Category Archives: Food

Peasants and Politics – free access special issue of the Journal of Pesants Studies

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JPS coverThe Journal of Peasant Studies is celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2013-14. Volume 1 of JPS was published in October 1973 to September 1974. Part of our series of initiatives to commemorate the anniversary of JPS is the publication of virtual special issues, starting with the 40 Classics in Peasant Studies.

The second in the series is JPS 40: Peasants & Politics. This collection highlights some of the key articles that have been published in the journal over the past four decades on peasant politics.

The articles share one common feature: they all remain extremely relevant, especially in the context of today’s massive, worldwide revival of critical agrarian studies. We hope academics will find the virtual special issue useful in their courses. We hope students of contemporary critical agrarian studies and critical environmental studies, among others, will find it useful in building their theoretical foundations. We hope policy practitioners will find it relevant in informing policy debates. We hope agrarian, food and environmental activists will find it relevant in their political struggles.

Old Amsterdam food market & food tour

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Last Saturday a small Purefood delegation visited the Old Amsterdam food market. A lot of interesting things are happening in the Dutch capital —and many of these are organized by the Cities magazine. Here some pics of the market, populated by urban geese hunters (really, they catch them in the Schipol airport area!), artisanal fish smokers, mushroom growers and chocolate-makers. Definitely worth it a visit if to be organized again. In the meantime, you can still join the Cities team to the Old Amsterdam food tour 2014: its kick-off will be on April 23rd and 30th.

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(Un)accepted foods: Why are some edible substances considered food and others not?

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My Little Pony Burger

Last night Stichting Ruw hosted an event on “(Un)accepted Foods”.

The goal of the evening was to learn more about the potential of insects as food and about eating unconventional food products like horse and goose meat. 

There were excellent presentations.

Rob Hagenouw, an artist, spoke about his project Keuken van het Ongewenst Dier(Kitchen of the Unwanted Animal) where they make and sell  “My Little Pony Burgers” and croquettes from geese shot at the airport.

Arnold van Huis, author of ‘The Insect Cookbook’ and Professor of Entomology (see his TED talk here) gave a fascinating talk covering the opportunities and challenges association with the development of an insect eating culture in Europe.

Jessica Duncan, from the Rural Sociology Group, provided a socio-cultural perspective on food categorisation: why are some edible substances considered food and others not. The presentation is available here.

PUREFOOD conference teaser – The many benefits of local food

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On May 14 and 15 2014 the PUREFOOD conference entitled “Take action? Collaborative action for more sustainable food systems” will take place in Utrecht (The Netherlands). The morning of the first day (Wednesday May 14) will take place in the Central Museum of Utrecht and consists of three inspirational presentations followed by a reflection by keynote listener Professor Tim Lang and discussions in workshops. In the afternoon there will be three excursions to urban and peri-urban agriculture and food initiatives in and around Utrecht.

The second day of the conference (Thursday May 15) will take place in DeFabrique in Utrecht. This second day is a joint event of PUREFOOD and the Day of Urban Farming, with a keynote speech by Claus Meyer (founder of the New Nordic Cuisine movement and co-owner of restaurant Noma in Copenhagen, which is considered to be the world’s best restaurant) and a wide variety of parallel workshops. For more information see the conference program.

As a teaser for the PUREFOOD conference Creative Beards has made a short animation movie addressing the main issues that have been studied in PUREFOOD.

(Un)accepted Foods – Lectures, discussion and tasting on April 8

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Join RUW at the ‘(Un)accepted Foods’ evening and learn more about the potential of insects as food and about eating unconventional food products like horse and goose meat. Find out why responses to such food items can be so strong and how attitudes towards them differ across cultures. And how about challenging your own food habits at the tasting?

Contributions by:

  • Jessica Duncan: Lecturer in Food Cultures and Food Policy at Rural Sociology Group of Wageningen University
  • Arnold van Huis: Author of ‘The insect cookbook’, researcher at the Entomology department (WUR)
  • Rob Hagenouw: Keuken van het Ongewenst Dier (Kitchen of the Unwanted Animal)

Venue: April 8, 19.00-21.00 in the public libary of Wageningen (BBLTHK), free entrance.

For more information see: www.stichtingruw.nl or the Facebook page (Un)accepted food.