On Wednesday 8th March our Sheffield Hallam Appetite REsearch (SHARe) sub-cluster met for a ‘Complete and Finish’ event here at SHU. Attendees included SHARe co-leads Jenny Paxman and Dr Jordan Beaumont and other SHARe founders and steering group members: Dr Caroline Dalton, Dr Rachel Marsden, Dr Steve Brown. We also welcomed Food and Nutrition GTA Megan Flint, Food and Nutrition Lecturer Dr Richard Gillis and Elizabeth Goodwin from Leeds Trinity University. We were brilliantly supported for this event by Food and Nutrition Student Champion Millie-Ann Hall.
SHARe is a sub-cluster of engaged academics, PGRs and associates who have a keen interest in eating behaviours, the hedonics of food and feeding, obesity and weight management or sensory analysis. This is by no means an exhaustive list – we are a really inclusive group welcoming anyone with shared research passions or something to offer in any field affiliated to appetite. SHARe sits within the CHEFS research cluster (along with sister sub-clusters SWEFS (Surplus Waste and Excess Food in Society) and CHEFS (Culture, Health, Environment, Food and Society)). You can find out more or sign-up to SHARe, and CHEFS here.
The purpose of the event was to Shape, Sharpen and SHARe (get it?) our appetite-related research ideas. Getting to know others who are active in our field is a brilliant way to progress any project. For SHARe, this event helped us to identify:
the overarching state of current projects;
our own nature, both as individuals and as researchers.
SHAPE:
Research idea generation; Project design; Funding ideas; Target journal suggestions; CPD and support needs SHARPEN:
Poster design/content; Abstract drafts; Conference presentations; Planned publications; Pilot questionnaires;
Recruitment material; Interview schedules SHARE: Research ideas; Collaborations; Potential examiners; Potential reviewers; Copies of work; Present
In the room there were varying degrees of familiarity. Some had long-standing working relationships or had previously collaborated; others were meeting for the first time. We all learnt something new about each other and our areas of interest and expertise.
As a group we cover all bases:
However, in terms of our research projects, individual’s projects may be at different stages but we are each most in need of shaping support.
Drilling down what this meant to attendees, it meant:
getting projects up and running;
finding and connecting with collaborators;
looking for concept or pilot project ‘adopters’;
seeking out funding opportunities;
getting back on the research horse.
We left feeling enthused and perhaps even a little clearer about next steps. Some left with new connections, plans to meet, show-rounds to schedule and even specific projects to reignite! Exciting times for SHARe.
Of course, it doesn’t end there. As a sub-cluster we benefit from monthly CHEFS newsletters (‘What’s Cooking?’) with the associated opportunities to write and publish blog-pieces, search out conferences, explore calls for abstracts, find funding opportunities and to come together as researchers to enjoy the regular CHEFS talks. SHARe will be hosting a CHEFS Talk on Tuesday 13th June 2023 15:00-16:30 with talks from Dr Miriam Clegg (University of Reading) and Dr Jordan Beaumont (Sheffield Hallam University). Sign up here. We can’t wait to see you there!
If you aren’t already a member you can join SHARe by clicking bit.ly/SHAReCluster
Many thanks to all who could join us on 14 March 2023, for the English and Welsh Wine Symposium, hosted by the CHEFS research cluster and the Department of Service Sector Management, Sheffield Business School.
The half day event explored the current context and future directions of the English and Welsh wine industry, with keynotes, a tutored tasting of English and Welsh wines, and a panel discussion featuring a cross-section of industry perspectives. Co-organisers Professor Jennifer Smith Maguire and Dr John Dunning welcomed over 50 academics and industry professionals, including wine makers, winery owners, wine retailers and wine writers, and hospitality and retail professionals.
The afternoon’s first keynote was delivered by Mr Simon Thorpe: ‘WineGB and its role supporting an emerging wine region.’ Simon is a Master of Wine, past trustee of the WSET, and current CEO of WineGB, the industry body for the wine production sector in Great Britain. Simon’s presentation provided a ‘state of the nation’ overview of wine production in the UK, and reviewed the challenges and opportunities for supporting an industry in its journey to maturity. Simon effusively captured the optimism of the event: “We are brilliantly set up: brilliant product, enormous market, brilliant consumers. We are amazingly well set up to be successful.”
Professor Steve Charters delivered the second keynote: ‘PDOs and Terroir: The Complexities of Wine and Place.‘ A Master of Wine, Steve is Professor of Marketing at Burgundy School of Wine and Spirits Business, and Adjunct Professor at Adelaide Business School. Steve’s talk explored the historical roots of PDOs (Protected Designations of Origin), which were a matter more of struggles between grape growers and wine merchants and the pursuit of economic power, than mystical notions of soil and place. Steve also shared preliminary findings from the UK portion of a transnational study of consumer perceptions of terroir, underlining that the sort of PDO that might best serve English and Welsh wine producers was far from straightforward.
Following lively question and answer sessions for each keynote, and a brief coffee break, the event resumed with a tutored tasting of a selection of wines, generously selected and donated by WineGB. Led by Simon Thorpe, the tasting took participants through six wines showcasing the diversity of English and Welsh wine production:
Penn Croft Bacchus 2021
Yotes Court Loose Rein 2021
White Castle Siegerrebe 2021
Sharpham Dart Valley Reserve 2020
Halfpenny Green Chardonnay 2019
Thorrington Mill Pinot Noir Rosé 2021
We had fantastic engagement from participants in the discussion of the wines, which ranged from anecdotes about the challenges of growing different varieties, to the challenges of selling little known varieties (Bacchus, Siergerrebe, Madeleine Angevine) to consumers, to the question of whether colour should matter when it comes to rosé.
