8 – 10 July at St Catz/Oxford & 15-31 July online
The best of both worlds
In 2022, finally, we were able to return to St Catz and gather in person over the Weekend. However, other than in pre-pandemic years, the Symposium continued during the online Conference, so that the whole community, now spread out around the globe could join in live discussions, interactive, meaningful, and enjoyable.
With the help of our congenial web designers at Igloo, and employing user-friendly technologies, our space allows for a broad and diverse audience (including many who might otherwise not be able to journey to Oxford) to experience and contribute our mission to change the conversation, expand the table, and improve the plate.
We continue to fulfil our mission to change the conversation, expand the table, and improve the plate.
Our 2022 Symposium began with the Weekend, July 8 – 10, at St Catz. We listened to keynote speakers, discussed papers with their presenters, and sat at the long tables of the college’s dining halls for inspiring and delicious meals. There were real coffee and tea breaks, in the evening the bar served real drinks, and we finished pinching ourselves, as it was such a joy to reconvene!
Thereafter, the two week “Conference” offered an even larger group of Symposiasts the opportunity to view or review all content at a more relaxed pace.
As in the previous two years, we had scheduled daily live discussions with all our paper presenters as well as Wiki-edits, Sifter-edits, and a hands-on Kitchen Lab event.
The Symposium concluded on Sunday, July 31, with the Grande Finale. A final keynote summed up this year’s topic, followed by discussions and the selection by public vote of the topic for 2025 – and then it was time to bid fellow-Symposiasts farewell, onsetting withdrawal symptoms somewhat alleviated by the prospect of monthly Kitchen Table events.
Take a closer look at Jake Tilson’s wonderful poster for the 2022 Oxford Food Symposium – it is full of ideas and references.
Aglaia Kremezi’s report (with Costas Moraitis’ invaluable help and editing):
Walking on Longwall Street towards St. Catz’ on Friday afternoon felt so familiar and pleasant as if less than a few months, not three whole years had passed since I was last surrounded by these imposing medieval buildings. It was my first real trip abroad after more than two years of confinement on Kea, the Greek island where my husband and I live permanently for over twenty years, and I was immensely looking forward to it.
As we assembled for our first live session in the auditorium, after three years of online meetings, the chair Elisabeth Luard welcomed us, and the Symposium officially began with Corby Kummer’s keynote speech ‘Fast Foods: Past, Present and Future.’
Plenary sessions
Keynotes
Corby Kummer
Fast Food/Past, Present, & Future
Lizzie Collingham
Portable Power: How the Industrial Ration Projected European Dominance across the Globe
Claudia Roden
Picnic Traditions
Carolyn Steel
Our Symposium Journey
OFS Young Chefs
Nia Minard – as well as Caitríona Nic Philibin (2020), Cordula Peters (2021) and Gaurish Shiyam (2021)
Tools
Wiki edit-a-thon
Food & (mostly) Women, led by Roberta Wedge and Elisabeth Luard.
The Sifter
The cyberworld of cookbooks in a searchable database, presented by Barbara K. Wheaton.
Meals & Receptions
Friday Dinner
Sejam Bem Vindos! A Feast of Afro-Brazilian Street Food
Devised by – Marcia Zoladz and Scott Barton, with Tim Kelsey and the St Catz team
Welcome drinks – Cuvée Tradition Brut NV from Miolo, Serra Gaúcha/Brazil
To start – Acarajé, Vatapá, Abará com Vinagrete e Molho de Pimenta (black-eyed peas and dried-shrimp fritters with cashew nut sauce and smoked shrimp salsa, chopped salad), Beiju com Carne de Lingüiça (tapioca blinis with shredded pork sausage), Salada Variada (salad of beetroot, black-eyed peas, watercress and palm-hearts with sauce vinaigrette)
