Perspective Gastronomy, Stan Blackley and Donald Reid

PERSPECTIVE GASTRONOMY STAN AND DONALD REID GASTRONOMY Before joining the world of academia , Stan worked for more than as an environmental activist , political , communications adviser , and community organiser He joined Queen Margaret University in 2014 to enrol in the Gastronomy programme , after which he was employed as a , contributing his knowledge in the environment and , animal welfare and human rights , ethics and society , and politics and activism . Donald Reid is a legally trained writer , publisher , and ist with a background in the production and travel guides . He joined the Gastronomy programme as a lecturer in 2014 , contributing his expertise in areas such as food culture , communication , and campaigning , as well as his 186 GASTRONOMY

knowledge and drink in Scotland . He is one of the leaders of the Slow Food Movement in Scotland . Stan and Donald are the Leaders for the IQ programme at Queen Margaret University ( in Edinburgh , Scotland . Established in 2013 , the programme remains the only course ofits kind in the UK . Learning Outcomes After reading and discussing this text , students should be able to Describe how gastronomy involves an informed and cal view of where food comes from , how it is produced , and the many , varied impacts that it has . Articulate the historical origins of the term gastronomy and the trajectory along which the term and concept has evolved . Name ways in which gastronomy can be applied to around and with food , in ways that begin to tackle the environmental and social issues inherent to food . INTRODUCTION To define gastronomy , it is helpful to note two key anchor points . The first is etymology , which a literal translation of the Ancient gastronomy is the knowledge ( nomos ) of the stomach ( While the term can be found in Ancient STAN AND DONALD REID 187

Greek texts , it was neither prominent nor common until 1801 , when it was adopted by a French poet , Joseph , and subsequently by two prominent French food writers from the early century , Laurent de la and . The former is acknowledged as the first truly critic in the world of restaurants , and the second anchor the man who coined the aphorism , Tell me what you eat I will tell you what you was a lawyer , politician , philosopher , and declared expert and enthusiast on the subject of food . His 1826 book , La du goat ( The Physiology of Taste ) set out to establish a foundation for gastronomy . He defined gastronomy as the intelligent knowledge of whatever concerns man and suggested that gastronomic knowledge was tant for all who hunt , supply , or prepare whatever can be made into Importantly , he indicated that such knowledge was to be gained from disciplines as as physics , cooking , commerce and political economy . Gastronomy rules all life , he wrote . It has to do with all classes of society it considers taste in its pleasures and its pains , and how food and drink affects the moral of man , on his imagination , his mind , his judgment , his courage and his To him , it was worth understanding all about food , because food is universal The pleasures of the table belong to all times and all ages , to every country and every day they go hand in hand with all our other pleasures , outlast them , and remain to console us for their . This is the origin of the more commonly known and often , You are what you . 1994 , 54 . Ibid . 1994 , 15 . 188 GASTRONOMY

In considering how gastronomy has become popularly stood in the two centuries that have passed since wrote La du goat , it is important to on how the term gastronomy became synonymous with the country of France . In de ( The Sociology of Food ) defines gastronomy as the attachment of an aesthetic value to the act of eating , something he traces back to the French royal court , aristocracy , and French Catholic during the century . By the late century , even as the French bourgeoisie was rejecting the hierarchies of the church and aristocracy , the culture around food retained its cultural capital . Far from being rejected as a mark of the , Enlightenment thinking and revolutionary politics in France actually embraced arts of the a of all that was worldly . It was , after all , in Paris in the decades preceding the 1789 French Revolution that restaurants were invented and took on their modern Of equal significance , by the early century , restaurant criticism had also been invented , with critics ing as intermediaries between the new eating places and their bourgeois clientele . Critics were important for legitimizing the restaurant as a place for refined eating , and in doing so , they raised the esteem of the chef , the people who dined there , and the cuisine itself . From this early stage , it was clear that went beyond the food being served . The gastronome is more than a gourmet he is also a theorist and propagandist about culinary taste , suggests Stephen , arguing that there was democratic value in the way knowledge of elite standards beyond the elite . To this day , the mutual dependency between restaurants , chefs , and critics . 2002 , 195 . Spang 2020 . 1996 , 267 . STAN AND DONALD REID 189

