The Rural Sociology Course “Food Culture and Customs” wrapped up just before Christmas.
As a side-project (read: homework for no credit), I asked students to photograph their holiday meals and share the pictures so that we could all get a little taste of Christmas around the world.
Here are some of the photos.
Traditional Danish Christmas dinner! White potatoes, caramelized potatoes, pork roast, duck, red cabbage and gravy
The Rural Sociology Group coordinates a course called Food Cultures and Customs with the Philosophy Group.
The course is dedicated to examining the role that food plays in and across cultures. Food culture is understood to be the expression of how people value food and everything connected to food. As such, this course is an exploration into the ever changing social functions of food.
This means that we do not look at different cultures and what they eat. Instead, it entails an examination of the attitudes and assumptions that shape people’s lives; the rituals and beliefs that mark their identities; and the ways foods are grown, processed, sold and consumed in particular places.
In this course we ask some big questions: Continue reading
As one of the results of the PUREFOOD intercontinental cooperation the Rural Development Program of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, the Brazilian PUREFOOD Partner or the Rural Development Department of Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul organizes the first Workshop in Urban Food Strategies. Professor Sergio Schneider and the food group (http://www.ufrgs.br/weaa/comissao-organizadora/) have set a very interesting agenda for the coming third and four of December. Harriet Friedman, Carolyn Steele, Maria Fonte, Cecilia Diaz and Willem Treep will join a select group of Brazilian researchers and practitioners as Ivana Lovo, Marcos Borba, Livia Barbosa, Patrícia Chaves, Francisco Milanez and Altivo Cunha in a workshop designed to join academia, public agents and food practitioners.
Live streaming and translation from Portuguess to English will be offered. So every one can join and enjoy the seminar. The online streaming will begin on Tuesday 3rd of December at 09:00 am Brazilian Time and will finish on Wednesday 4th of December in the afternoon. The following link will give access to the internet connection: http://multimidia.ufrgs.br/ramgen/broadcast/plageder/aovivo.rm
Full access to the program and information is available at http://www.ufrgs.br/weaa/.
On 16 October 2013 the FOODLINKS team organised the conference Sustainable food communities of practice – meet and eat to present the results of its three-year project. The conference focused on “Good cooperation between science, society and policy promotes sustainable food consumption and production” looking more particularly into:
The conference made a special effort to actively engage the participants’ experience and knowledge in the field, and to verify the findings from the project. The conference experiences are summarised in the video below:
More about Foodlinks and the three action plans published:
Foodlinks is a collaborative project funded by the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Commission with the purpose of evaluating knowledge brokerage activities to promote sustainable food consumption and production: linking scientists, policymakers and civil society organizations. See the www.foodlinkscommunity.net for more information.
On 14 and 15 May 2014 the city of Utrecht (the Netherlands) will host us for the final PUREFOOD conference. The conference is organised in cooperation with the ‘Day of Dutch Urban Agriculture’ (Dag van de Stadslandbouw), which will be held on Thursday 15th of May in The Fabrique in Utrecht and attracts yearly around 500 people. The PUREFOOD project will contribute to organising 9 international sessions on Thursday. The PUREFOOD conference will start with a meet & greet on Tuesday evening at a special location in Utrecht. On Wednesday morning there is an interesting programme, in English only, where we will listen, discuss, brainstorm, present and network with a selected group of people (therefore: limited places available!). In the afternoon we will explore Utrecht and its surroundings to see, hear, feel and taste some of the fabulous products developed in the region.
The full programme of the conference, including speakers and other interesting people, will be available soon. Keep an eye on the weblog of the PUREFOOD project: www.purefoodlinks.eu.
Rural Sociology Wageningen University 