on our ‘past talks’ webpage.

Our next online research talk is coming up soon! On March 23rd (3.30-5 GMT on Zoom), two of our very own SHU CHEFS members are talking about their research on pubs, alcohol and the pandemic: Joanna Reynolds will give a talk on ‘“Pub-ageddon”! Risk, responsibility and alcohol licensing in England during COVID-19 pandemic,’ providing on analysis of how the media reported restrictions on pubs and bars over the course of 2020, and the shifting discursive framing of problems relating to alcohol consumption and licensing; Pallavi Singh will be sharing insights from qualitative research on ‘Sustainability in the beer and pub industry during the COVID-19 period: An emerging new normal,’ drawing on in-depth interviews with pub and brewery owners, managers, and customers, as well as netnographic and offline observations of pubs’ engagement with customers. Full details (including full abstracts and the Zoom joining link) are available on our Online Research Talks page.

The online talks are open to all, both local and global, students and staff, practitioners and public. Please feel free to share with your networks—all welcome!

Below, we have:

  • updates on recent CHEFS members’ activities (including new food-focused PhD research from new GTAs in Sheffield Business School, and a call for participants in research on wine consumers);
  • resources/calls for papers/conference announcements (including upcoming online events (online event on the sociology of wine, with (optional!) tasting; webinar on research on post-hospitalization food), funding deadlines and conference calls);
  • the usual call for contributions and content for the May 2022 edition of What’s Cooking.

Cheers, Jen

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Recent CHEFS Activities

We are pleased to welcome two new GTAs in Sheffield Business School, each with a food focus to their research!

In the Department of Management, Ufuoma Arangebi is working with Dianne Dean and Pallavi Singh on her PhD project, which explores the intergenerational and cross cultural attitudes towards the symbolic nature of food and food waste. Ufuoma’s specialist area is Marketing. She has a BSc in Geography and Regional planning and an MSc in International Business. She is very interested in food consumption, the symbolic and ritualistic nature of preparing and sharing food, particularly within the community.

In the Department of Service Sector Management, Megan Flint is working with Jenny Paxman, Tony Lynn and Simon Bowles on her PhD project which aims to explore the consumer health valuation of plant-based convenience foods versus their actual nutritional profile and satiating potential. Megan’s specialist area is Nutrition and Public Health. She has a BSc in Nutrition and Public Health and an MSc in Nutrition with Public Health Management. She’s particularly interested in consumer engagement with novel plant-based convenience foods, and their health value in comparison to meat-based equivalents.

John Dunning and student researcher Rachel Robinson are currently undertaking data collection on wine gifting and cultural values, for research in collaboration with Jennifer Smith Maguire and Samantha McCormick. They are keen to recruit British and Chinese consumers of varying levels of wine involvement for semi-structured interviews. Interested in taking part? You do not have to be a wine expert, or have any particular wine knowledge, to take part and there are no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answers in the research; we are interested in your experiences and opinions! Involvement in the study is voluntary. If you are interested in taking part in an interview (conducted via Zoom), or if you’d like to know more about the research, please contact John (j.dunning@shu.ac.uk). Equally: please feel free to pass on this recruitment request to others. Thank you!

Jennifer Smith Maguire is taking part in an online launch event, to mark the publication of the ‘Constructing the Sociology (or Sociologies) of Wine’ special issue of the Journal of Cultural Analysis and Social Change. (The journal is open access.) All are welcome, so please join us for short talks from the article authors: Friday March 11th, 2.30-4.30 on Zoom. Registration details are below; registered participants will receive the Zoom link when they sign up, along with a list of wine-and-paper pairing recommendations for an informal tasting to close the launch event. Jen is also delighted to share that the co-edited Routledge Handbook of Wine and Culture is now available for pre-order, with a 20% discount available until 30th April (code ASM02). The book offers a comprehensive, interdisciplinary overview of contemporary research and thinking on how wine fits into the cultural frameworks of production and consumption. Editor royalties have been donated to WaterAid.

Jenny Paxman has been busy with organising the Nutrition Society Summer Meeting 2022, to be hosted in Sheffield, 12-15 July. Registration is now open—see the details in the section below; abstract deadline is 17 April.

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Resources/call for papers/conference announcements

Constructing the Sociology (or Sociologies) of Wine, online launch event, 11 March, 14.30—16.30 (GMT)
This event is open to all, and marks the ‘Constructing the Sociology (or Sociologies) of Wine’ special issue of the Journal of Cultural Analysis and Social Change. Each of the special issue authors will be suggesting a style and/or region of wine to accompany their article; participants are welcome to join in an informal towards the end of the event. (Wines not supplied!) To attend, please register via Eventbrite. Attendees will receive the Zoom link when they sign up, along with a list of wine and paper pairing recommendations.