survives , most famously in the ( Michelin guide books and star ratings . GASTRONOMY EVOLVES For the and most of the century , the most revered and prestigious were envoys of French cuisine , just as the high priests of gastronomy such as and Auguste French . New ideas evolved within France , most famously when cuisine upset the established in the ( again led by a combination of French chefs and guidebook writers ) but France remained the locus of gastronomic identity across Western Europe and North America . The Gastronomic Meal of the French appears in list of Intangible Cultural Heritage , cited as a tice that emphasizes togetherness , the pleasure of taste , and the balance between human beings and the products of It goes on to note that , who possess deep edge of the tradition and preserve its memory , are expected to watch over the living practice of the focus is on the meal itself , though most French nationals ( and others besides ) would assume their valorization applies more generally to a uniquely French approach to food . But why should the term gastronomy be restricted to French culinary approaches , or limited to the aesthetics of food and ing ?

Neither etymology nor original definition demand such narrow viewpoints . Indeed , it was expansive that resonated with Carlo , the Italian founder of the Slow Food as he sought to reclaim the value and integrity of food in the face of an 2010 . involvement in food dates from his earlier career in journalism and local food activism , largely starting in the . It was in the 19805 that his efforts grew into the movement now known as Slow Food . 190 GASTRONOMY

industrialized , globalized , and homogenized food system . Slow Food identified itself as a reaction against the fast modern world , one characterised by speed and in which the human with the earth has become called a technocratic dictatorship 10 of profit prevailing over politics , and economics over culture . Frustrated by the old French model , argued that had wandered far from its original conception and too narrow a focus had left it open to misinterpretation , standing , and . The challenges of nourishment are , after all , fundamentally human and little different to those of our ancestors . Whether in societies , Ancient Greece , or Paris , people seek to choose and consume food to the satisfaction of the stomach and the senses , a combination of nutritional needs and foods ability to deliver pleasure . set in motion a of gastronomic science in modern frames of sustainability . It was no longer sufficient to concern ourselves with our own palates and pleasure , the point where legacy seems to have become stuck in the general consciousness . Rather , argues that in a world gastronomy must be global as well , and that modern are required to take a holistic , critical , and view of where their food comes from , how it is produced , and the impact it has on both society and the environment . He writes Under the frenetic impulse of technocratic and thought We have fallen into the temptation of neglecting the totality of the processes and that enable us to eat every day , considering only the result , the food that we 10 . 2001 . 11 . 2015 , 38 . STAN AND DONALD REID 191

12 . 13 . 14 . In his book , Slow Food Nation , offers his own translation of definition of gastronomy as the reasoned . knowledge of everything that concerns man as he eats , ing To reduce gastronomy to eating well is a twofold error first , because this definition implicitly accepts the common belief that the history of and the tory of and distinct subjects and secondly , because it only covers a small , and perhaps the least noble , part of the complex system of roots which underlie our The implication of this is that the modern gastronome or ( a variant adopted by some as less encumbered with implications of gourmet elitism ) recognises the ways in which food choices and practices connect to the of the earth and the shared destiny of all that inhabit it . The old , narrow and awkward connotations of French and culinary gastronomy are thus further distanced by contemporary as vision of of modern This approach acknowledges that any choice or practice of food has to take into account the ecological and human dimensions of both the food itself and the systems and processes that provide it . With globalization , hunger , public health , labour , and climate change so prominent in our contemporary , no coherent philosophy of food today can ignore these issues . Critics of more accurately of the Slow Food ment under his charismatic not just to 2005 , 55 . 2005 , 41 . 2015 , up . 192 GASTRONOMY

