{"id":706,"date":"2022-02-04T14:56:57","date_gmt":"2022-02-04T14:56:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/chefscluster\/?page_id=706"},"modified":"2023-06-13T20:24:00","modified_gmt":"2023-06-13T20:24:00","slug":"past-talks","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/chefscluster\/past-talks\/","title":{"rendered":"Past Online Research Talks"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>CHEFS is delighted to host a series of online research talks<\/a>, covering the varied terrain of the socio-cultural dimensions of food and drink. Thanks to Zoom, we are able to virtually bring in speakers from around the world to share their research. When possible, recordings will be available after the live event. All welcome: local and global, students and staff, practitioners and public. Please feel free to share with your networks.<\/p>\n

PAST TALKS 2022-23:<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

Date: Tuesday 13 June 2023 Recording available here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

SHARe-CHEFS PAIRED PAPERS SESSION: Exploring Human Appetite and Eating Behaviour<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Dietary strategies for improving healthy life expectancy – the role of appetite research<\/strong><\/span>
\n<\/em>Presenter:\u00a0<\/strong>Dr Miriam Clegg<\/a>, University of Reading
\nAbstract: <\/strong>Increased feelings of hunger and lack of satiety is linked to reduced adherence to weight loss interventions and difficulties in weight loss maintenance. With 63.8% of the population overweight or obese in England, appetite research has been suggested as a useful tool to reduce calorie intake. On the opposite side of the appetite narrative, a large section of the population are at risk of malnutrition, with or without obesity. UK life expectancy has increased through the 20th and 21st Centuries, yet there is little evidence that these gains in life expectancy are always translated to increased years living in good health for older adults, when compared to previous generations. A nutritious diet is recognised as essential for healthy aging, well-being, reducing the risk of chronic diseases and the rate of functional decline, and changes to lifestyle (i.e. diet, nutrition and physical activity) can maintain or improve body composition, cognitive and mental health, immune function and vascular health in older adults. Research often cites that 1\/10 adults aged 65+ is malnourished or at risk of malnutrition based on 2015 statistics, however recent research from Age UK highlights that this may be even higher since the pandemic (2). Contrary to common belief, nutritional needs only decrease marginally with age, and are sometimes higher than the needs of younger individuals. Protein is a good example. The European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN) and the PROT-AGE Study Group have advised that a healthy older adult\u2019s recommended daily protein intake should be increased to 1-1.2g\/kg to maintain functionality, independence and fight infection. Protein is also known to be the most satiating macronutrient, and strategies to improve protein intake in older adults need to ascertain if increases in protein intake are like to impact overall food intake. Recent research from our group has used strategies to increase protein intake in older adults, focusing on foods that are liked and consumed by older adults (3). In the future, designing and producing a food environment that meets the diverse needs of older adults should work with them in the creation of bespoke, equitable interventions (4).
\nReferences: [1] Yakubu AH, Platts K, Sorsby A et al. (2023) J Funct Foods 102, 105471; [2] Age UK (2012) Understanding Society: COVID-19 Study; [3] Smith R., Clegg M & Methven L. (2022) Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr DOI: https:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.1080\/10408398.2022.2137777 <\/a>\u00a0; [4] Clegg M, Methven L, Lanham-New S et al . (2023) Nutr Bull. 48, 124-133.<\/p>\n