The final major portion of the Symposium was devoted to a panel discussion, chaired by Dr Greg Dunn, head of the wine division at Plumpton College. Panellists drew on their varied industry perspectives to reflect on the challenges and opportunities for the future of English and Welsh wine. Mr Will Harper (a Sheffield Hallam alum!) drew on his experience in the hospitality industry and role as General Manager at Ivy Asia to offer excellent insights as to where small scale wines are best served (and not best served) in the spectrum of restaurant businesses. Mr Barry Starmore reflected on how much had changed over his long involvement in wine retail in terms of consumer interests and tastes, and highlighted the unique capacity of independent retailers to hand sell small scale wines and tell their stories. Finally, Mr Kieron Atkinson drew on his wide and varied experience as a winemaker at Renishaw Hall and Darley Abbey, alongside several other wine industry roles, to reflect on the challenges of creating financially sustainable wineries that take best advantage of their place.
The Symposium concluded with a networking event, the centrepiece of which was a selection of English sparkling wines donated by WineGB. Guests were treated to:
Dunesforde Queen of the North
Raimes Blanc de Noirs
Harrow & Hope Brut Rosé
Giffords Hall Classic Cuvée
Smith & Evans
Breaky Bottom Grace Nicols
Judging by the volume of conversations in the room, there was plenty of appetite for further discussion and agreement that the future of English and Welsh wines looks bright indeed.
Thanks in particular to the Department of Service Sector Management, Sheffield Business School, and to Mrs Julia Trustram Eve and WineGB, for the fantastic support that made the event possible.
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?
Mark your calendars for the following upcoming CHEFS events:
8 March, 1-3pm, on campus: Sheffield Hallam Appetite Research (SHARe) cluster – Complete and Finish Event. Sign up via:https://bit.ly/sharecomplete23
9 March, 4-5.30pm, on Zoom: CHEFS online research talk on ‘Food, Wine and Discourse’ featuring paired papers from Meg Maker (on the potential for a more inclusive wine lexicon) and Joanne Hollows (archival media research on WWII cookery columns). Details including titles, abstracts and joining link here, or email Jen (smith1@shu.ac.uk) for an Outlook invite. (Rescheduled from 9 February.)
25 April, 10-1pm, on campus: the Surplus Waste and Excess Food in Society (SWEFS) cluster is hosting an Introductory Workshop and Networking Event, to draw attention to the latest research on food waste at Sheffield Hallam University, and to identify potential areas for further research. The workshop is open to anyone at SHU who either is currently researching on any project related to food waste or is interested in this Global Challenge our society is facing. More details below; full details and registration here.
Check out the latest instalment in Gareth Robert’s PhD blog, which shares updates on his journey as he gets stuck in to the deliberative democracy field, gets to grips with RefWorks, and wrestles with the assignment for the Critical Thinking module.
Below, we have:
updates on recent CHEFS members’ activities (including an introduction to our latest food-focused GTA in Sheffield Business School; research on plant-based foods, and on weight management; a PhD journey milestone; a wine-themed event; details of the first SWEFS workshop);
resources/calls for papers/conference announcements (a call for involvement in one of five working groups that ShefFood is organising);
the usual call for contributions and content for the May 2023 edition of What’s Cooking.
Cheers,
Jen
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Recent CHEFS Activities
CHEFS is delighted to welcome a new, food-focused GTAs to Sheffield Business School! Samantha McCormick is working with supervisors Jennifer Smith Maguire and Lucie Nield on the project ‘Responsible Food Production and Consumption: A Community Co-Production Approach’. Sam is hoping to address Sustainable Development Goal 12 by aiming to encourage people in Sheffield to eat a more sustainable, nutritious diet. Sam graduated from BSc (Hons) Nutrition, Diet and Lifestyle at Sheffield Hallam in 2021, and has worked as a Research Assistant with Jen since December 2020. Sam is thrilled to be continuing her studies within the Food and Nutrition subject group at SHU. Since finishing her undergraduate studies, Sam has been working as a Patient Coach on the AWARE-IBD project with the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Team at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals leading on service improvements within the IBD service facilitated by training with the Sheffield Microsystem Coaching Academy. As part of this role, Sam has appeared on BBC Look North, BBC Radio Sheffield and the Sheffield Star describing her story and raising awareness of AWARE-IBD to encourage patients to get involved with the patient-led project. Outside of work and studies, Sam is part of Son de America, a traditional Latin-American dance group, and passionate about Mexican food and culture. Sam also has enjoys learning new languages and speaks Spanish.
Megan Flint is nearing the end of Phase 1 of her PhD, exploring consumer perceptions of plant-based meat alternatives. Megan and the team are on the final push to complete their survey (currently close to 400 participants!). If you could spare a few minutes, please do complete the survey! Megan has also gained ethical approval for a nutrient analysis of plant-based products vs. meat alternatives; this will inform Phase 3 of her PhD, which involves a feeding trial to compare satiating properties of plant- vs. meat-based products.
