June 2018
The Jewels of Life : A Seed Atelier
We are delighted to introduce one of our evening activities at the 2018 Symposium: jewellery making from seeds and an exhibition led by Gönül Paksoy Gönül Paksoy, who’ll be conducting…
May 2018
Wiki-Food and Mostly Women Event 23 May 2018
Help redress the Wikipedia gender imbalance by spending a day improving its coverage of food related topics, especially but not exclusively those related to women, in this Wiki-editathon on 23…
April 2018
Having Friends for Dinner
The fraught history of Germans eating horses Volker Bach continues his occasional series on German historical recipes. Culinary history has not enjoyed great regard in German academia. Scholars long viewed…
March 2018
Unleash Your Inner Gourmet, Feed Your Intellectual Hunger - The British Library’s forthcoming Food Season
Polly Russell, OSFC Trustee and British Library Curator introduces a series of events at the British Library April – May 2018 Late last year a colleague from the Events team…
February 2018
Young Chef Report 2017: Deborah Ryan
Deborah Ryan, one of the 2017 Young Chefs, reflects on her experience at the Symposium I first heard about the Oxford Symposium through my university lecturer, Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire,…
February 2018
Oxford Food Symposium 2018: Grants for Young Chefs
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons Harold McGee, a trustee of the Symposium, introduces the 2018 Young Chef Grant It’s time to spread the good word again: the Oxford Symposium invites young…
January 2018
Remembering Harlan
Image credit: Philip Walker The Symposium’s President, Claudia Roden, pays tribute to Harlan Walker who passed away on 16th December 2017 Harlan Walker was the much loved angel of the…
January 2018
Beloved of Kings and Kindergartners
Image credit The deep history of humble apfelmus Volker Bach continues his occasional series on German historical recipes. In modern German cuisine, apfelmus is a ubiquitous staple usually served with…
January 2018
2014 Symposium Proceedings Free on Google Books
We are pleased to announce that another volume of our proceedings is now available on Google Books for free: Food and Markets. Learn about the Egyptian Bazaar in Istanbul, the…
December 2017
2017 Symposium Feedback
The Trustees report on feedback from the 2017 Symposium After the Symposium this past July, we asked Symposiasts to leave us feedback in our online Visitor’s Book. Thank you to…
December 2017
Young Chef Report 2017: Girish Nyak
Girish Nayak, one of the 2017 Young Chefs, reflects on his experience at the Symposium Please tell us about your career to date. I started baking when I was 18…
October 2017
Garden Seeds in Early Modern England
‘…Such as are old and withered, or else… such as are stark naught’ – Symposiast Malcolm Thick on the variable quality of garden seeds in early Modern England Without seeds…
October 2017
New November Wikithon date announced
Food, Women and Wiki: A great opportunity to learn how to Wikiedit or hone your Wikiediting skills! On Friday 10th November the British Library is teaming up with the Oxford…
September 2017
Food and Landscape: Recipes from an Armenian - Turkish Banquet
The Saturday evening dinner at the 2017 Symposium was ‘Landscape: Compliments of the Soil – Flavours from the Armenian and Turkish Borderlands organized by Gamze Íneceli and Íhsan Karayazi in…
September 2017
Borlotti Beans in Burgundy
Image credit: Di Murrell Symposiast Di Murrell plants ‘Seeds’ in anticipation of next year’s Symposium We wondered at the significance of the borlotti beans and how they might have fitted…
July 2017
Food and Landscape: Recording for Posterity
Symposiast Len Fisher introduces his talk ‘Global Warming and the Changing Global Food Landscape: The Need to Preserve Diversity’ at the 2017 Symposium “Why should I do anything for posterity?…
July 2017
Spotlight on a Meal: A Ploughman's Lunch from Borough Market
Image credit: David Matchett Symposiast Jane Levi considers the politics of a ploughman’s lunch Every year for the last 35 years a group of food-obsessed scholars, cooks and others from…
June 2017
Spotlight on a Meal: Boyne Valley Banquet
Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire introduces a banquet for the 2017 Symposium produced by the Boyne Valley Food Series, sponsored by Fáilte Ireland What was the inspiration for this meal? This…
June 2017
Food and Landscape: The Olive Groves of Ayvalık
Symposiast Aylin Öney Tan traces the way in which olive groves have shaped a Turkish townscape Does the landscape that surrounds us define our culture? My answer would be a…
June 2017
Bottling Status
Image credit (Anonymous: ‘Kuchemaistrey’, Nuremberg, 1485) The Portable Sauces of Medieval Germany Volker Bach continues his occasional series on German historical recipes. The recipe collection of Master Hans, court cook…
May 2017
Food and Landscape: Inglourious Bustards
Image credit (Grouse butt on Marrick Moor) Symposiast Thom Eagle considers whether game is a wild or a farmed food There is no wilderness in Britain. The landscape which today…
May 2017
Food and Landscape: Fields in Fulham
Symposiast Malcolm Thick finds the ghost of farmers’ fields in Fulham Many (many) years ago I slept on the floor of a friend’s house one August while doing some research…
May 2017
July 2017 Wikithon announced
This July the Oxford Symposium on Food & Cookery is teaming up with the Bodleian Library and the British Library for a WIKI-EDITATHON on the 7th July at St Catherine’s…
May 2017
Invitation to The Oxford Food & Museum Project
The Oxford Food & Museum Project Foodwriters’ views on objects from Oxford University Museum Collections Linda Roodenburg and Laura Van Broekhoven invite all those attending our 2017 Oxford Symposium on…
May 2017
It Tastes Green
Image credit The rise, fall and persistence of galium odoratum Volker Bach continues his occasional series on German historical recipes. Many colour-flavour combinations are intuitive. An orange or yellow drink…