Modulating eating behaviour with transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)<\/em><\/span><\/strong>
\nPresenter: <\/strong>Dr Jordan D Beaumont<\/a>, Sheffield Hallam University
\nAbstract:<\/strong> Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), a form of non-invasive brain stimulation involving the application of a constant and weak electrical current to the brain, is a popular technique for changing cortical activity and downstream behaviour (1). There has been particular interest in the use of this technique in weight management, with an emphasis on changing eating behaviour. However, despite promising early findings, studies have failed to identify a consistent effect of tDCS across eating-related measures (2, 3). Our research explores the application of tDCS, and through this work we have established stimulation parameters that appear to produce a consistent change in eating behaviour, and identified populations who may benefit from this technique (4, 5). This paired papers talk will overview our recent studies applying tDCS to change eating-related measures across different population, and will consider the therapeutic use of this technique in weight management.
\nReferences: [1]\u00a0Filmer et al. (2014) Trends Neurosci; 37, 742-753, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.tins.2014.08.003<\/a> ; [2]\u00a0Fregni et al. (2008) Appetite; 51 (1), 34-41, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.appet.2007.09.016<\/a> ; [3]\u00a0Beaumont et al. (2021) Appetite; 157, 105004, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.appet.2020.105004<\/a> ; [4] Beaumont et al. (2022) Obesity Reviews; 23 (2), e13364, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/obr.13364<\/a>\u00a0; [5]\u00a0Beaumont et al. (2022) Psychosomatic Medicine; 84 (6), 646-657, http:\/\/doi.org\/10.1097\/psy.0000000000001074<\/a><\/p>\n

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Date: Thursday 11 May 2023 Recording available here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

SWEFS-CHEFS PAIRED PAPERS SESSION: Food Waste and Working with Vulnerable Participants<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Primary school children’s responses to food waste at school<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/em>Presenter: <\/strong>Professor Dorothy Yen<\/a>, Brunel University
\nAbstract:<\/strong>\u00a0 This paper seeks to understand children\u2019s responses to food waste in school by exploring children\u2019s views on food waste and empowering them to discuss and develop their own solutions. Using creative problem-solving approach and photovoice technique, the authors conducted focus group discussions with 28 primary school children in the UK. Findings suggested that the children have a clear understanding of the consequences of food waste for individuals, society, and the environment. They displayed negative emotions concerning food waste and responded positively to the possibility of food recycling. Their solutions to reduce food waste will require multiple stakeholder engagement, including self-regulation, peer-monitoring, teacher supervision and family support. However, rather than relying on intervention schemes that require significant adult involvement, children placed a heavy emphasis on self-regulation, playing an active role in addressing food waste in school. This research extends previous understanding, by showing children as agentic consumers who can shape food waste solutions in school. These findings are of use to primary teachers and local education authorities, to aid children in developing their own solutions to reduce food waste in their own schools.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Sustainable value co-creation at the Bottom of the Pyramid: using mobile applications to reduce food waste and improve food security\u00a0<\/span><\/em>
\n<\/em>Presenter: <\/strong>Dr Chrysostomos Apostolidis<\/a>, Assistant Professor in Marketing , Durham University; Dr David M. Brown<\/a>, Associate Professor in Marketing, Heriot-Watt University
\nAbstract:\u00a0<\/strong>Mobile apps redistributing surplus food are receiving increased attention for their sustainability benefits. Nevertheless, there is limited research on the opportunities created for businesses to penetrate the Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP) market. Drawing on Service-Dominant (S-D) logic, affordance and means-end theories, this study investigates how food waste mobile apps can support sustainable value co-creation at the BoP. Using a laddering approach, data were collected through semi-structured interviews in Sri Lanka. Despite similarities in respondents\u2019 perceptions of app functions, there are noticeable gaps in the perceived affordances and end goals, which may challenge the value co-creation process. Additionally, opportunism, stigma and goal misalignment may result in value co-destruction, i.e. the diminishment of value through stakeholder interactions. Our findings demonstrate that to develop technologies which enable value co-creation, an in-depth understanding of factors driving perceptions of value is essential.<\/p>\n

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Date: Thursday 9 March 2023 Recording (paper 2) available here\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