Jordan Beaumont recently delivered a presentation about his PhD research to the Nutritional Epidemiology Group at the University of Leeds, and will be presenting in April at the British Drinking and Feeding Group meeting on the perceptions of non-invasive brain stimulation as modalities for weight management. Jordan and Lucie Nield are about halfway through data collection for their tier 2 weight management evaluation project, and plan to present findings at the European Congress on Obesity in May.
Ufuoma Arangebi passed her confirmation of doctorate milestone (RF2) with no amendments. Congratulations! Ufuoma’s research, ‘Intergenerational Cross-Cultural Attitudes Towards Household Food Waste’ is supported by supervisors Dianne Dean and Pallavi Singh.
John Dunning has been busy putting the final touches on the CHEFS English and Welsh Wine Symposium, which will take place on 14 March. Organised by John and Jennifer Smith Maguire, the half-day event will welcome over 50 academic and practitioner participants to Sheffield Business School. The event will explore the current context and future directions of the English and Welsh wine industry via: two keynotes, from Simon Thorpe MW, CEO of WineGB, and Professor Steve Charters MW, a tutored tasting of English and Welsh wines, and a panel discussion featuring a cross-section of industry perspectives. The event has been made possible through support from the Department of Service Sector Management, and WineGB.
Jennifer Smith Maguire and co-authors Richard Ocejo and Michaela DeSoucey have recently had their article, Mobile Trust Regimes: Modes of Attachment in an Age of Banal Omnivorousness, nominated for the American Sociological Association’s Consumers and Consumption Section Distinguished Scholarly Publication Award, and the Association of the Study of Food and Society Belasco Prize for Scholarly Excellence. The article explores food malls and natural wine as two examples of the ways in which artisanal food/drink forms circulate through global channels while retaining auras of authentic embeddedness and local specificity. Jen gave a talk about the research at Birmingham Business School in February. Jen has also recently joined the Honorary Advisory Board for the Stockholm Gastronomy Conference, which will take place in November 2023 as part of Stockholm’s program of events as the 2023 European Capital of Gastronomy. The overall theme of the conference is ‘Gastronomy Research and Policy: The State of the Art in Europe.’ The conference is organized by The Swedish Academy of Culinary Art and Meal Science, The Swedish Academy of Gastronomy, and The Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture, and is supported by the International and European Academies of Gastronomy, The Academie International de la Gastronomie (AIG), and European Community of New Gastronomy (ECNG).
SWEFS (Surplus Waste and Excess Food in Society), a research subcluster of CHEFS, focusses research on drivers and potential interventions to address food waste. This can include attitudes towards food waste, behavioural change, cost and management of food waste and social, political, and economic impacts of overconsumption and food waste. We are organising a series of workshops to bring academics, practitioners and other stakeholders together to facilitate discussion and promote academic and impact-oriented research on the SWEFS aim and offer solutions to a major Global Challenge. SWEFS invites you to the first SWEFS Workshop to draw attention to the latest research on Food Waste in Sheffield Hallam University and identify potential areas for further research. Building upon our network we seek to work with people to extend the scope of research into food waste. This workshop is open to anyone at SHU who either is currently researching on any project related to food waste or is interested in this Global Challenge our society is facing.
Introductory workshop and networking event
25 April 2023, 10-1
Hallam View, Owen Building, Sheffield Hallam University, City Campus
10.30am – Presentations on recent work on Food waste in Sheffield Hallam University
11.30am – Coffee Break for 15 Min
11.45am – Brainstorming and Identifying key themes to develop research groups
12.30pm – Lunch and networking
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Resources/call for papers/conference announcements
ShefFood, the food partnership for Sheffield, has launched a brand-new food charter for Sheffield as part of their Bronze to Silver Award bid for Sustainable food places. Over the next couple of months, ShefFood is bringing together food-based organisations from across Sheffield in five working groups to write a multi-stakeholder Action Plan for the city. The working groups (Food Ladders; Compost and Growing; Food Health and Obesity; Good Food Economy and Procurement; Good Food Movement—open meetings) have a series of workshops scheduled over January-March. Next up: Good Food Economy and Procurement workshop, 8 March; Food Ladders workshop, 13 March; Compose and Growing workshop, 23 March; Good Food Movement open workshop, 20 April. Full dates, locations, and details on how to get involved are available here; to confirm your place at any of the meetings, or for more information, please email <info@sheffood.org.uk>.
Women and Alcohol Conference Workshop: Drinking studies. Crossing Boundaries, 25/26 July 2023. Call for Papers. Deadline: 30 March.
The Women and Alcohol Cluster of the Drinking Studies Network are excited to announce that the women and alcohol project team are holding a conference workshop on women and alcohol as part of the ‘Between the drunken ‘mother of destruction’ and the sober ‘angel of the house’. Hidden representations of women’s drinking in Polish and British public discourses in the second half of the 19th century’ project’. The conference workshop will be designed to encourage conversations across a range of academic and cultural boundaries (eg. geographical, disciplinary, linguistic, chronological, etc) and will provide excellent international networking opportunities. This conference workshop will take place at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw on 25th and 26th July 2023. There will also be the opportunity to attend a special workshop by historian and psychiatrist, Dr Iain Smith, on finding and using medical sources on theafternoon of 24th July 2023. Some sessions will also involve walking tours and museum visits (e.g., Warsaw has two museums dedicated to vodka). Any proposals for round-table discussion themes, hands on mini-workshops, 7-minute stimulus talks, and any interactive approaches are very welcome, please also let us know ideas for any sessions you would like to deliver. At this stage, we would like expressions of interest to get an idea of who would like to attend and the range of research interests which people may bring. For more information and to express interest in attending please e-mail Dorota Dias-Lewandowska and Pam Lock on dsnwomencluster@gmail.com by Friday 30 March 2023. We hope to see many of you there for this fabulous event!