April 2017
2013 Symposium Proceedings Free on Google Books
We are pleased to announce that another volume of our proceedings is now freely available on Google Books: Food and Material Culture. Find out about turkish coffee, table manners or…
April 2017
Symposiasts at Work: Naomi Duguid
Fiona Sinclair and Andrew Dalby introduce Symposiast Naomi Duguid Image credit: Nanna Rögnvaldardóttir A new book from Naomi Duguid is a reason to celebrate,” said David Tanis in the New…
February 2017
Fumbling for Terroir
Volker Bach examines what Renaissance German beer culture can teach us about an elusive concept In 1575, the German lawyer and beer connoisseur Heinrich Knaust published Five Books on the…
January 2017
Next Wikieditathon Date Announced
Image credit On 21 January 2017 millions of people across the globe marched on behalf of women’s rights and, by extension, all forms of discrimination. Now, many wonder what tangible…
January 2017
Young Chef Report 2016
Naomi Kelsey, one of the 2016 Young Chefs, reflects on her experience at the Symposium My passion for food began at a young age: baking cakes with my mum and…
January 2017
The Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery Oral History Project
Image credit Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire introduces a new oral history project On becoming a Trustee two years ago I was asked to develop an oral history project relating to…
December 2016
Navigating Flavour at the Christmas Market
Volker Bach looks at branded foods as guideposts and guarantors of quality Christmas fairs have a long tradition in Germany. Originally, they existed to provide markets for rural buyers when…
December 2016
Symposiasts at work: Pelin Dumanlı
Andrew Dalby introduces Symposiast Pelin Dumanlı All images: Pelin Dumanlı Pelin reached Oxford in 2016… at last. She first proposed a paper back in 2012 (‘pushing her luck’, as she…
September 2016
Kokoretsi and other Greek Easter Delicacies
Symposiast Aglaia Kremezi on the most sought after Greek Easter delicacy The mass slaughtering of Easter lamb reaches its peak the week before Greek Easter and not just vegetarians but…
June 2016
Whoever heard of Vegetable Offal?
Image credit: Sejal Sukhadwala Sejal Sukhadwala introduces us to vegetable offal, Indian style It’s because I’d enjoyed last year’s Symposium so much that I was disappointed to hear that the…
June 2016
Squirrel Pie at the Symposium
We are delighted to congratulate our former Director, Elisabeth Luard, on two counts: – On her Lifetime Achievement Award from the Guild of Food writers – On the upcoming publication…
June 2016
Three symposiasts and their work
Image credit Andrew Dalby introduces a new series featuring Symposiasts and their work No other meeting is quite like the Oxford Food Symposium. It’s unique for the varied origins, backgrounds…
June 2016
Symposiasts at Work: Sally Grainger
Andrew Dalby introduces Symposiast Sally Grainger Image credit: Sally Grainger Sally Grainger began her career as a real hands-on pastry chef. With that background she has now become one of…
June 2016
Symposiasts at Work: Anthony F. Buccini
Andrew Dalby introduces Symposiast Anthony F. Buccini Image credit: Anthony Buccini Anthony first attended the Symposium in 2005. Since then he has not missed a year. Each year he has…
June 2016
Symposiasts at Work: Ken Albala
Image credit Andrew Dalby introduces Symposiast Ken Albala Ken has been a regular symposiast since 1997. Hear him speak at Oxford and meanwhile visit his blog, Ken Albala’s Food Rant,…
June 2016
Spotlight on a Sponsor: Food and Wines from Spain
We are delighted to introduce María José Sevilla of Food and Wines from Spain, a loyal sponsor of the Oxford Symposium over many years. Please tell us a bit about…
June 2016
Brain Fritters and Sephardi Offal
Image credit (A 15th-century depiction of shechita and bedikah) The Symposium’s President, Claudia Roden, shares a recipe for brain fritters and considers the place of offal in Sephardic communities. Fritas…
June 2016
Spotlight on a Sponsor: Borough Market
We are delighted to introduce Borough Market who are co-sponsoring the Saturday lunch at the Symposium with the Oxford Food Bank. In this post David Matchett, the Market Development Manager,…
June 2016
Spotlight on a Sponsor: Oxford Food Bank
We are delighted to introduce the Oxford Food Bank who are co-sponsoring the Saturday lunch at the Symposium with Borough Market. Please tell us a bit about yourself, your background…
June 2016
‘Sitting the month’: Post-partum Confinement Practices in China
Image credit Georgine Leung reports on foods offered to new mothers in China and her experiences of the recent Wikithon at the British Library There is a Chinese saying for…
May 2016
Our Wiki-Food and (mostly) Women Project
It’s women who’ve been cooking the flaming thing for thousands of years [1].So why are they not on Wikipedia? Wikipedia – the free online encyclopedia – is now the default…
April 2016
Hippophagie and the nutritional benefits of horsemeat
Image credit David Sutton, the Symposium’s Treasurer, investigates the increase in the consumption of horsemeat in 1890s France The nineteenth-century campaigners who advocated increased consumption of horse-meat, especially in France,…
March 2016
Gaziantep, a UNESCO Creative City for Gastronomy
Image credit Claudia Roden, the Symposium’s President, reports on recognition recently given to Gaziantep’s culinary heritage Those of us who were present at the 2012 Symposium when the theme was…
March 2016
The Offal Bore
Paul Levy, the Symposium’s former Chair, considers the lonely life of the offal enthusiast The offal bore knows that in London, Bellamy’s in Earl’s Court Road have the best brains,…
January 2015
Favourite Food Museums
Len Fisher Symposiasts and followers of our Facebook page responded enthusiastically when I asked about their favourite food museums. There is, in fact, a searchable online listing of some 1400…