gourmet and elitism in the attitudes of its followers in certain territories , but also to conservative , protectionist to heritage , tradition , and authenticity in its core It is true that different aspects of Slow Food cultural , political , and practical messages have taken hold in different parts of the world , leading to a somewhat confused ing of the most effective thrust of its principles . That said , the value in gastronomy as concerning itself with matters beyond culinary aesthetics , and the incorporation of social and ecological considerations to questions of food , largely stand outside the areas of dispute . GASTRONOMY Boiled down , Slow Food recognises that , while an assessment of whether food is good principally from a taste perspective is important , it is also insufficient . Good must be informed by knowledge that includes whether food is also clean , in terms of ecological sustainability , and Fair , in its dealings with humans and This approach wraps together pleasure with , palate with purpose , and practice with principles . By this thinking , food can not satisfy nor nourish unless the totality and interwoven complexity of these impacts of food are edged , better understood , and addressed . This chimes with thinking that had previously been posited by French Claude , who stated that , in order to be good to eat ( ban ( manger ) food must be first of all be good to think ( ban ( 17 indicating that food must nourish people values , beliefs , and traditions to be considered suitable for their . 15 . 2004 2004 . 16 . 2015 . 17 . 1962 . STAN AND DONALD REID 193

18 . 19 . This is the work , now , of gastronomy . Thus liberated as Carlo put , or , has a greater sense of purpose in the world and a wider scope to not just food , but the world from which it comes . Such thinking about modern gastronomy shifts its focus decisively ( though not completely ) beyond chefs , cooking , and eating to recognise and celebrate the contributions of farmers , growers , fishers , producers , processors , sellers , ers , and the countless others engaged with food , who have able specialist skills and make crucial contributions to the food landscape . The gastronomer argues for a role alongside such , offering the skills of the generalist , as someone who can appreciate the many different perspectives of these diverse , hold a centre ground , and reflect the complex , diverse nature of food itself . Modern appreciate food in a way , first , as a lens through which to examine the world around them second , as a tool through which complex issues and concepts can be made tangible and communicated more simply and third , as a means through which to challenge injustices and change the world for the better . They recognise that food has and impacts and is more than just a simple satisfier of basic needs , but is , instead , something that fundamentally and shapes every part of the world around us identities , relationships , communities , societies , cultures , economies , and more . Modern recognize that food can be a cause or driver of many of the worlds most pressing problems , such as hunger , and ecological destruction , but that it can also , therefore , be part of the solution to these 2015 Slow Food 2021 . 194 GASTRONOMY

. If we get food right then positive responses to these other problems will follow . The perspective of modern gastronomy is that attitudes to and understanding of food have to move beyond personal and concerns towards an appreciation of food as a potent , political tool . In this sense , everyone relationship with food incorporates economic , political , social , and environmental sequences , meaning that food choices and practices can influence the food system and help reshape it for the better . This broader View of foods importance also demands that the subject of food , along with its study and the thinking around it , is given greater respect , especially in the traditionally areas of science and academia where food has been invisible or , if ered at all , viewed as base , frivolous , or simply women work . GASTRONOMY AND LEARNING In terms of the teaching of this modern version of gastronomy , its and generalist stance can struggle for recognition where reductionist approaches dominate within ence and academia . However , various forms of food studies have emerged over the last three decades , and there are a growing number of educational institutions offering programmes towards , most prominently at the of Gastronomic Sciences ( 21 in , Italy , but also in institutions as geographically diverse as Montreal and Boston in Canada and the , in New Zealand , and Edinburgh in Scotland . Innovative and groundbreaking as these all are , it is worth noting that the concept of an academy for was actually proposed in 1826 . 20 . 2008 21 . is widely recognised as the Slow Food University , having been founded by and built around the ethos of Carlo . STAN AND DONALD REID 195