Gender, social class and contemporary (non)drinking practices in Australia- Online Seminar (28 March 2023).
The Sobriety, Abstinence and Moderation Cluster and Women and Alcohol Cluster invite you to join us for an online seminar exploring themes of gender, social class and contemporary (non)drinking practices with a particular focus on the Australian context. This seminar will take place on Tuesday 28th March from 7-8pm Eastern Australian Time / 9-10am British Summer Time. Please contact emily.nicholls@york.ac.uk if you have any queries. You can attend this seminar using the Zoom link here (Meeting ID: 987 2886 4478, Passcode: 092281).
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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 2023. Please send content (research updates, calls for expression of interest, relevant calls for papers/conference/event announcements) to j.smith1@shu.ac.uk by 28 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.
Hello and welcome! It’s 2023! It’s good to be back!
Within a few hours of hitting the ‘publish’ button on the quick ‘I’m on Twitter’ post I did on Dec 14th 2022 I was shivering under a blanket on the sofa feeling very, very sorry for myself. Little did I know then that I was coming down with the flu – yes, proper flu 🙁 In typical rollercoaster fashion this would take me a full month to properly recover. In fact we all got at Chez Roberts, but thankfully those who’d had their jabs were not quite so ill as I was. Annoyingly, for some reason that still escapes me, 2022 was the first winter in years I’d not popped to Boots to get myself jabbed. Mercifully we live and learn.
Whilst being ill and convalescing I got a fair amount of reading done, which was both satisfying and enjoyable. In that time I also feel like I got to grips with RefWorks too, which I’m told by others more experienced than I, is an essential tool in the PhD kit. Yay, good for me!
Feeling much better, today I resolved to not work from home, but instead get on my bike, on to campus, and behind a desk in the Charles Street building. Room 12.1.16 is rapidly becoming one of my fav places to work. It’s quiet, but not silent – the big windows overlook Arundal Gate, so there is a constant buzz of people, traffic and weather which I find rather pleasant. The chairs are proper office chairs, the desks are clean and clear, the computer works (mostly), it’s warm and distraction free – basically everything I don’t have when working from home. Nice! So, aside from a bit of catching up on unread emails, most of the day (11AM – 6PM) was at my disposal.
My focus has been getting to grips with my first assessment, deadline 20th February. The task, part of the Critical Thinking in Business Administration module I studied in October 2022, is a 5000-7000 assignment with the title:
“Philosophical underpinnings for business and management research will depend on the topic chosen”. Discuss this proposition in relation to your own research aims and objectives
The assessment criteria includes showing awareness of philosophical positions, understanding of epistemological and ontological issues, alternative ways of engaging with your research topic and making epistemological/ontological choices and much more… Suffice to say, right now, I’m feeling overwhelmed and intimidated. It has been a lllloooonnnggg time since I last wrote a structured essay of this length, and (frankly) I’ve not left myself a huge amount of time to get it done. Hey ho.
Today I’ve mostly been mining a fantastic online journal I discovered recently called the Journal of Deliberative Democracy – focusing on articles which explore the epistemology of democracy. It was a ‘postmodernism’ keyword search which returned what I think were the richest results. Interestingly, during the module we did the HARP Heightening your Awareness of your Research Philosophy reflexive tool designed by Bristow and Saunders, and postmodernism was at the top.
Also as an undergraduate, my by far favourite module was a 3rd year ‘Theories of Postmodernism’ romp through cities, culture, architecture and music. Mmmm, maybe postmodernism is something I will explore in more detail for the assignment….
Rightio – got to go. It’s time for tea back at the ranch. Sausages, potato wedges and baked beans coming right up. Bye for now!
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?
First and foremost, happy new year! It seems an opportune moment to re-introduce the cluster, which spans three broad areas:
Culture, Health, Environment, Food and Society (CHEFS) focuses on the socio-cultural dimensions of food and drink markets and consumption, and is led by Jennifer Smith Maguire;
Surplus Waste and Excess Food in Society (SWEFS) focuses on drivers and potential interventions to address food waste, and is led by Pallavi Singh;
Sheffield Hallam Appetite Research (SHARe) focuses on appetite regulation and eating behaviour, and is co-led by Jenny Paxmanand Jordan Beaumont.
Please get in touch if you’d like to get involved, and email Jen (j.smith1@shu.ac.uk) if you’d like details added (or refreshed) on our Members Page.
Research England have recently launched round 2 of the Expanding Excellence in England (E3) fund. The E3 fund is focused on the strategic and sustainable expansion of small, excellent research units that push the frontiers of human knowledge and deliver transformative impacts and enhancing, and enhance the skills base and diversify talent in any given disciplines. E3 funds are thus typically directed at staff recruitment (staff contracts and developing a talent pipeline), activities related to conducting research and creating a conducive research environment, and capital investment. We’d like to explore a potential CHEFS/SWEFS/SHARe bid, with our truly inter-disciplinary focus on food and society as the USP. The internal SHU deadline for expressions of interest is 20 January. If you’d like to be involved in this discussion, please let Jen know by Monday 9 January (j.smith1@shu.ac.uk) so that you are included in the planning meeting (date/time TBC).