CHEFS PAIRED PAPERS SESSION: Food, Drink, and Discourse<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018The once-despised beetroot is treated with distinction\u2019: Austerity chic in the Daily Telegraph\u2019s cookery columns during World War II<\/span>
\n<\/em>Presenter: <\/strong>Joanne Hollows<\/a> (freelance researcher and writer)
\nAbstract:<\/strong> Despite their enormous potential as a resource for understanding food history, newspaper cookery columns have remained a relatively unexplored form of food media. Often anonymous newspaper food writers act as cultural intermediaries who help to construct the wider foodscape at particular historical moments. During World War II, newspaper recipe columns were a valuable source of advice and information on the impact of changing national food policy, offering guidance on how to source and prepare available foods in a period of restriction and scarcity. Like many other newspapers, the Telegraph appeared to endorse the government\u2019s message about \u2018equality of sacrifice\u2019 in the national interest and privileged the values of economy, moderation and frugality in its food columns. However, I demonstrate how the newspaper mobilized particular values and techniques to elevate and distinguish its readers\u2019 food practices within an egalitarian morality by using allegedly equal resources in distinctive ways. This was achieved through appeals to both tradition and modernity, to a conservative rural Englishness and cosmopolitan tastes and to gastronomic values, and through the application of culinary technique. While higher class women may have had far less opportunity to practice distinction through their choice of goods due to wartime restrictions, the Telegraph\u2019s anonymous cookery writers demonstrated how the mode of consumption of widely available foods could be used to maintain class hierarchies while avoiding the moral taint of luxurious eating.<\/p>\n

Toward a New Lexicon for Wine<\/span><\/em> (recording link above)<\/span>
\n<\/em>Presenter: <\/strong>Meg Maker<\/a> (wine and food writer and artist)
\nAbstract:<\/strong> The wine industry relies on wine communicators to persuade global consumers to discover and taste new wines, yet the contemporary lexicon leans heavily on Eurocentric tropes and analogies; broad, pseudo-objective pronouncements; and numeric point scores which reveal little of a wine\u2019s aesthetic impact. Such lexicographic and numeric systems are wine-centric rather than consumer-centric, and yet they are perpetuated by the formal wine educational programs required to earn professional credentials (sommelier, educator) to work with customers. Adding complexity is the recent proliferation of digital wine search platforms, which, in codifying the lexicon, require searches using these terms. The net effect can be gatekeeping to new wine drinkers, alienating them as the industry tries to address its shrinking footprint. Wine communicators seeking to work in a way that is more personal and persuasive must learn to diversify both their language and their mindset, bringing into the discourse not only the specific qualities of a wine but also the cultural, aesthetic, chemical, organoleptic, emotional, and other facets of wine writ large, specifically as seen from the perspectives of the potential consumers. Through a series of discussions with wine writers, editors, lexicographers, library scientists, and other communication professionals, we review the existing lexicon to explore its successes and shortcomings. We then offer suggestions for re-imagining new approaches and new ways to discuss wine that are more inclusive, diverse, and accessible.<\/p>\n

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DATE: Wednesday 7 December 2022 Recording available here<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

JOINT CHEFS TALK\/DEPARTMENT OF SERVICE SECTOR MANAGEMENT DISTINGUISHED LECTURE:<\/strong><\/em><\/span>
\nIs there space for farmers\u2019 voice in the food supply chain?: A story-telling\/listening experiment with Indian farmers and UK- based consumers<\/span>
\n<\/em>Presenter: <\/strong>Maria Touri<\/a> (University of Leicester)
\nAbstract:<\/strong> The UN\u2019s agenda for the 17 Sustainable Development Goals is heavily focused on the economic, environmental, and social resilience of Southern farming communities. Yet, subjective dimensions of social well-being that are indirectly linked to food production are often neglected. Among these is the potentially harmful impact of stereotypical representations of Southern food growers, in public communication i.e., advertising, and promotional material. Food brands and organizations such as the Fairtrade foundation typically rely on portraits that objectify food growers and silence their voices. But do these discursive embodiments matter for farmers\u2019 well-being? And is there space for farmers\u2019 own voices and stories in the food supply chain? The presentation attempts to tackle these questions with a participatory video storytelling experiment. This was conducted in collaboration with a group of farmers in South India and consumers in the UK who engaged in a long-distance communication through short videos produced by the farmers. The farmers\u2019 videos and self-representation elicited subjective and material benefits for both groups, highlighting the centrality of representation for human development and social justice. At the same time, creating a space for voice expression and listening will remain utopian without a concerted effort from trading and development organizations.<\/p>\n