Sustain Webinar, 16 March (2-3pm)
Home from Hospital and access to food. This event marks the launch of Home from hospital: Ensuring people have access to food at discharge from hospital and beyond. The guide highlights the importance of this issue and presents good practice case studies from around the country. This event will feature a summary of the guide and speakers from some of the case study areas in the report. Register via the Sustain webpage.

EuroSense 2022 Conference: abstract deadline 18 March
EuroSense 2022 the 10th European Conference on Sensory and Consumer Research, theme: ‘A Sense of Earth’. 13-16 September 2022, Turku, Finland. Submission deadline of 18 March 2022 for abstracts for workshops, talks and poster presentations on the following themes: Sensory and Consumer Science for Sustainability and Biodiversity | Sensory, FoodTech & Health | Sensory Food Terroir | Cross Cultural in Sensory and Consumer Research | Citizen Involvement | Multisensory Perception | Food Choice, Sensory Perception and Beyond | Sensometrics. View topic descriptions and submit abstracts here

Brewers’ Research and Education Fund: application deadline 31 March
British Beer & Pub Association, through the Brewers’ Research and Education Fund, invites applications for its research grants. These support scientific research and education that supports the UK brewing industry. Projects must satisfy at least one of the following objectives: promoting brewing education, training and research; researching and educating the public about beer consumption; researching the composition and nutritional value of beer in relation to diet and wellbeing; promoting research related to the environmental and economic sustainability of the brewing sector. Project must have a principal benefit to the brewing industry in the UK. Organisations, institutions and individuals may apply.  Information and application procedure available here.

Nutrition Society Summer Meeting 2022: abstract deadline 17 April
We’re excited to announce that registration for the Sheffield-hosted Nutrition Society Summer Meeting 2022 is now open. The four day conference, ‘Food and Nutrition: Pathways to a sustainable future’, 12-15 July, will be an in-person event hosted at Sheffield Hallam University city campus organised by SHU in partnership with The University of Sheffield and Sheffield City Council.  The conference will cover various pathways to a sustainable future in food and nutrition, including:

  • Building of ethical food systems
  • Eroding nutritional inequalities
  • Sustaining an ageing population
  • Navigating dietary trends
  • Understanding mechanisms for health
  • Enabling activity: lessons from exercise science

The call for abstracts is now open for our oral communication and poster streams (deadline 17th April 2022).  Please see more details here: https://www.nutritionsociety.org/events/summer-conference-2022-food-and-nutrition-pathways-sustainable-future

Useful resources: Food Insecurity Tracking data from the Food Foundation

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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 2022. 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 April.

CHEFS blog

Interested in writing a blog post? 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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Filed under eating behaviour, research, surplus waste & excess food in society, Uncategorized, What's Cooking?, wine

by | November 1, 2021 · 9:30 am

What’s Cooking, November 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?

We’ve launched a new series of online research talks! Our inaugural talk was on 15 October: Jennifer and Warwick Frost (La Trobe University) joined us from Australia to talk about their research on ‘Food, laneways and public art: The gastronomic transformation of Melbourne.’ Up next: join us on November 10th, 4pm on Zoom for Nino Bariola (University of Texas at Austin) talking about his research on ‘Authenticity, legitimacy, and the racial politics of ceviche.’ Info on how to join on Zoom (plus a link to the recording of Jennifer and Warwick’s talk, and details of upcoming sessions on ‘Craft Beer, Agility and Authenticity’ and ‘Pubs, Alcohol and the Pandemic’) can be found on our Online Research Talks page.

Check out our latest blog post, from Jordan Beaumont: in ‘Electric Currents and Eating Behaviour,’ Jordan tells us about his research on transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and eating behaviour. There’s also an invitation to a survey, to share your views on tDCS as part of the research.

CHEFS monthly virtual research 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. Upcoming dates:

  • Wednesday 17 November, 2-3pm
  • Wednesday 8 December, 4-5pm

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.

Below, we have:

  • updates on recent CHEFS members’ activities (including the start of new research on how alcohol provision affects people’s experiences of public spaces, and on public sector waste service delivery focussing specifically on household waste);
  • resources/calls for papers/conference announcements (including upcoming abstract submission deadlines for conferences on beer, food and drink, and wine);
  • the usual call for contributions and content for the January 2022 edition of What’s Cooking.

Cheers,
Jen

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Recent CHEFS Activities

Joanna Reynolds (Senior Lecturer in Sociology) is applying for a BA/Leverhulme small research grant to understand how alcohol provision affects different people’s experiences of public spaces and access to the benefits of these spaces, to inform efforts to ‘build back better’ high streets and town centres, post-COVID-19. She plans to conduct a case study of Sheffield, exploring experiences of alcohol provision in different areas and how this shapes people’s experiences (positively and negatively) of public spaces.