Main course – Moqueca Baiana com Arroz Branco (Bahia spiced fish chowder with rice)
Dessert – Mariola de Caju de Banana e de Goiaba (popular fruit paste made with fresh cashews, bananas, and guavas), Bolo de Apia com Coco (cassava and coconut cake), Sorbette de Maracujá (passion fruit sorbet), Cafezinho e Chá (Brazilian coffee and tea)
Wines – 2020 Crasto White from Quinta do Crasto, Douro/Portugal, 2018 Kiedrich Turmberg Riesling trocken from Robert Weil, Rheingau/Germany, Saudade from Dorli Muhr, Carnuntum/Austria
Saturday Lunch
Just What the Doctor Ordered: Revolutionary Hospital Trays
Devised and cooked by – Joshna Maharaj, with Tim Kelsey and the St Catz team
To start – Sweetgrass Infusion, Caldo VErde, Cheddar and Herb Biscuit with Butter, Cucumber Salad
Main course – Chalk Stream Trout Fillet with Lemon Butter Sauce OR Grilled Courgettes with Za’atar, Tzatziki, served with Brown Rice Pilaf, French Beans and Sugar Snap Peas with Blackcurrant Vinaigrette
To finish – Summer Berry Trifle, Sweetgrass Infusion with Toronto Honey, Coffee, Hermit Cookie
Saturday Dinner
All Aboard the Darjeeling Express
Devised and cooked by – Asma Khan and Asha Pradhan with Tim Kelsey and the St Catz team
Cocktail Hour – Gin & Tonic from Isle of Harris Distillers Ltd
Thali Dinner – Paneer Malai Korma (Indian cheese korma), Peela Pulao (lemon rice), Masoor Dal (spiced red lentils), Aloo Mattar (potatoes with peas in spiced gravy), Tamatar Ki Chutney (tomato chutney with prunes and apricots), Poppadom
Dessert – Sooji Halwa Ladoo (semolina halwa balls with roses), Adrak Masala Chai (spiced ginger tea)
To drink – Nimbu Pan (Indian lemonade)
Wines – 2021 Kamptal Riesling from Fred Loimer, Austria, 2017 Samt & Seide Blaufränkisch Prellenkirchen from Dorli Muhr, Carnuntum/Austria, Rampur Double Cask Indian Single Malt Whisky
The plates were made of palm leaf which is heat sealed. The leaves we’re hand picked by women from the forest. It’s a safe source of income in forest areas in India where women struggle to find work.
Sunday Lunch
Claudia Roden and the OFS Young Chefs: A Mediterranean Picnic
Devised by – Gamze Ineceli
To start – Gazpacho Andaluz, Mediterranean Nibbles (hardboiled eggs with aioli, olives, cherry tomatoes and baby cucumbers
Main course – Wrap/Chicken Inspired by Palestinian Musakhan, Wrap/Roast Aubergines & Peppers with Chickpeas and thick Tomato Sauce
Dessert – Sangria Jelly, Amandines
Wine – 2020 Rosé from Dorli Muhr, Carnuntum/Austria
After dinner events
Scott Barton & Marcia Zoladz
A Journey to Brazil
Gamze Ineceli & Cathy Kaufman
The Portable Foods Grand Bazaar
Elisabeth Luard, Jake Tilson & Ken Albala
Wrappit! A Game of Culinary Consequences
Parallel sessions & papers
Panel 1: By Rail – Bernard Sunley Lecture Theatre
— Inside the Box: Eating on the Rails in Japan
— ‘The Clever Dining Car Conductor’: The Creation of a Luxury Dining Experience on the Move in Britain, 1879-1948
— Food for Travel, Travel for Food: The Story of Ekiben
Panel 2: New Venues – Room A
— Mobile Gastronomies: A Case Study of Food on Wheels Culture in Hyderabad, South India
— Evolution of Dhabas and the Fading Practice of Safari-Khana
— Sticky Fingers on the Keyboard: Al Desko Dining in the Age before Deliveroo
Panel 3: The Vulnerable – Bernard Sunley Lecture Theatre
— Provisioning for Adventures: Meanings of Paddington Bear’s Marmalade Sandwiches
— ‘No kind of food? Just rubbish?’: Food Options and Family Meals of Visitors to Canadian Prisons
— Urban Nomads and Vagabond Food: Eating Away from the Table in Nineteenth-Century France
Panel 4: Preserved for Travel – Room A
— Connected Food: Preserving Traditional Food Practices via Portable Foods
— From the Steppe to Space: Portable Power of Qurut!