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Date: Wednesday 9 November 2022 Recording available here <\/a><\/strong>(both presentations)<\/p>\n

PAIRED PAPERS SESSION: Food, Economic Imaginaries and Entrepreneurship\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Why taste dealers matter: authenticity and distinctiveness among food truck operators<\/span>
\n<\/em>Presenter:<\/strong> Alessandro Gerosa (University of Birmingham)
\nAbstract:<\/strong>\u00a0This talk will explore how Italian gourmet food truck operators \u2013 in the guise of intermediaries of taste between macroeconomic imaginaries and individual consumers \u2013 concretely produce claims of authenticity for omnivorous seekers. Based on ethnographic research composed of 20 semi-structured interviews with food truck micro-entrepreneurs, the talk will focus on three main implications. First, the adoption of the perspective of food truck operators highlights the reflexive and market-bounded nature of omnivorous taste reproduction. Moreover, authenticity emerges as a relational quality, possessing a clear normative dimension on players under the street food \u2013 and more in general the neo-craft \u2013 economic imaginary. Finally, the centrality of regionalism in the Italian production of authenticity suggests that localism, too, has been subsumed by global food imaginaries and expresses a cosmopolitan attitude: \u201cgourmet\u201d food must be authentic to be recognised by omnivores and distinctive \u2013 through exoticism or localism \u2013 to be successful on markets. Together, these contributions point toward the relevance of \u2018the context of context\u2019 in consumer studies, suggesting the usefulness to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the cultural political economy at play behind the formation of taste.<\/p>\n

Organic food micro producers\u2019 share in neoendegenous local development \u2013 case of Croatia<\/span>
\n<\/em>Presenter:<\/strong> Jasmina Bo\u017ei\u0107 (University of Zagreb)
\nAbstract:<\/strong>\u00a0The talk will present results of qualitative research conducted by semi-structured interviews with twenty-nine micro entrepreneurs in organic production of fruits and vegetables from all the twenty Croatian counties and the City of Zagreb. The results indicated self-help as the currently prevalent mode of production, which reflected in both motivations for entering in organic agriculture, and in daily mode of operation of the micro entrepreneurs. As we were interested in how the currently practised self-help could be brought closer to development based on neondegenous principles, our analysis went beyond the level of individual motivations, beliefs and ways of self-presentation, and encompassed participants\u2019 involvement in sectoral associations and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) groups, as well as their engagement in inter-sectoral partnerships, such as Local Action Groups (LAGs). We also inquired into producers\u2019 marketing and distribution practices, as well as their relations with customers. Presenting a summary of participants\u2019 perspectives on these various aspects of their entrepreneurship, the talk will try to outline a panoramic view of micro organic production of fruits and vegetables in Croatia, and draw some policy implications, hopefully facilitating smoother transition from the currently prevalent self-help towards development based on neoendogenous principles premised on stronger multi-level, inter-organizational and inter-sectoral linkages.<\/p>\n

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Date: Monday 17 October 2022 Recording available here<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>(both presentations)<\/p>\n