Dianne Dean and Pallavi Singh are undertaking a new project that examines household waste. ‘Co-creation and co-destruction of value in public waste service delivery: Building a sustainable service for household waste’ seeks to build an understanding of public sector waste service delivery focussing specifically on household waste. The service provision provided by local councils to collect household waste is becoming more complex and the demand for reuse, recycling and disposal of different types of waste increases. The aim of our research is to examine the extent to which households engage in the recycling process and question if or what customer value is derived from household waste disposal. While traditional service delivery was developed by the organisation, contemporary practices also consider the person who is engaged in the service. Customers are encouraged to recycle in order to minimise waste and thus work to co-create value through a sustainable household waste system. However, reluctance to engage in these sustainable practices leads to value co-destruction and service failure so we need to understand the barriers to engagement. Earlier research has identified that if effort is required then there is more chance of value co-destruction but if there is little effort required it is more likely that value-is co-created. Thus, service delivery is improved and, with less likelihood of service failure, becomes more sustainable.

We would like to work with local council departments with responsibility for household waste and examine the service provision offered to their customers. There are a range of different approaches that are adopted in different councils so we would like to compare and contrast service systems and identify any barriers to adoption and also establish how the service delivery can be improved. The outcome of the research will lead to improved mechanisms that can enhance service delivery and a more sustainable environment. For further information please contact Professor Dianne Dean at Dianne.dean@shu.ac.uk or Dr Pallavi Singh at P.Singh@shu.ac.uk.

John Dunning and Jennifer Smith Maguire hosted an online ‘Digital Innovation and Wine’ colloquium on 13 September 2021, in collaboration with colleagues at Sheffield Hallam University and Excelia. The event featured two research presentations: Sylvie Lacoste and Rémi Bréhonnet (Excelia) gave a preliminary account of new research on the ‘Digital transformation paradox: The case of the Bordeaux Chateaux (wine-growing estates)’, and John and Jen presented research on ‘Digital storytelling in the context of the Midlands/North UK emergent wine region,’ based on CHEFS research carried out last year. Details of the event available here.

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Resources/call for papers/conference announcements

CFP: Beer Culture Division of PCA Conference 2022, Washington USA, 13 – 16 April 2022. Submission deadline: 15 November 2021
For information or submission to PCA, please go to http://www.pcaaca.org . Proposals are requested for works (panels, paper presentations, well-developed research in progress, multi-mediated/graphic projects) that identify and discuss any aspects of beer, including its producers, its consumers, the communities and identities beer inspires and maintains, and/or its social, cultural, historical, and economic impact. ALL submissions must be made through the conference submission site. For individual papers, please submit a title and 100-word abstract. DEADLINE:  15 November 2021.

CFP – IEHCA International Convention on Food and Drink Studies (2-3 June 2022), Tours, France. Submission deadline: 15 December 2021.
We are pleased to announce that the European Institute for Food History and Cultures (the IEHCA, Institut Européen d’Histoire et des Cultures de l’Alimentation) is organizing the seventh edition of its annual international convention, to be held on Thursday 2 and Friday 3 June 2022 in Tours (France). The event is part of the ongoing activities organised by the Thematic Reasearch Network led by IEHCA and supported by the Centre-Val de Loire region in pursuit of its editorial policy, support for research and efforts to facilitate networking opportunities among Food Studies researchers. Deadline 15 December 2021. More details at: https://iehca.eu/en/news-events/international-conference

5th Wine Active Compounds Conference, 29 June – 1 July 2022. Submission deadline: 13 December 2021
The fifth edition of the Wine Active Compounds (WAC) conference series will take place in the Palace of the Dukes of Burgundy in Dijon, France, from Wednesday June 29 to Friday July 1, 2022, under the auspices of the UNESCO Chair “Culture & Traditions of Wines” and the Institut Jules Guyot at University of Burgundy. The international WAC conferences have become an essential meeting point for promoting interdisciplinarity in experimental and human and social sciences of vine and wine, considering active compounds related to viticulture, enology, their biological roles and their taste/olfactory properties. Multidisciplinary research on the impact of grape and wine molecules on fermentation processes, on stability, on aroma profile, on health or consumption behaviours will be presented within the frame of four sessions: Viticultural practices and wine compounds; Winemaking processes; Sensory related compounds: perceptions, acceptations, prescriptions and discourses; Compounds with biological interest, including those beneficial and detrimental to health, and associated social representations.
Abstract submissions from September 28 to December 13, 2021 at https://ubwac.com/call-for-abstracts/  Full conference information at https://ubwac.com/

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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 2022. 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 03 January (slightly later publishing due to the holidays!).

 

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 | August 31, 2021 · 5:22 pm

What’s Cooking, September 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?