— Achar: An Unexpected Stowaway on the Ships of the Dutch East India Company
Panel 5: Carry it in Style – Bernard Sunley Lecture Theatre
— Consider the Lunchbox
— Travelling Silver for Those Not to the Manor Born: Old Sheffield Plate and Electroplated Silver in Travel Equipage and Cutlery, from 1730 to the Belle Epoque
Panel 6: Sugary Treats – Room A
— Sweets in the Pockets: Food, Gender and Indulgence in Early Modern Spain
— The Perils and Promises of Portability: Sweets and Snacks in Modernizing Japan
Panel 7: Traveller’s Anxieties – Bernard Sunley Lecture Theatre
— Dietary Advice for Travelers from the Mid Sixteenth Century to Early Seventeenth Century with Two Test Cases: Michel de Montaigne and Fynes Moryson
— Jewish Cooks in Medieval Fustat (Old Cairo): A ‘Non-Kosher’ Case from the Fourteenth Century
Panel 8: The Body and the Spirit – Room A
— Food for the Final Journey: Feeding the Soul in Hindu Death Rituals
— Don’t Eat Out: The Lactating Virgin in Twelfth-Century French Sculpture
Panel 9: By Air and Sea… and Foot – Bernard Sunley Lecture Theatre
— Serving the Global Nation: Menus from the Royal Dutch Airlines
— Cunard and Collins: Portable Food and Evolving Notions of Customer Service at Sea, 1840–1880
— Fair Food to Walk With
Panel 10: Trail Mixes – Room A
— Pemmican: An Ideal Trail Food
— Food for Walking: Food on the Backs of Travellers on the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro
— Portable Poetic Commensality: Reflections on the Use of Food Language in Ancient Israel’s Pilgrimage Songs (Psalms 120-134)
Pre-recorded presentations on: Migrations
— We Are Open, Says the City
— Pulling the Rabbit Out of a Half Loaf: The South African Bunny Chow
— An Exploration of Food Mobility through the Cultural Practice of Koseli in Contemporary Nepal
Pre-recorded presentations on: New Venues
— Mobile Gastronomies: A Case Study of Food on Wheels Culture in Hyderabad, South India
— Evolution of Dhabas and the Fading Practice of Safari-Khana
— Sticky Fingers on the Keyboard: Al Desko Dining in the Age before Deliveroo
Pre-recorded presentations on: Street Foods
— From the Ritual to the Street: Çiğ Köfte as an Example of Food Culture Change
— Istanbul’s Portable Food Practices in the Case of Dolma
— The ‘tacos de canasta’ (Basket Tacos) in the University: An Example of the Close Relationship between Informality and Mobility
Pre-recorded presentations on: Politics & Activism
— Dispatches from the Chicken Sandwich Wars
— Leaf-Wrapped Food Packages: Supporting Movements from the #endsars Protests to Migration
Pre-recorded presentations on: Defining Identities
— From ‘Peanut Weddings’ to ‘Beef Stands’: The Socio-Culinary History of Chicago’s ‘Italian Beef’
— Fair Food to Walk With
— Going to the Gahambar: Tradition and Invention in Parsi Community Feasts
Pre-recorded presentations on: Carry it in Style
— Consider the Lunchbox
— Wondering about the Wandering Tiffins: Preliminary Steps towards a History of Multi-Tiered Food Boxes
— Travelling Silver for Those Not to the Manor Born: Old Sheffield Plate and Electroplated Silver in Travel Equipage and Cutlery, from 1730 to the Belle Epoque
Pre-recorded presentations on: By Air and Sea
— Cunard and Collins: Portable Food and Evolving Notions of Customer Service at Sea, 1840–1880
— Serving the Global Nation: Menus from the Royal Dutch Airlines
Pre-recorded presentations on: Traveller’s Anxieties
— Dietary Advice for Travelers from the Mid Sixteenth Century to Early Seventeenth Century with Two Test Cases: Michel de Montaigne and Fynes Moryson
— Jewish Cooks in Medieval Fustat (Old Cairo): A ‘Non-Kosher’ Case from the Fourteenth Century
Pre-recorded presentations on: Preserved for Travel
— Achar: An Unexpected Stowaway on the Ships of the Dutch East India Company
— From the Steppe to Space: Portable Power of Qurut!
— Connected Food: Preserving Traditional Food Practices via Portable Foods
Pre-recorded presentations on: The Vulnerable
— Provisioning for Adventures: Meanings of Paddington Bear’s Marmalade Sandwiches
— ‘No kind of food? Just rubbish?’: Food Options and Family Meals of Visitors to Canadian Prisons
Pre-recorded presentations on: Sugary Treats
— Sweets in the Pockets: Food, Gender and Indulgence in Early Modern Spain
— The Perils and Promises of Portability: Sweets and Snacks in Modernizing Japan
Pre-recorded presentations on: Modern Miracles?
— Savour the Flavour?: A Portable History of Instant Coffee
— Cooking Summer by the Beach: Wellness Policies, Modernity, and Eurocentrism in Three Egyptian Cookbooks (1950-1968)
Pre-recorded presentations on: By Rail
— Food for Travel, Travel for Food: The Story of Ekiben
— ‘The Clever Dining Car Conductor’: The Creation of a Luxury Dining Experience on the Move in Britain, 1879-1948
— Food on the Move: Commensality inside an Indian Train Compartment
— Inside the Box: Eating on the Rails in Japan
Pre-recorded presentations on: Transgressive Eating in Public
— The Raw and Disorder: Portable Feast, Blood, and Raw Meat Salads in the Contemporary Political Movements in Thailand
— Eating in Public in Antiquity: Honorable or Obscene?
