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Tracing, Shaping and Reshaping Culinary Heritage

CONFERENCE 2022: Food is both multisensory and intangible. How does food history help us understand our past, present and future society? At this conference you will gain new and valuable knowledge about contemporary and historical food studies from different research areas and perspectives.

Collage of three pictures showing one cauldron plates with different types of food.

the conference is fully booked

The availability of resources, knowledge and knowhow as well as present social structures are all contributing to unique local food cultures in the world. Food is both multisensory and intangible. Scholars in the field of food studies now provide new knowledge of local food cultures of the past. At the same time, the food value chain is focusing on creative use of past food culture, taking food heritage into the future. 

Although interest in food history has increased in recent years, it is still an under-researched, under-used and under-communicated field. Through this conference, the ambition is to contribute to new and valuable knowledge, as well as mobilise exciting cooperation and knowledge transfer across disciplines. We will create a meeting point for contemporary and historical food studies by bringing together scholars from sociology, archaeology, anthropology and history as well as representatives of the value chain in food production.

The conference is hosted by the research projects "The impact of food culture in Medieval towns" (FOODIMPACT) at the Museum of Cultural History and "Culinary heritage as a resource in developing “Food Nation Norway 2030" (FoodLessons) at OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University, financed by The Research Council of Norway.

Program

Monday September 5

8.30-9.15: Registration and coffee
9.15-9.45:

Opening by Håkon Glørstad, director of the Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo.

Welcome and conference presentation by Annechen Bahr Bugge and Marianne Vedeler

Session 1: The History of Foodstuffs

9.45-10.10:

Meriel McClatchie, S. Flavin, E. OCarroll, C.Taverner, F.Beglane: Food cultures in post-medieval Ireland: new findings from the FoodCult project
10.10-10.35 Jenny Berntsson: Culinary heritage by the Kukkola rapids. Local food culture from past to future
10.35-11.00 Margrete F. Simonsen: Pre-industrial Aquaculture and the taste of Fish
11.00-11.15  Coffee and fruit
11.15-11.40 Christian Rødsrud: Halibut fishing in the Viking period
11.40-12.05 Per Norseng: The use and production of salt in Norway c. 1200-1600 with focus on the preservation of fish
12.05-12.30 Silje Hårstad: The Daily Grind – Food Production and Consumption at a Medieval Farm in Lindesnes, Agder
12.30-13.30 Lunch, with short introduction to the "Oslo breakfast" by Inger Johanne Lyngø

Session 2: History of Meals and Material Culture

13.30-13.55

Matilda Marshall: Collective food storage – lessons from the mid 20th century
13.55-14.20 Grethe Bjørkan Bukkemoen: Food and identity in times of transition. Changing culinary practices in Iron and early Viking Period Norway
14.20-14.45 Mathias Blobel: Remains of the Whey – Food and Society in a Medieval Western Norwegian Town Through the Lens of Pottery and Soapstone
14.45-15.10 Ragnhild Hutchison: "Take away-dinners" – changes in Christiania's eating habits from the late 18th to the early 19th century
15.10-15-35

Iver B. Neumann: The Diplomatic Meal

18.30 Cider demonstration and talk by Bernt Bucher-Johannessen, HANEN –Working for Norwegian Cider
19.15 Conference dinner at Handwerk, Tøyen manor house

Tuesday September 6

Session 3: Food Innovation and Identity

8.30-8.55

Theano Moussouri, Georgios Alexopoulos and Diana Rahman: Co-creation and local community empowerment as drivers for promoting innovation and sustainability in food cultures
8.55-9.20 Åsmund Bjørnstad: From grains to tastes
9.20-9.45 Anneleen Kool, Irene Teixidor-Toneu & Karoline Kjesrud: Angelica archangelica, from Viking vegetable to Nordic delicacy – on safeguarding traditional knowledge in botanic gardens
9.45-10.10 Faste Gunnarsen Grodt: Shaping the local food capitol through 300 years
10.10-10.30 Coffee and fruit
10.30-10.55 Sara H. Jensen: An acquired taste – why use food in the museums? How to use food in the museums!
10.55-11.20 Sofie Scheen Jahnsen: The role of food and foodways in the pursuit of an inclusive, diverse and open museum
11.20-11.45 Kwiatkowski et al: Tradition and Innovation: The Opportunity for Growth of Artisan Food Producers
11.45-12.45 Lunch
12.45-13.30 Anneleen Koohl: Guiding in the herb garden

Session 4: Food Culture and Sustainability 

13.30-13.55

Hennie Fisher and Gerrie du Rand: Could South Africa’s historical food culture inform a sustainable future food system?
13.55-14.20 Lars Marius Garshol: Beer brewing: A crucial, but under-studied tradition
14.20-14.45 Julia C. Carrillo Ocampo: The wild arctic char – from lake to plate. How can the wild arctic char, from lake to plate make visible the complexity of sustainable gastronomy?
14.45-15.00 Summing up and farewell

Abstracts

Contact the Organising Committee

  • Marianne Vedeler, professor at the Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo
  • Annechen Bahr Bugge, research professor at OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University, Consumption Research Norway (SIFO)
  • Anneleen Kool, Associate Professor at the Natural History Museum, University of Oslo
  • Inger Johanne Lyngø, researcher at OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University, Consumption Research Norway (SIFO)
Published Nov. 25, 2021 12:00 PM - Last modified Aug. 23, 2022 9:27 AM