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:

  • Wednesday 15 September, 3-4pm (meeting invite circulated previously)
  • Wednesday 13 October, 4-5pm
  • Wednesday 17 November, 2-3pm

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.

New publication: Ian Taplin. 2021. The Napa Valley Wine Industry: The Organization of Excellence. Cambridge Scholars.

25% discount available for orders online www.cambridgescholars.com Discount code: PROMO25

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.

 

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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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Filed under appetite, Diet and health, inequalities & social justice, research, Uncategorized

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 | July 16, 2020 · 11:42 am

Food Matters Live 2020 – registration open

Food Matters Live to offer an engaging virtual experience in October 2020 and announces new dates for 2021

Taking place on 13 and 14 October 2020, the Food Matters Live virtual experience will provide an engaging and inclusive opportunity for the global food, drink and nutrition industry to explore the latest innovative ingredient and nutraceutical solutions, hear food and drink experts discuss the latest insights via five streams of live webcasts and Q&A sessions, from the future of sustainable diets to nutrition in the community, packaging and marketing, and make valuable connections through the hosted buyer programme via virtual 1-2-1 meetings.

 

https://www.foodmatterslive.com/2020/news

 

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by | April 1, 2020 · 12:42 pm

What’s Cooking, April 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 April 2020 edition:

  • An update on CHEFS activities;
  • Call for content for the June 2020 edition of What’s Cooking.

In these strange and unsettling times, I hope a little CHEFS news will brighten your day.

Stay well!
Cheers, Jen

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Recent CHEFS Activities

Jillian Newton is leading SHU BREW 2020, a one-day conference specifically curated for the microbrewing community, with invited academic and industry speakers, beer tasting and networking. The event is currently scheduled to take place on July 16th, although that is being kept under review due to the coronavirus situation. Nevertheless, the event planning has brought a range colleagues together in new ways, and has already attracted registrations (register here). Find out more on the SHU BREW 2020 webpage.

Paul Beresford and Craig Hirst had their article ‘How Consumers Reconcile Discordant Food Retailer Brand Images’ accepted for publication in the Journal of Marketing Management. The article is based on part of their data from on ongoing longitudinal analysis of discount food retailer switching behaviour. This particular study is positioned in relation to the evolving market conditions of UK grocery retail and offers insight into the consumer led co-creative processes underlying the switching behaviour to discount food retailers by middle-class consumers. Based on phenomenological interviews with ideographic analysis, this research draws on theories related to cultural branding and brand relationships, to demonstrate how consumers negotiate individuated brand meanings. It reveals how, in spite of normative marketplace discourses, consumers are able to reframe and negotiate personally relevant meanings suitable to their own lifestyles and life projects. In so doing, this study contributes to the literature by offering an account of how brand relationships are appropriated in negotiations with stigmatised brand images to make them relevant and suitable for hitherto incongruent market segments. The findings therefore hold relevance for grocery retail managers and other practitioners engaged with the management of low involvement and mundane brands, who will have a better understanding of the process through which such relationships manifest themselves in food retail switching behaviour. Craig and Paul are now pulling together a partner paper that looks at how the news media is playing a role in this process through the stories they report about grocery retail brands over time.

Dianne Dean, Pallavi Singh, Katie Dunn and Wei Chen have been invited to provide an outline bid for the Leverhulme Trust  and is worth approximately £240,000. The bid focusses on food waste which is a global problem, and household food waste in developed countries is a serious concern. However, this trend is also becoming an issue in newly emerging economies where food has traditionally been scarce and optimising food resources was crucial. The team seek to understand what food frugality practices continue to be used and what are being lost. It appears that we have forgotten how to treasure food so this research focuses on how intergenerational attitudes towards food waste are transferred, what food knowledge has been lost and how relearning can be incorporated into family practices. The team hopes to recruit two PhD students to conduct research in both India and China and help to build critical mass for the SWEFS and CHEFS research clusters.

Jennifer Smith Maguire recently had two articles published related to her research on wine and wine markets. “Aesthetic logics, terroir and the lamination of grower champagne” appears in Consumption, Markets and Culture in a special issue on ‘Taste’ and is co-authored Steve Charters (School of Wine & Spirits Business, Burgundy School of Business). Through an analysis of how ‘big brand’ and ‘grower’ champagnes are represented by trade associations, small-scale producers and wine writers, they develop the concept of lamination for making sense of how aesthetic logics shape markets. The other article comes from research with colleagues at La Trobe University: “Seeking a competitive advantage in wine tourism: Heritage and storytelling at the cellar-door,” co-authored with Warwick Frost, Jennifer Frost and Paul Strickland, appears in the International Journal of Hospitality Management. Drawing from interviews with representatives of wineries in southern Australia, the article examines issues of heritage, authenticity, branding and storytelling.

