logo courtesy of Isabel Chenciner, age 5 1/2

Symposium 2003 on Nurture
a report on proceedings 12-14 September, 2003

About 185 symposiasts were welcomed by the chairman of the Trustees, Geraldene Holt, who introduced the other sixteen trustees and thanked and praised the organiser, Silvija Davidson. The meeting was presided over by the three symposium co-chairmen, Theodore Zeldin, Claudia Roden and Paul Levy.The Friday evening public lecture was held at the Said Business School, in the Nelson Mandela lecture theatre. JEFFREY STEINGARTEN, long-time symposiast and author of The Man Who Ate Everything and It Must Have Been Something I Ate, insisted “You Are Not What You Eat,” a plea for a rational, non-obsessive approach to our daily bread, meat and pudding.

Summary of Plenary Sessions.

First plenary session
PROF. ANDREW PRENTICE of the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, addressed “The surprisingly rapid subversion of Nurture: selected for fasting; seduced by feasting.” He pointed out that obesity has now become the norm, not only in Western Europe and North America, but even in places such as the Gambia, where he has done fieldwork for 20-plus years. This is the most rapid change to our species in the whole of human history, as it can be demonstrated that the change has occurred over a single generation – within 25 years.
HESTON BLUMENTHAL, the science-minded chef of the Fat Duck at Bray, responded with some pointed and pertinent questions about our current diet; and his colleague, RAYMOND BLANC, chef of the Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, near Oxford, added – with electrifying passion – his observations about the necessity for honest diet and food.

Second plenary session: “Nurture, Utopias & Dystopias”
There are two strains of utopian thinking about nurture. In the first, represented by Hesiod’s myth of the Golden Age, the Land of Cockayne, the Big Rock Candy Mountain, Rabelais’ the Abbé de Thélème and even the “schmoo” in Al Capp’s comic strip, “Li’l Abner,” easy access to abundant food is part of what makes utopia perfect. In the other strain, it is the absence or minimisation of eating, and especially cooking, that is part of the perfection of utopia. Celebrated novelist, biographer and literary scholar, MARGARET DRABBLE addressed herself a bit more to the second strain, finding traces of it in her own work; but she did find hints of the first in the work of Julian Barnes. RAYMOND SOKOLOV, veteran symposiast who has returned to Harvard to complete his Ph.D. in classics, cited several instances in literature from Homer to Dickens of dystopian failures of nurture, from dinner at the House of Atreus to Oliver Twist’s asking for more gruel. Novelist, TV presenter, architecture buff, newspaper columnist and ex-restaurant critic JONATHAN MEADES looked at dining arrangements – virtually always communal, thus excluding the need for individuals to cook – in practical utopian experiments.

Third plenary session: “The Politics, Psychology & Pathology of Nurture.” Crime novelist and newspaper columnist JOAN SMITH was ill, and had to withdraw from giving her talk on “Nurture and social class: a guide to eating above your station.” Renowned American cookery writer BARBARA KAFKA made it clear in her talk on “The Jewish Mother” that nurture can often express power relationships, and that “feeding can be a hostile act as well as a loving one.” Session chairman CLAUDIA RODEN added some observations about the strict gender roles of nurturers in the Sephardic tradition. Art Therapist MICHELE WOOD explained that sufferers from eating disorders have distorted ideas of their own body image and difficult problems with their identities, and that both anorexia nervosa and bulimia showed that the patients were exerting control at least over their food intake. Art therapy helps express feelings that are difficult to verbalise, and forces the subject to deal with the material world.

Fourth plenary session: “The Art of Nurture” featured performance poet, Paula Claire, who had constructed an audience participation poem based on seven tables drawn from still-life paintings. There was a specially written performance of a playlet by Alicia Rios, who also made the costumes for her and Ray Sokolov. Jill Norman introduced “The Boy Who Wouldn’t Eat and His Hovering Mother,” in which four different stratagems were employed to force food upon a (surrealistically bearded) nine-year-old child. A short film “Bon À Petite” showed an irresistible small girl eating her supper to the barely discernible sound of some familiar French chansons. A 20-minute film by the world’s other (than Alicia) great food performance artist, Bobby Baker, “Kitchen Show,” captured both the hysteria and the ritual behaviour many of us experience in the favourite room in our houses. Andrew Dalby presented an amusing clip from French a TV documentary about Bouillon Chartier, Paris only surviving bouillon, completely charming, and probably the cheapest place to eat a complete and proper meal in Paris. “A Love Supreme” was a touching 9-minute film by Nilesh Patel, showing only his mother’s hands as she prepares samosas.

Claudia Roden and Paul Levy chaired the final plenary session. It was explained again that the subscription had to increase to cover insurance, wages and recurring costs, though this had not affected numbers – the Symposium 2003 was still over-subscribed and a few people had to be turned away. It was noted that there had been a large increase in the number of participants under the age of 30 – the mean age of Symposiasts appears to have decreased by ten years, which was a very welcome development. In discussing the choice of Symposium topics, the chairmen pointed out that some latitude was desirable in setting the final topic. For example, when the 2003 topic was mooted as “feeding children,” it appeared that there might not be any papers at all. As it was, broadening the topic to Nurture produced only 27 papers, sufficient in quality and quantity, but fewer than in most past years. This also explained why there were four plenary sessions this year: there simply were not enough papers to fill the schedule. While some Symposiasts complained about this, a very large majority preferred having more plenary sessions, as it gave a chance to have an over-view of the subject, and gave those who planned the programme the ability to see that most aspects of the subject were covered.

A consequence of this discussion was the decision that the 2004 topic would be very slightly expanded to “Wild Food: Hunters and Gatherers.” Consensus was sought for the 2005 topic, but in the end there was no need for a vote in any case, as “Authenticity,” which had been suggested by several people in writing, was supported by virtually everyone in the room.

The mostly white Saturday dinner on the Symposium’s theme was organised by Caroline Conran and Elisabeth Luard. The tables were decorated with fresh fruits and nuts – figs and dates picked from the trees, green cobnuts, plus symbols of birth and renewal such as quails eggs, pomegranates and oranges. The first course of sweet-cured herring was made white with soured cream, the second course was truffled boudin blanc, the cheese breast-shaped creamy white Tetilla and the pudding buffalo milk ice cream.

The Sunday lunch in honour of ALAN DAVIDSON was marked by a spontaneous and prolonged standing ovation as Alan entered the Hall of St Antony’s. The menu was composed entirely of dishes known to be favourites of Alan’s, starting with a vast array of cured fish that ranged from caviare to kippers, and finishing with bowls of Scottish trifle.
A presentation was made to HARLAN WALKER, on his retirement as editor of the Symposium’s Proceedings and the assumption of his new role as official Archivist, of a beautifully bound, gilt-edged book from the Bodleian. Its entirely blank pages will, we hope, be used to pen his recollections of the Symposium. JANE DAVIDSON was presented with a venerable bottle of fine Rioja, in thanks for her efforts to nurture the guest of honour, and to mark her new role as co-Patron of the Symposium. Finally, Alan was presented with a beautifully printed “Funschrift” containing many people’s especially composed memories of him and the Symposium down the years. The lunch was filmed by Dutch television, for a documentary celebrating Alan’s award of the Erasmus Prize for 2003.

-PAUL LEVY

Saturday menu based on theme of Nurture

Sunday lunch in honour of Alan Davidson menu