Mark your calendars for the following upcoming CHEFS events:
26 January, 5.30-8pm, on campus: Barbara Bray MBE will deliver a BTE Talk (for the College of Business, Technology and Engineering) on ‘Consolidating the population, planet and people: Food industry solutions.’ Registration and details here.
9 February, 4-5.30pm, on Zoom: CHEFS online research talk on ‘Food, Wine and Discourse’ featuring paired papers from Meg Maker (on the potential for a more inclusive wine lexicon) and Joanne Hollows (archival media research on WWII cookery columns). Titles and abstracts to come; for now, you can find details and joining link here, or email me (smith1@shu.ac.uk) for an Outlook invite.
8 March, 1-3pm, on campus: SHARe is hosting a ‘Complete and Finish’ writing event. Email event organizer Jenny Paxman if you have questions/would like to receive an Outlook invite.
14 March, 1.15-5.30pm, on campus (followed by refreshments and networking, 5.30-6.30): CHEFS is hosting theEnglish and Welsh Wine Symposium, a half-day event that explores the current context and future directions of the English and Welsh wine industry, with keynotes from Simon Thorpe MW, CEO of WineGB, and Professor Steve Charters MW, as well as a tutored tasting of English and Welsh wines, and a panel discussion featuring a cross-section of industry perspectives. More information and the Eventbrite registration link available here. Any questions, please email event lead organiser, John Dunning (dunning@shu.ac.uk).
Below, we have:
updates on recent CHEFS members’ activities (a recap of 2022 activities; a novel online wine tasting; a new publication on wine value claims);
resources/calls for papers/conference announcements (including a call for involvement in one of five working groups that ShefFood is organising, as part of their Bronze to Silver Award bid for Sustainable food places);
the usual call for contributions and content for the March 2023 edition of What’s Cooking.
Cheers,
Jen
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Recent CHEFS Activities
A quick recap of our 2022 CHEFS activities, which included:
11 online research presentations, on craft, authenticity, beer, pubs, children, food, storytelling…and more! (recordings available here, including our final session of 2022 featuring Maria Touri’s research on digital storytelling and bridging the food producer/consumer gap);
5 research roundtables;
4 new GTA/PhD students: Megan, Ufuoma, Nikita, and Gareth (intros to their research here and here);
a new, recurring PhD blog from Gareth Roberts, as he develops his PhD on food events, and sustainability.
John Dunning and David Graham hosted a novel wine tasting in November, with Nanette López and Zoe Santiago-Font of UAGM (Universidad Ana G. Méndez) and students in Puerto Rico. This was a live, simultaneous tutored wine tasting of 6 wines, with the same wines sourced both in Puerto Rico and in Sheffield. They are gearing up for future tastings—rum, perhaps!
A new publication from Jennifer Smith Maguire and Nikita-Marie Bridgeman, with co-authors Sharron Marco-Thyse (Centre for Rural Legal Studies, South Africa) and Charles Erasmus (Wine Industry Value Chain Round Table, South Africa): Wine farmworkers, provenance stories and ethical value claims, in the Journal of Wine Research, extends past research on ethical value claims in two ways. First, research often centres on certifications as mechanisms of ethical claims-making; in contrast, we focus on provenance stories as devices of wine brand differentiation and ethical value creation. Second, while value claims are broadly understood as co-creative outcomes involving producers, intermediaries, and consumers, we focus on manual farmworkers, who are largely absent, as story subjects and storytellers, in agri-food provenance stories and value claims. Focusing on the South African wine industry, the article analyses a comparative sample of South African, French, Italian and Australian winery websites, identifying provenance as the dominant frame for ethical value claims, family as a primary anchor for provenance, and South Africa’s distinctive prevalence of representations of farmworkers in winery communications. The article then reports on data from two ‘storytelling workshops’ with Cape Wineland farmworkers, which generated resonant themes – community and familiness; expertise and pride – that align with extant winery brand stories, and dominant market expectations and credence cues, suggesting potential for farmworkers to contribute to and be more securely included and recognized within premium wine value chains.
Finally: CHEFS is delighted to welcome Samantha McCormick, our latest food-focused GTA to Sheffield Business School! Sam is a SHU grad (BSc Hons Nutrition, Diet & Lifestyle) and will be starting her PhD journey in February; watch this space for an introduction in the next edition of What’s Cooking.
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Resources/call for papers/conference announcements
ShefFood, the food partnership for Sheffield, has launched a brand-new food charter for Sheffield as part of their Bronze to Silver Award bid for Sustainable food places. Over the next couple of months, ShefFood is bringing together food-based organisations from across Sheffield in five working groups to write a multi-stakeholder Action Plan for the city. The working groups (Food Ladders; Compost and Growing; Food Health and Obesity; Good Food Economy and Procurement; Good Food Movement—open meetings) have a series of workshops scheduled over January-March. Dates, locations, and details on how to get involved are available here; to confirm your place at any of the meetings, or for more information, please email <info@sheffood.org.uk>.
Call for papers: Third International Conference on Food and Communication. Deadline 15 February.
The third conference on Food and Communication will be held in Örebro, Sweden, 13 – 15th September 2023, with the theme “Communication ‘good’ foods.” By studying topics at the intersection of communication and food, the conference welcomes scientific contributions covering all geographic areas, historical periods, and methods, including, but not limited to food and: health; sustainability; ethics; science; branding/marketing; media; advice and cookbooks; governmental discourse; corporate discourse; professional communication (chefs, restaurants); politics; religion. Full information and abstract submission point available 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 March 2023. Please send content (research updates, calls for expression of interest, relevant calls for papers/conference/event announcements) to j.smith1@shu.ac.uk by 27 February.