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

The next edition of What’s Cooking will be June 2020. Please send content (updates up to 200 words (images optional), and relevant calls for papers/conference/event announcements) to j.smith1@shu.ac.uk by Thursday 28 May. 

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 31, 2020 · 12:19 pm

What’s cooking, February 2020

What’s Cooking, February 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?

Recent additions to the research blog:

Interested in writing a blog? Please let me know!

In this February 2020 edition:

  • An update on CHEFS activities;
  • A list of recent call for papers and event/conference announcements;
  • Call for content for the April 2020 edition of What’s Cooking.

Cheers, Jen
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Recent CHEFS Activities

whiteboard summaryCHEFS hosted a research workshop on January 9th: ‘Brewing Place’: A workshop on how beer, pubs and breweries have shaped the past and present of Sheffield. The event attracted 14 colleagues from across SHU faculties as well as Sheffield City Council, and focused on identifying potential topics for collaborative research. We identified three avenues for development, including (1) a collaboration between CHEFS and Jillian Newton and Susan Campbell, colleagues in biomolecular sciences, on a Brewery Conference (July 2020), and the potential for developing CPD aimed at the regional microbrewer community; (2) a critical history of Sheffield through the lens of beer, tracing forms of social inclusion/exclusion and urban change through the local history of pubs, brewing, social patterns of beer consumption in different areas of Sheffield; and (3) a project on beer and place branding. The next meeting regarding the Brewery Conference will take place February 6th, 11-12, in Charles 12.5.07. Please join us if you are interested in getting involved.

 

screenshot of journal titleLucie Nield and Jess Stockton, also at SHU, published a paper in January from some work which was done with MSc student dissertations. The paper was a qualitative synthesis which analysed the thoughts and wishes of women during pregnancy in regard to weight management and food safety advice. The findings showed very little commentary relating to food safety advice, but that women had a ‘wish list’ of information they would like during their antenatal care including information and guidance on risks of dieting during pregnancy, elevated BMI during pregnancy, expected and appropriate GWG, safe exercise and where to access it, which foods to eat and what ‘healthy eating’ is, practical meal ideas and recipes, portion control, importance of micronutrients and recommended intake, consequences of GDM, as well as personalized advice that took account of daily pressures, being asked what they would like out of their care experience, and tailored advice that was individually and culturally sensitive. The paper, ‘An antenatal wish list: A qualitative systematic review and thematic synthesis of UK dietary advice for weight management and food borne illness’ appears in the journal Midwifery. A 50-day freeview share link is available here: https://authors.elsevier.com/c/1aNfKydlT-UJs.

 

Jennifer Smith Maguire is co-editing the Routledge Critical Beverage Studies series, with Peter Howland (Massey University, New Zealand) and Catherine Tucker (University of Florida, USA). The series offers cutting edge and ground-breaking insights on beverages as vehicles for a wide array of social, cultural, economic, environment and political phenomenon, and welcomes contributions from a wide range of disciplines, from monographs and edited collections to student textbooks. If you have a proposal idea, please let Jen know. The first book in the CBS series will be Wine and the Gift (2021, edited by Peter Howland), in which Jen and John Dunning have a chapter on wine and Chinese gifting culture (research currently underway!).

 

Jennifer Smith Maguire and Penny West (graduate of the SHU MSc Food, Consumer Marketing and Product Development course) have had a paper accepted for the American Sociological Association Annual Conference this summer. The paper, ‘Putting the unusual on the menu: Chefs and the culinary aesthetics of insects’ is a development of Penny’s MSc research, for which she interviewed head chefs of local independent restaurants (n=10) regarding their perceptions of and practices (if any) for including insects as an ingredient in their restaurant menus. Their paper explores the potential for chefs to reframe insects as food, and contribute to the normalisation of an environmentally-sustainable, but highly unusual dietary component. Their analysis highlights how chefs’ culinary aesthetics mediate their capacities, and devices to put the unusual on the menu.

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Call For Papers/Conference and Event Announcements

Registration open: On-line Pub and Brewery Mapping, 6th Feb, London, 6:30pm – 8:30pm
Location: Upstairs at The Old Doctor Butler’s Head (2 Mason’s Avenue, Moorgate, EC2V 5BT) by kind permission of Guild corporate members Shepherd Neame
London’s pubs are being put on the map. Or rather are being mapped onto Layers of London, an interactive online resource which gathers historical maps and layers them up for users to explore how areas have changed. Although several websites exist with some great content about pubs, the idea for this project is to gather those histories and allow online visitors to discover this information within the context of historical maps. The aim is to record as many pubs from as many areas across Greater London as possible, creating signposts to the already existing sources of information on the web and in London’s archives. Join us to hear from project engagement officer Adam Corsini about Layers of London and the #MapLondonsPubs project and how you can get involved. https://www.layersoflondon.org/news-events/maplondonspubs

Registration open: Cultures of Intoxication: Contextualising Alcohol and Drugs Use, Past and Present, 7-8 February 2020, Dublin (UCD)

The programme is now available for the Cultures of Intoxication: Contextualising Alcohol and Drugs Use, Past and Present conference which will take place in the Humanities Institute, UCD on 7-8 February. This conference is organised by Dr Alice Mauger and supported by the Wellcome Trust. To register, please click here. Please note, registration ends on 31 January 2020 and places are limited. For queries, please contact: Dr Alice Mauger on alice.mauger@ucd.ie

 CFP: Geographies of tourism and food: intersecting travel and sustainable food futures. RGS-IBG Annual Conference 2020. Abstract deadline, 7 February 2020.

