In reading the Introduction of 'The Compleat Housewife' (Elizabeth Smith, 1753), I came across a sentence that reminded me of my friend, Mary Sue Waisman, and her passion about connecting people with and through food (see her cookbook, Flavour First). The sentence was meant to be a dig at others who were creating cookery books, those she referred to as 'copiers'. It reads:
"...many Things copied from old Authors, and recommended
without (as I am persuaded) the Copiers ever having had Experience of the Palatableness, or had any
Regard to the Wholesomeness of them; which two Things ought to be the standing
Rules, that no Pretenders to Cookery ought to deviate from."
So there...test your recipes when you are publishing a cookbook (or putting them on the Internet!!!!). This was promoted even in 1753; one would think this would be standard practice by now...enough of my soapboxing...
Monday, May 21, I'll attend the British Sociological Association Food Studies Group meeting in London. The topic is "Continuity and Change: Aspects of the Food Environment across the Life Course", about the life course of the kitchen. Here is the promotional blurb:
"Across the life course, the kitchen can be a central hub of
activity. Long discussed as gendered space, in ageing populations the kitchen
provides a perfect case study for addressing issues of person-environment
interaction where age, gender, class, culture, health and well-being are
central.
This paper reports on research involving social gerontologists, ergonomists and designers which studied ‘Transitions in Kitchen Living’ (TiKL) as part of the ESRC’s New Dynamics of Ageing Programme. The aim was to work with a purposive sample of people in their 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s living across the range of mainstream and supportive housing where the kitchen was still very much a part of everyday life. Following detailed pilot work, two interviews were conducted with 48 older participants (aged 61 to 91 years, born between 1919 and 1949) in Bristol and Loughborough. Prior to the first interview, people were asked to record a housing history and then using an oral history approach people’s experiences of kitchens throughout their lives were recorded prompted by key life events. A second Interview concerned their contemporary kitchen and how well it met their needs. Other tools gathered personal demographic details, routine activities, and photographs recorded aspects of the kitchen that were particularly liked or disliked.
This talk focuses on both the oral history data and the study of the contemporary kitchen to understand how issues of continuity and change throughout the 20th century as food equipment developed in diverse housing circumstances. For example early experience of cooking in a coal fired oven led to the coming of gas and electric cookers while ‘staying put’ for an older person may now depend on microwavable food."
Dr. Sheila Peace is Professor of Social Gerontology. A social geographer by first discipline, she gained her PhD in the area of environment and ageing now her area of expertise. She is co-editor of Ageing in Society: European perspectives in Gerontology, Sage Publications (2007).
This paper reports on research involving social gerontologists, ergonomists and designers which studied ‘Transitions in Kitchen Living’ (TiKL) as part of the ESRC’s New Dynamics of Ageing Programme. The aim was to work with a purposive sample of people in their 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s living across the range of mainstream and supportive housing where the kitchen was still very much a part of everyday life. Following detailed pilot work, two interviews were conducted with 48 older participants (aged 61 to 91 years, born between 1919 and 1949) in Bristol and Loughborough. Prior to the first interview, people were asked to record a housing history and then using an oral history approach people’s experiences of kitchens throughout their lives were recorded prompted by key life events. A second Interview concerned their contemporary kitchen and how well it met their needs. Other tools gathered personal demographic details, routine activities, and photographs recorded aspects of the kitchen that were particularly liked or disliked.
This talk focuses on both the oral history data and the study of the contemporary kitchen to understand how issues of continuity and change throughout the 20th century as food equipment developed in diverse housing circumstances. For example early experience of cooking in a coal fired oven led to the coming of gas and electric cookers while ‘staying put’ for an older person may now depend on microwavable food."
Dr. Sheila Peace is Professor of Social Gerontology. A social geographer by first discipline, she gained her PhD in the area of environment and ageing now her area of expertise. She is co-editor of Ageing in Society: European perspectives in Gerontology, Sage Publications (2007).
Looking forward to it! Coordinator, Rebecca O'Connell, has extended an invite to join the group for lunch afterward! Looking forward to it all.
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