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.
I decided the title ‘Ketchup’ for my second blog post whilst lying in bed this morning, trying to eeek out the last bit of duvet warmth before stepping into the chill of our money-saving-less-than-usually-centrally-heated house. I’d already decided this post would be a catch-up post – bringing me, and you (the reader) up to date on the PhD journey thus far.
Unexpectedly my brain pinged up a scene from Pulp Fiction, where Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman) shares a joke with Vincent Vega (John Travolta). The joke is as follows: “One day there were three tomatoes walking down the street, a mama tomato, a daddy tomato and a baby tomato. Baby tomato is walking too slowly, so the daddy tomato goes back, steps on him and says ‘ketchup!’ ” The scene is better than the joke, so you can watch it here if you fancy. I’m going to attribute the brain ping (or is it brain fart nowadays? lol) to a weak triangulation of catching up, something food related, and something slightly left field to engage, and who knows, distract even… Perfect for a second blog post, I’m sure you’ll agree.
Finding the original email I received in April 2022 from the CHEFS email list took a bit of time, making me realise just how quickly and easily nuggets of digital gold are found, lost and found again. The moment I opened the email in April I know this was an opportunity I needed to act upon. It read:
Food events, ‘sustainability imaginaries’ and shaping consumer perceptions and behaviour
This project aims to improve the sustainability of regional food systems through the platform of food events (e.g. food festivals, farmers markets, agricultural shows), focusing on Yorkshire/Northern England. It explores the construction of food sustainability ‘imaginaries’ (Taylor 2004): normative conventions and expectations as to what constitutes sustainable food systems, and how people imagine everyday life (e.g., eating, purchasing, choosing, growing), and their roles, identities and relations to others in a sustainable food system. Building on previous examinations of food events as drivers of sustainability (Lin & Bestor 2020; Organ et al 2015; Star, Rolfe & Brown 2020; Williams et al 2015), the research will:
(1) generate a comprehensive account of how ‘food sustainability imaginaries’ are constructed through a food event’s experiential, material and communicative dimensions;
(2) devise and evaluate a food event-based intervention through which to enhance consumers’ practices and behaviours in relation to the environmental, socio-cultural and economic sustainability of food.
By May 2022 I had written a research proposal, secured two trusted academic peers (thank you Peter, thank you Jane) and got my application in by the deadline – phew! Receiving the interview invite was a GOOD THING, immediately followed by a visit to the pub to celebrate, and getting down to preparing my short presentation for the interview, which took place on 21st June 2022. The BIG NEWS of an unconditional offer arrived on 1st July, followed by another visit to the pub of course! Fast forward through the summer to October 2022 when ‘My PhD Journey’ embarked proper.
The full title of my post is ‘Graduate Teaching Assistant PhD Scholarship’, which I am undertaking on a part-time basis over 6-7 years. So, what does this mean? Broadly speaking it means I receive a scholarship payment to complete the PhD and to teach. The bureaucracy of enrolment was inevitable, but pretty painless – and various new PGR inductions into the Sheffield Hallam Doctoral School did exactly what they needed to do in terms of getting across all the key information in a timely manner. Thanks to the great support teams 🙂 whether it was filling in the correct forms, activating IT accounts, applying for SHU cards or getting access to the right rooms, everything that was needed has happened. I’ve also accessed a couple of really useful webinars delivered by the amazing Library Services.
In terms of teaching, the Doctoral School offered a ‘Teaching Skills for Doctoral Students’ course, for which I was eligible. However after speaking with the course leader and taking into consideration my previous teaching qualifications and 10 years + teaching experience (most of which has been here at SHU) I was able to decide that I didn’t need to attend the TSDS course. I felt well supported to make the right decision. Another positive in relation to teaching is that there is a block of time at the start and end of the PhD where I am not required to do any teaching. It’s not allowed in fact! This feature has created a very useful period of time for everything else to happen and to settle in, including speaking with my Subject Team Leader about what teaching I will be doing. More on teaching to come…
The first study block ‘Critical Thinking in Business Administration’ ran from 17th – 21st October covering a wide range of topics, including theories of truth and management research, ethics, ontology, epistemology, research philosophies and much more. The module was expertly co-delivered by Dr Richard Breese and Dr Fariba Darabi, with a great range of activities and guest lecturers, plus a welcome message by Professor Conor Moss, Dean of College Business, Technology and Engineering. The module assignment is a 5-7000 word essay due in February 2023, focusing on a critical exploration of the research aims and objectives I have developed. More on this assignment to come…
I reached a key milestone on 15th November with my first proper PhD supervision meeting with my Director of Studies Professor Jennifer Smith Maguire. The brief ahead of the session was to “revisit your proposal and try to pick out what’s likely to form part of your focus going forward”. This involved following up a couple of scribbled notes I made one afternoon during a group activity in the earlier study block. The keywords were ‘deliberative democracy’, and something about them resonated with me. So it was, towards the end of October, that I embarked on what I now see as my first proper rounds of structured literature searches and reading. At the supervision session I shared my thinking with Jen, and what emerged was a scribbled venn diagram, and the sentence ‘food events as spaces for deliberation in support of values based food systems’. More on how this develops to come…
A key challenge I’ve encountered has been finding the time I want to dedicate to my PhD studies. My aim currently is a day a week. I’ve managed this most weeks so far, but not all weeks, and each day I have found has been disrupted in various ways by my work, by family matters and life in general, but on a positive note this disruption is happening less each week, which is good I think. I’m learning that I actually prefer having a few things on the go at any one time, and that it’s more about finding the right balance, rather than aiming for exclusivity of my time and attention on just one thing. We’ll see how I get on with that!