Conference Dates: Tuesday 1st – Friday 4th September 2020, RGS-IBG, London
Session convenors: Dr Anna de Jong, University of Surrey (a.dejong@surrey.ac.uk) and Professor Gordon Waitt, University of Wollongong (gwait@uow.edu.au)

Bramwell et al (2017) have highlighted the need for greater attention to how tourism and the everyday intersect – to generate new insights into how ways of living might be reconfigured differently. This session aims to bring together scholars with an interest in the role of tourism in thinking through the future of food.

A core strand of geographical thinking is the question of how food offers insights to power, politics and space (Roe, 2006). Geographers have illustrated how the ubiquitous spaces of tourism might offer opportunity to reconfigure normative understanding, practices, processes and relationships that sustain somethings as food, and not others.

As we attempt to engage with changing climates and environments, the curation of difference during travel renders an accessible opportunity to consider how food might be otherwise. The openness to difference, presented through the ubiquity of tourist space, offers politically important moments to (re)consider why we eat the way that we do. Moreover, whilst small scale, the tourist experience is not discrete and localised – but rather illustrates how we might further develop opportunities through the spaces of tourism, that allow us to think through the future of food. Such conclusions are not solitary, yet rather unify touristic and geographic calls to think further about the ubiquity of tourist space in rethinking the politics of food in everyday practices (cf. Waitt and Phillips 2016).

At the same time, however, there are critical limitations in overstating the longer-term legacies of such touristic encounters. Sustainable tourism scholars have identified the challenges of embedding travel practices within everyday routines (Font and Hindley 2017). By way of example, certain food consumed while travelling may not readily become present within our everyday food practices.

This session builds upon work dedicated to studying how eating food whilst on-the-move may bring about change in society at large, from production to consumption, and social relations and everyday practices to ethics.  Submission are encouraged that engage with the future of food through the lens of tourism.

Topics include, but are not limited to:

  • tourism, eating and symbolic transformations of food
  • tourism, food, and the embodied politics of touch, smell, sight and taste
  • tourism and more-than-human in the everyday production and consumption of food,
  • food, tourism and the everyday
  • food, tourism and ethics

Please submit your abstracts (250-300 words) by 5pm Friday 7th February 2020to a.dejong@surrey.ac.uk and gwaitt@uow.edu.au.

Conference announcement: EuroCHRIE Small Groups Meeting – Amsterdam, 1-2 April 2020

The small group meeting (SGM) will be on the topic of food waste as one of society’s greatest financial, economic and ethical challenges. It is of growing interest to many stakeholders in society from policy makers, business and academia (see below ‘call for papers’ for more context). The hospitality and food service sector is not only responsible for 14% of the global food waste, the research interest in this area is growing quickly as well. EuroCHRIE and Hotelschool The Hague believe that it can be seen as an educational duty to contribute to finding solutions to this great problem. Confirmed Keynote speaker – Prof. John Peloza (University of Kentucky): Food Is Life, Don’t Waste It: A Research Agenda for Reducing Food Waste.  More details can be found at https://eurochrie.org/research/sgm-no-2-food-waste/

Call for Evidence: Commission on Alcohol Harm – deadline 17 Feb 2019

The Alcohol Health Alliance UK (AHA) is supporting a Commission on Alcohol Harm, chaired by Baroness Finlay of Llandaff and made up of a panel of expert practitioners, cross-party parliamentarians and health leaders. The UK has not had an alcohol strategy since 2012, despite wide-ranging evidence of the harm alcohol causes. Find out more on our website: https://ahauk.org/commission-on-alcohol-harm/?utm_source=Alcohol+Alert+enewsletter&utm_campaign=e6979fcdd1-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_01_06&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1f2e93f1bc-e6979fcdd1-456702369.

The Commission will hold three oral evidence sessions in England, Scotland and Wales in early 2020, and has launched a call for written evidence, with submissions welcomed before the deadline of 12.00 noon on 17 February 2020.

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

The next edition of What’s Cooking will be April 2020. Please send content (updates up to 200 words (images optional), and relevant calls for papers/conference/event announcements) to j.smith1@shu.ac.uk by Monday 30 March.