PAIRED PAPERS SESSION: Children’s Food, Feeding and Inequality\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Food matters: Class differences in feeding, eating, and culinary tastes
\n<\/em>Presenter:<\/span><\/span><\/strong>\u00a0Irmak Karademir Hazir<\/a> (Oxford Brookes University)
\nAbstract: <\/strong><\/span><\/span>There has been a growing interest in exploring class differences in food consumption practices, especially after the cultural turn in-class analysis. Drawing on a Bourdieusian framework, studies from different national contexts have shown how culinary tastes contribute to the construction of class identities and boundaries. However, this literature paid little attention to how classed notions shape child feeding practices and contribute to the reproduction of tastes intergenerationally. To fill this gap, this paper will bring a class consumption focus together with parenting studies and approach feeding as encompassing a wide range of processes including cooking, shopping, and planning. To capture the lived experience of feeding work, the study draws on a longitudinal and ethnographic study conducted in the southeast of England over the course of two years. The analysis suggests that, regardless of their resources, parents tend to internalize the dominant discourse on \u201chealthy\u201d and \u201cvaried\u201d feeding. However, closer inspection of day-to-day practices reveals a nuanced class-cultural patterning in how these terms are defined and achieved. Moreover, it reveals how different interpretations of key notions such as homemade, nutritious, and balanced generate practices that contribute to the cultivation of distinctively classed culinary agencies in children. This study also questions what potential role these understandings can play in reproducing taste hierarchies and maintaining symbolic boundaries from very early ages.<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s the noise of the snacks!\u2019: School meals on the fringes and frail food pedagogies
\n<\/em><\/strong><\/span>Presenter:<\/strong> Filippo Oncini<\/a> (University of Manchester)
\nAbstract:<\/strong> <\/span><\/span>Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted during recess and lunch in a primary school sited in a deprived Palermitan neighbourhood, this paper sheds light on the (dis)functioning of food pedagogies in a school on the fringes of society. During recess, teachers use food rules to highlight transgressions, but not to improve food literacy. Likewise, their efforts during lunchtime are devoted solely to keeping children under control, while trying to get to the end of lunch as soon as possible. Ultimately, both eating occasions are seldom opportunities for food education, as teachers\u2019 primary focus is on preventing or halting children\u2019s restlessness and skirmishes. I conclude by outlining some limitations and strengths of the ethnography while reflecting on the findings vis-\u00e0-vis previous fieldwork I conducted in less challenging contexts.<\/p>\n

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PAST TALKS 2021-22:<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

Date: Thursday 30 June 2022 Recording available here<\/span><\/a><\/strong> (both presentations; see addendum below)
\nPAIRED PAPERS SESSION: Craft, Kinship and Colonialism<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018Working by hand and as a family\u2026it could become your life\u2019: Biography and kinship in the narratives of craft gin distillers<\/span><\/em><\/strong>
\nPresenter:<\/strong> Thomas Thurnell-Read<\/a> (Loughborough University)
\nAbstract:<\/strong> Both in theory and in practice, the concept of craft is bound up with notions of autonomy and self-expression whereby the craft product is viewed as an expression of the maker\u2019s own taste and character. Drawing on 20 interviews with independent gin distillery workers conducted between July 2017 and February 2018, this paper will address the centrality of biographical reflections of personal growth, development and self-realization to craft distiller narratives. While these narratives tend to foreground the heroic individual craft entrepreneur who invests their selfhood into the product they make and sell, the paper will also consider the involvement of family and kin to the operations of many craft businesses. For a number of participants, working together with spouses or siblings brings benefits and challenges, the negotiation of which are framed as a process of better understanding the personal relationships that are integral to the sustainability of many craft drinks businesses.<\/p>\n

Recipes for crafting authenticity and coloniality<\/span><\/strong><\/em>
\nPresenter:<\/strong> Belinda Zakrzewska<\/a> (University of Sussex); paper co-authored with Michael Beverland and Stephan Manning
\nAbstract:<\/strong> This paper sheds light on the dark side of craft by examining how local elites project images of craft and coloniality through claims of authenticity in postcolonial contexts. We focus on the contemporary Peruvian culinary field where elite chefs are spearheading a new cuisine based on the appropriation of cultural elements of native indigenous communities. Drawing on an ethnography of the new Peruvian cuisine, we find that elite chefs project images of craft through three authenticity claim-making practices: the rediscovery, reinterpretation, and revaluation of marginalized cultural elements. However, these overtly celebrated practices disguise practices of extraction, elevation, and exploitation of marginalized cultures whereby the logic of coloniality operates. From this, we make two contributions to the literature on craft authenticity: we put forth a process model of domestic cultural appropriation where images of craft and coloniality are two sides of the same coin and we uncover the enchanting role of craft-based authenticity claims in concealing the reproduction of coloniality.
\nAddendum to the Q&A:<\/strong> Regarding the answer to a question about the nutritional value of indigenous ingredients: my data provided insights related to the field of sociology, but here are some papers that might be of interest to scholars in the field of nutrition:<\/p>\n