Finally, a quick note to self – as well as keeping this blog, I have a pen and paper notebook especially for the PhD. Like a first day at a new school, it felt right, and I’m already glad I did it. A quick flick through the pages allows me to reflect on what has already happened, and where I might need to go next. Where is next? A supervision session with Jen next week to share my progress on identifying literature topics. More on the next supervision session goes to come…
…begins with one step. Or at least the saying goes.
My PhD journey at Sheffield Hallam University has officially begun, but to be fair it started ages ago, and will continue well after the ‘official’ end too – until death do us part right? 🙂
My intention is to share my PhD journey here on the CHEFS Blog, and avoid that horrid feeling (which I’ve encountered too many times before) of “why didn’t I start a writing blog at the beginning of this project”. Another intention is to be kind to myself on this journey, because whilst there is plenty I don’t know I don’t know, there is certainly one thing I do know I know – which is that is this journey will be long – like LLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNGGGGGGGG.
Gareth Roberts started his PhD at Sheffield Hallam University in October 2022, working on the topic ‘Food events, ‘sustainability imaginaries’ and shaping consumer perceptions and behaviour.’ Gareth will be blogging about the PhD journey–watch this space!
A bit about Gareth:
Gareth is no stranger to working at Sheffield Hallam University. Once upon a time, he pushed a tea trolley around the Stoddart building! Between 2002-04 he completed a Post Compulsory Education and Training PGCE and from 2005-15 he taught in the Events Management team. Gareth is passionate about cooperation, and has worked collaboratively with people from all walks of life for over 25 years. His various experiences as an arts administrator, event manager, lecturer and serial social entrepreneur bring useful skills and resilience to the Sheffield cooperative economy. Gareth is a founder member and co-director of Regather, and established ShefFood – Sheffield’s Food Partnership. Since 2015 he has led strategic developments around Community Economic Development and Sustainable Food Systems, enabling innovative economic and social change in Sheffield. His mission is a food system where money is retained in the local economy, land is more productive, food is better quality, health is improved, and people have involvement in changing the food system for the better.
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?
The next instalment of our online research talk series is on 9 November, when we’ll have paired papers on the theme of ‘Food, Economic Imaginaries, and Entrepreneurship.’ We’ll be joined by Dr Alessandro Gerosa (University of Birmingham), who will be talking about his research with Italian gourmet food truck operators, and by Dr Jasmina Božić (University of Zagreb), who will be talking about her research with Croatian micro entrepreneurs in organic fruit and vegetable production. 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!
Future talks:
7 December for a joint CHEFS talk/Department of Service Sector Management Distinguished Lecture from Dr Maria Touri (University of Leicester) on her collaborative research with farmers in South India and consumer in the UK, using a storytelling experiment to bring farmers’ voices into the food supply chain. Details and joining link here.
26 January for Barbara Bray MBE, who will deliver a BTE Talk (for the College of Business, Technology and Engineering) on ‘Consolidating the population, planet and people: Food industry solutions.’Registration and details here.
Our 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:
Thursday 17 November, 4-5pm
Wednesday 14 December, 4-5pm
Research roundtable 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.
Below, we have:
updates on recent CHEFS members’ activities (cuisine, wine, and alcohol licensing research activities, plus introductions from two CHEFS-linked GTA PhD students);
resources/calls for papers/conference announcements (upcoming Sheffield event re. food and social enterprises; CFP on food and communication);
the usual call for contributions and content for the January 2023 edition of What’s Cooking.
John Dunning has been invited to serve as Academic Board Member for HRC Culinary Academy, Sofia, Bulgaria. This role will allow him to engage with employers in Bulgaria, who are also represented on the Board. John has also recently developed a Wine Tourism, Destination Marketing Management HSE student project that focuses on the Yorkshire Wine Trail (YWT), which will be advertised to students in the Department of Service Sector Management. The HSE project is part of a wider CHEFS focus on regional wine, wineries and wine tourism, which we’ll be showcasing in the spring with an academic/practitioner event focused on English and Welsh wine—a Covid-delayed follow-up to the CHEFS Sparkling Symposium. Watch this space for more details!
Jennifer Smith Maguire, Richard Ocejo (City University of New York), and Michaela DeSoucey (North Caroline State University) have recently published ‘Mobile trust regimes: Modes of attachment in an age of banal omnivorousness’ in the Journal of Consumer Culture. Abstract: The 21st century rise of culturally omnivorous tastes and classifications proffers a new dilemma for how markets create attachments and achieve trust for global consumers. Consumer entities must be both globally circulatable and offer a sense of localized authenticity without compromising either. Drawing from research on market trust and attachment, this article introduces the concept of mobile trust regimes to account for how sets of actors and repertoires attempt to address this tension. Through two case studies from gastronomic industries—food halls and natural wine—we investigate the devices of mobility used to facilitate the global circulation of the local. These include standardized aesthetic and affective templates communicated through physical décor, recurrent narratives, and social media curation. We argue that the concept of mobile trust regimes helps clarify two key issues in contemporary consumer culture: tensions between homogenization and heterogenization and how the symbolic value of omnivorous tastes becomes institutionalized and even banal. The article is open access!