 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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Filed under alcohol, identities & rituals, representations & discourses, research, Uncategorized, urban & regional development, wine

by | November 1, 2019 · 4:03 pm

What’s Cooking, November 2019

What’s Cooking is a bi-monthly 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?

Our research blog has launched! Be sure to check out our first blogs:

If you’re interested in writing a future blog, please let Jen know (j.smith1@shu.ac.uk).

Later this month, we’re looking forward to the CHEFS ‘Sparkling Symposium’ (28th November), which focuses on the present and future of champagne and sparkling wine, particularly in the context of the UK market. The event is supported by Sheffield Business School Department of Service Sector Management, and organised by John Dunning and Jennifer Smith Maguire. More info here. The event is fully booked, but there is a waiting list (register here), if further spots open up through cancellations. Hope to see some of you there! Full event information on the CHEFS home page.

In the remainder of this November 2019 edition:

  • An update on CHEFS member activities
  • A list of recent call for papers and event/conference announcements.
  • Call for content for the January 2020 edition of What’s Cooking.

Cheers, Jen

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Member Updates 

Lucie Nield has been working with a group from SHU (H&W and SBS) and UoS, amongst others, to produce an NIHR grant submission that explores protein intakes in older adults in residential care homes. Lucie attended the briefing session in Manchester on 8th October and the group are currently working towards a Stage 1 application for submission in January 2020. The research aims to deliver novel insights and formulate an intervention into best practice regarding protein provision in this unique and understudied group. The research will consist of 3 arms: 1) Literature Review, 2) Observation of feeding processes and behaviours, 3) Co-production of an intervention.

Lucie Nield has also been working with James Ellerby are part of the steering group for ShefFood—a city-wide food partnership that’s working towards building a sustainable local food system. Earlier this month, some members met to review the outcomes from this summer’s public consultation event, held as part of the Sheffield Food Festival. The steering group (pictured with the ShefFood logo!) currently includes a cross-section of organisations with representatives from Food Works, Regather, Heeley City Farm, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam University and the Food Cities programme, run by the Soil Association. To find out how you can support or get involved with ShefFood, you can email the team at info@sheffood.org.uk or follow their news on twitter, Facebook or Instagram.

 

Rachael Colley’s research brings together jewellery, created predominantly using food waste, and ambiguous artefacts for eating. Rachael has had some of her pieces featured in ‘The Experimental Eater’ article in the current issue (issue 3) of Design Anthology UK. Cutlery Combs and for-K-andles could be described as challenging, playful and disgusting. Initial pieces from this series were originally designed and created to feature in Ambiguous Implements, an Arts Council England funded national touring exhibition that she coordinated in collaboration with Feast journal editor Laura Mansfield during 2017-18. The artefacts cross-reference bodily tools for grooming and dining, with the aim of forming abject associations that tread the line between playfulness and underlying feelings of disgust. The pieces re-purpose stainless steel forks and fork handles – predominantly obtained from the Sheffield cutlery industry, but also from Ebay and charity shops – which are then soldered to formed mild steel comb frames and powder-coated. These pieces have recently featured in Steinbeisser’s Experimental Gastronomy events in Amsterdam, which is the subject of ‘The Experimental Eater’ article published in the current issue of Design Anthology UK. You can find out more about her work here. (Photo credit Kathrin Koschitzki)

Caroline Westwood has been invited to speak at the Association of Show and Agricultural Organisations (ASAO) Annual Conference this month, which brings together approximately 200 of the show directors/show managers from around the UK.

Caroline Millman hosted food teachers on 19th September, as part of the SHU Food Teachers Network, bringing together teachers from 15 secondary schools and members of the SBS Food and Hospitality subject groups. The teachers were introduced to Sheffield Hallam and what we can offer their students and schools. In turn, they told us how we could support schools/teachers. It was great to see the teachers forming peer connections and demonstrating how we can help support the local students/teachers find a route through food teaching, whether that be to the food industry or into hospitality. The SHU Food Teachers Network was created through Connecting Professional Practice seed-corn funding, in order to forge links supporting targeted research in secondary school food departments, and promote Sheffield Hallam as a destination for students. Despite the erosion of school food departments, secondary food teachers remain an important route into schools. It is this diminishing school food resource that was the focus of previous research on the food safety awareness of pupils, leading to the creation of foodbugclub.net. Since the introduction of a new GCSE curriculum, a review of this research is timely, along with an investigation into the career pathways of students into higher education food courses. The next teacher-led meeting will take place on 7th November. (Photo credit Jenny Paxman)

Jennifer Smith Maguire published ‘Natural wine and the globalization of a taste for provenance’ as a chapter in The Globalization of Wine (Bloomsbury). The chapter draws from interviews with natural wine makers and cultural intermediaries, and an analysis of fine wine media, to explore how natural wine’s global expansion and increasing legitimacy over the past 10 years have hinged on the ways in which its material and symbolic properties offer points of attachment for the legitimacy frames associated with terroir, authenticity and good taste. The case of natural wine suggests the potentially powerful role of provenance as a market-making device. Jen is also a co-editor of The Handbook of Wine and Culture, a major interdisciplinary collection that has just been commissioned by Routledge. A call for chapter contributions will be forthcoming!

