Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1526—93)
The Vegetable Gardener, ca. 1590
Museo Civico Ala Ponzone, Cremona

Oxford Symposium Programme

The next Oxford Symposium will take place at St Catz on 12-14 September 2008. The Topic is Vegetables.

Papers are invited on the subjects of vegetables as foodstuffs,
symbols and as a part or the whole of the human diet.

What are the special characteristics of these members of the Plant Kingdom? Is the distinction between vegetables and fruits scientific or cultural? Do vegetables have a presence in myth, literature and art as much as fruit and flowers have? Is there a language and symbolism of vegetables as there is a language of flowers?  Have they been seen as low-status, poor foods for the lower classes until recently? The history of particular food plants and the effect of these plants upon history and the human diet - for example the spread of vegetables in the Mediterranean with Islam, the voyages of discovery and vegetables from the New World, their uneven acceptance in the Old World, the Columbian Exchange, North v South, East v West, potatoes and famine, maize and monoculture, tomatoes revolutionizing cuisines. Changing tastes - the acceptance of new vegetables and the discovery of new flavours. Dietary prohibitions and injunctions – religious, cultural, philosophical and economic vegetarianism. Nutrition, health and welfare issues. The economic dimension. Biodiversity, plant breeding and scientific intervention on the genetic level. Human omnivory and evolution. How vegetables figure in food fashions. Changing agricultural methods of growing vegetables, changing modes of distribution and marketing.

- Paul Levy & Claudia Roden, Symposium Co-Chairs
- Carolin Young, Chair of the Symposium Trust

Send paper proposals of no more than 150 words to: editor@oxfordsymposium.org.uk

Guidelines for
authors of Symposium papers

The Sophie Coe Prize for Food History

Maps of Oxford

Oxford restaurants