John and Jen are delighted to be working again with Samantha McCormick. Sam is a SHU grad (BSc Hons Nutrition, Diet & Lifestyle) and is working as a research assistant on a Department of Service Sector Management funded project on wine gifting, which has involved interviews with British and Chinese consumers. Sam will be transcribing and coding transcripts. The research builds on an earlier study by John and Jen focused on Chinese expat consumers’ wine gifting attitudes and behaviours, which will appear in the edited Routledge collection Wine and the Gift (editor, Peter Howland).
Jennifer Smith Maguire and Nikita Bridgeman, and co-authors Sharron Marco-Thyse (Centre for Rural Legal Studies, South Africa) and Charles Erasmus (Wine Industry Value Chain Round Table, South Africa) have recently had their article accepted at the Journal of Wine Research. The article, ‘Wine farmworkers, provenance stories and ethical value claims’ reports on a pilot study utilizing storytelling workshops with South African wine farm manual workers, and work carried out as part of Nikita’s dissertation for her MSc in Food Consumer Marketing and Product Development (Sheffield Business School). (More on Nikita, below!). Jen has just submitted a BA/Leverhulme small research grant bid to scale up the project. You can read more about the research in the pilot study findings report and this recent CHEFS blog about the impact portion of the research.
Finally: CHEFS is delighted to welcome two food-focused GTAs to Sheffield Business School!
Nikita Bridgeman is working with supervisors Pallavi Singh and Dianne Dean, on the project, ‘Intergenerational Attitudes Towards Food from a Cross Cultural Perspective.’ It is hoped that the research can contribute to developing culturally appropriate suggestions (which are at present limited) regarding the reduction of food waste, in support of national sustainability objectives. As a previous MSc Food Consumer Marketing and Product Development student at Sheffield Hallam, Nikita is excited to continue her education here at SHU and look forward to getting involved with all the different opportunities the university has to offer. Over the last 9 months, she has been an Associate Lecturer at SHU within the Food and Nutrition, Marketing, and Business Operations and Systems subject groups, and is thrilled to be able to continue teaching alongside studying for her PhD. Outside of work/study, she is a “complete foodie” and explores her passion through food blogging, which has been great fun and provided her with further insights into both the food and marketing industries. She hopes one day to use these experiences to conduct research into the promotion of food in social media/influencer culture. Nikita says: “I’m very excited to be a part of CHEFS and looking forward to seeing where my research takes me!” We’re excited too!
Gareth Roberts is working with supervisors Jennifer Smith Maguire, Mark Norman and Caroline Westwood, on the project, ‘Food events, ‘sustainability imaginaries’ and shaping consumer perceptions and behaviour.’ Gareth is no stranger to working at Sheffield Hallam University. Once upon a time, he pushed a tea trolley around the Stoddart building! Between 2002-04 he completed a Post Compulsory Education and Training PGCE and from 2005-15 he taught in the Events Management team. Gareth is passionate about cooperation, and has worked collaboratively with people from all walks of life for over 25 years. His various experiences as an arts administrator, event manager, lecturer and serial social entrepreneur bring useful skills and resilience to the Sheffield cooperative economy. Gareth is a founder member and co-director of Regather, and established ShefFood – Sheffield’s Food Partnership. Since 2015 he has led strategic developments around Community Economic Development and Sustainable Food Systems, enabling innovative economic and social change in Sheffield. His mission is a food system where money is retained in the local economy, land is more productive, food is better quality, health is improved, and people have involvement in changing the food system for the better.
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Resources/call for papers/conference announcements
A Sustainable Future: Sheffield’s Social Enterprise Exchange Conference, 2022.
In-person event to mark International Social Enterprise Day, offering the chance to connect with others and explore what a sustainable future looks like for you and/or your organisation. The day will include panel discussion, in-depth workshops, lunch and plenty of opportunities for networking. The conference is free and open to anyone working with, in or interested in the social enterprise sector. Information and registration link available here.
Call for papers: Third International Conference on Food and Communication. Deadline 15 February.
The third conference on Food and Communication will be held in Örebro, Sweden, 13 – 15th September 2023, with the theme “Communication ‘good’ foods.” By studying topics at the intersection of communication and food, the conference welcomes scientific contributions covering all geographic areas, historical periods, and methods, including, but not limited to food and: health; sustainability; ethics; science; branding/marketing; media; advice and cookbooks; governmental discourse; corporate discourse; professional communication (chefs, restaurants); politics; religion. Full information and abstract submission point available 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 January 2023. Please send content (research updates, calls for expression of interest, relevant calls for papers/conference/event announcements) to j.smith1@shu.ac.uk by 4 January.
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.
On Wednesday 8th March our Sheffield Hallam Appetite REsearch (SHARe) sub-cluster met for a ‘Complete and Finish’ event here at SHU. Attendees included SHARe co-leads Jenny Paxman and Dr Jordan Beaumont and other SHARe founders and steering group members: Dr Caroline Dalton, Dr Rachel Marsden, Dr Steve Brown. We also welcomed Food and Nutrition GTA Megan Flint, Food and Nutrition Lecturer Dr Richard Gillis and Elizabeth Goodwin from Leeds Trinity University. We were brilliantly supported for this event by Food and Nutrition Student Champion Millie-Ann Hall.