22 . In such programmes , and in a growing number of other thinking institutions around the world , food is used to unpack and explain economics and ecology , culture and communication , politics and philosophy , a wide range of social and life sciences , and much more . Graduates in gastronomy understand that food touches and everything in this world and connects seemingly disparate parts of our lives . They emerge as practiced who recognise different viewpoints , understand and embrace food complexity , are wary of reductionist responses , and expect food matters to be multidimensional and . In Food the Key Concepts , Warren asserts that to study food often requires us to cross disciplinary boundaries and to ask inconvenient questions , pointing out that to help us sort out the issues and gain some needed perspective , we need people with a decent grounding in science and poetry , agriculture and philosophy , who are not afraid to tion assumptions , values and 22 This approach graduate to bring a fresh , even emancipated vision to established work places or to new roles that use food to bring benefits to an unexpectedly wide range of activities and interests . That ple most pressing health and to the functioning of society or matters of deeply entwined with our relationship with food and the practice of feeding ourselves , makes the study and development of , and themselves , both important and . That is not to say that give up appreciating food . Humans all eat and drink because of the compelling biological necessity to do so , but we also eat to learn , to belong , to ate , to understand , to share , to express ourselves , to practice who 2008 , 196 GASTRONOMY

we are , to make ourselves better people , and to enjoy the social and physiological processes and all that it entails . The appeal of food and its importance are not mutually exclusive , and are indeed intertwined , a point made by Carlo who declared that a gastronome who is not an environmentalist is surely pid , but an environmentalist who is not a gastronome is merely 23 This serves as a reminder not to lose touch with food . The Manifesto , produced by the University of Gastronomic in 2018 , states that the true century gastronome does not study food as an object a gastronome studies with food , 24 . This points to two ways in which the study of food can be strangely susceptible to misplacing food . First , it can veer into looking too closely at just the food , a form of that becomes obsessively interested in the particulars of production , cooking , or largely blinkered to broader perspectives . Anyone studying gastronomy in the form described here has likely had to rebuff assumptions that they re participating in a kind of cookery situation muddied by the frequent use of the word gastronomy in association with cookery skills classes , sometimes as an adjunct to culinary arts programmes or those specialising in molecular gastronomy . The response is that , while cooking or making food are hugely valuable and important skills , they are only a of the knowledge and practices around food . The second , and oddly converse issue with some food ship , is that researchers and educators often become detached from food itself . This can be seen in some social sciences texts , where activities around food become a focus for and analysis . Similarly , in the health sciences , the 23 . 2015 , 29 . 24 . 2018 , up . STAN AND DONALD REID 197

functionality of food can dominate knowledge paradigms , times reaching a point at which solutions to the challenges by food actually counter the holism of food . A similar problem occurs when policy connected to food is developed in isolation by or around government , with theoretical ideas failing to take account of how people actually interact with food and its meanings in situations . Gastronomy and food studies programmes designed to develop holistic and interconnected thinking help learners study food beyond the plate , 25 but out forgetting that it is still food . CONCLUSION In the end , gastronomy remains hard to define . It is , in Barbara astute description , 26 It can be easier to attempt to describe What gastronomy does than What it is , although in the recurring emphasis on , and broad thinking , boundaries can be hard to come by too . Yet in remaining rather mercurial , important but imprecise , gastronomy asserts that its substance and meaning are ally developing , discussed , and negotiated , and shares those with its equally elusive principal subjects , humanity and food itself . Discussion Questions Describe and discuss the tension between old culinary their focus on new , or . 25 . 2017 . 26 . 2004 , 15 . 198 GASTRONOMY

Explain their differing views and visions of food . Can ( and should ) both views be held at the same time ?

How and when are they contradictory ?

Why is gastronomy so difficult to define ?

Why is it so slippery , as Barbara noted ?

What historical and current elements contribute to , or cause this confusion or difficulty ?

How might you begin to define gastronomy ?

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, 1996 . All manners eating and taste in England and France from the Middle Ages to the present . University of Illinois Press . 2018 . 2001 . Slow Food The Case for Taste . New York University Press . 2007 . Slow Food Nation . New York . 2015 . Food and Freedom How the Slow Food Movement is Changing the World Through Gastronomy . New York . 2002 . de alimentation . Paris Presses de France . Spang , 2020 . The Invention of the Restaurant Paris and modern gastronomic culture . Cambridge , Massachusetts Harvard Press . 2004 . The study of gastronomy and its relevance to hospitality education and International of Management 23 ( Slow Food . 2021 . Slow Food Slow Food Website . 2015 . The site . Cultural Heritage . site . 200 GASTRONOMY