Margo Barker has recently been invited to be Associate Editor of the open access journal, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. There is a potential special issue call coming in 2020 on food choice, which will be circulated via the CHEFS newsletter and other platforms. In addition, Margo recently published a paper in International Journal of Psychiatry in Clinical Practice on B Vitamins and progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

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Call For Papers/Conference and Event Announcements

CFP: European Institute for the History of Cultures of Food, 4-5 June 2020. Abstract deadline, 15 November 2019.
The European Institute for the History & Cultures of Food invites proposals for panels and individual papers at the ‘Sixth International Convention on Food and Drink Studies‘ to be held at Tours in France on 4-5 June 2020. Submissions are due by 15 November 2019. If you have any questions/ideas or need a session moderator, please contact DSN/IEHCA member Beat Kümin (b.kumin@warwick.ac.uk).

CFP: Wine Active Compounds (WAC2020) conference, Burgundy, 15-17 April 2020. Abstract deadline, 29 November 2019.
The Wine Active Compound (WAC) conference aims to address concepts of activity or inactivity of wine compounds, their impact including vineyard practices, winemaking processes and sensory perceptions of professionals and consumers. One of the main tracks of the conference is ‘Sensory Perceptions of Professionals and Consumers.’ Abstracts deadline: 29 November 2019. For further information, submission details and all conference information, go to: https://ubwac.com/.

CFP: Academy of Wine Business Research (AWBR) conference, Burgundy, 7-10 July 2020. Abstract deadline, 30 November 2019.
The 12th Conference of the Academy of Wine Business Research will be held in Dijon from the 7th to the 10th July 2020, hosted by the School of Wine & Spirits Business of Burgundy School of Business. Tracks are intended for wine, as well as cider, spirits and beer and contributions are encouraged in these areas. Information on submissions to the three streams (competitive papers, extended abstracts, ‘big picture’ papers) can be found here, including the submission template. A special issue of the International Journal of Wine Business Research is intended, to feature the best papers from the conference. For all communications please email: awbr2020@bsb-education.com.

Drinking Studies Network Identities and Diversity Cluster Workshop: 12 December 2019, University of Leicester
The Drinking Studies Network (DSN) is an interdisciplinary network connecting researchers of drink and drinking cultures. One of the DSN clusters, “Identities and Diversity,” is hosting a workshop on “Excess, Moderation and Sobriety: Identities and Diversity in Drinking Studies,” to take place at College Court, University of Leicester, on 12 December 2019. All are welcome to attend. If you’d like to know more, or to join the Identities and Diversity Cluster within the Network, please email Deborah Toner (dt151@le.ac.uk).

CFP: Cultures of Intoxication: Contextualising Alcohol & Drug Use, Past & Present, Humanities Institute, University College Dublin, Ireland, 7-8 February 2020. Abstract deadline, 6 December 2019.
This conference will focus on the cultural meanings and contexts of alcohol and drug use, both past and present. It aims to assess how cultural norms and stereotypes around alcohol and drug use shape policies, practices, treatment and users’ experiences and behaviour. In particular, it seeks to consider how and why those of certain ethnicity, race, religion, gender, sexuality and socio-economic background are deemed prone to excess while others are supposedly abstemious. Abstracts of no more than 250 words, along with a short speaker bio, should be submitted to the conference organiser, Dr Alice Mauger <alice.mauger@ucd.ie> by Friday, 6 December 2019. Panel submissions are also welcome.

CFP: Annual Council for Hospitality Management Education (CHME), 13-15 May 2020. Abstract deadline, 15 January 2020. Sheffield Hallam University will be hosting the 29th Annual Council for Hospitality Management Education (CHME) conference, which includes a Food, Drink and Society Track. Submitted full papers are due 15 January 2020, should be approximately 1500 words, and will be subject to double blind peer review. The call for submissions is here and further information is on the conference website. To contact the conference organizers, email: chmeconf2020@shu.ac.uk.

Advance notice: DSN@10 Conference – save the date – 14-15 November 2020, College Court, University of Leicester
The Drinking Studies Network will host their conference, 14-15 November 2020.

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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 2020. Please send content (updates up to 200 words; and relevant calls for papers/conference/event announcements) to j.smith1@shu.ac.uk by Monday 6 January (slightly late publishing date due to the holiday season!).

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