— Urban Nomads and Vagabond Food: Eating Away from the Table in Nineteenth-Century France
Pre-recorded presentations on: The Body and the Spirit
— Don’t Eat Out: The Lactating Virgin in Twelfth-Century French Sculpture
— Food for the Final Journey: Feeding the Soul in Hindu Death Rituals
Pre-recorded presentations on: Conquest and Conflict
— An Army Marches on Its Stomach: Portable Foods in War and Peace
— A Rational Approach: Portable and Practical Eating ‘Beyond the Seas’
— Hoosh, Dogs, and Seal Meat: The Role of Food in the Race to the South Pole
Pre-recorded presentations on: Rules for Picnics
— When the Lord Eats Away from the Table: Outdoor Food in Indian Gaudiya Vaishnavism
— Saraband for the Greek Picnics of the 1950s to 1970s: Keftedes (Meatballs) against Zwan (Luncheon Meat); La Vache qui Rit Processed Cheese and the First Canned Dolmades (Stuffed Vine Leaves)
— Picnicking in Iran: From Cemeteries to Ski Slopes, Caves, Traffic Circles, and Beaches
Pre-recorded presentations on: Trail Mixes
— Pemmican: An Ideal Trail Food
— Portable Poetic Commensality: Reflections on the Use of Food Language in Ancient Israel’s Pilgrimage Songs (Psalms 120-134)
— Food for Walking: Food on the Backs of Travellers on the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro
Live discussion with the presenters of the panel on: Migrations
— We Are Open, Says the City
— Pulling the Rabbit Out of a Half Loaf: The South African Bunny Chow
— An Exploration of Food Mobility through the Cultural Practice of Koseli in Contemporary Nepal
Live discussion with the presenters of the panel on: New Venues
— Mobile Gastronomies: A Case Study of Food on Wheels Culture in Hyderabad, South India
— Evolution of Dhabas and the Fading Practice of Safari-Khana
— Sticky Fingers on the Keyboard: Al Desko Dining in the Age before Deliveroo
Live discussion with the presenters of the panel on: Street Foods
— From the Ritual to the Street: Çiğ Köfte as an Example of Food Culture Change
— Istanbul’s Portable Food Practices in the Case of Dolma
— The ‘tacos de canasta’ (Basket Tacos) in the University: An Example of the Close Relationship between Informality and Mobility
Live discussion with the presenters of the panel on: Politics & Activism
— Dispatches from the Chicken Sandwich Wars
— Leaf-Wrapped Food Packages: Supporting Movements from the #endsars Protests to Migration
Live discussion with the presenters of the panel on: Defining Identities
— From ‘Peanut Weddings’ to ‘Beef Stands’: The Socio-Culinary History of Chicago’s ‘Italian Beef’
— Fair Food to Walk With
— Going to the Gahambar: Tradition and Invention in Parsi Community Feasts
Live discussion with the presenters of the panel on: Carry it in style
— Consider the Lunchbox
— Wondering about the Wandering Tiffins: Preliminary Steps towards a History of Multi-Tiered Food Boxes
— Travelling Silver for Those Not to the Manor Born: Old Sheffield Plate and Electroplated Silver in Travel Equipage and Cutlery, from 1730 to the Belle Epoque
Live discussion with the presenters of the panel on: By Air and Sea
— Cunard and Collins: Portable Food and Evolving Notions of Customer Service at Sea, 1840–1880
— Serving the Global Nation: Menus from the Royal Dutch Airlines
Live discussion with the presenters of the panel on: Traveller’s Anxieties
— Dietary Advice for Travelers from the Mid Sixteenth Century to Early Seventeenth Century with Two Test Cases: Michel de Montaigne and Fynes Moryson
— Jewish Cooks in Medieval Fustat (Old Cairo): A ‘Non-Kosher’ Case from the Fourteenth Century
Live discussion with the presenters of the panel on: Preserved for Travel
— Achar: An Unexpected Stowaway on the Ships of the Dutch East India Company
— From the Steppe to Space: Portable Power of Qurut!
— Connected Food: Preserving Traditional Food Practices via Portable Foods
Live discussion with the presenters of the panel on: The Vulnerable
— Provisioning for Adventures: Meanings of Paddington Bear’s Marmalade Sandwiches
— ‘No kind of food? Just rubbish?’: Food Options and Family Meals of Visitors to Canadian Prisons
Live discussion with the presenters of the panel on: Sugary Treats
— Sweets in the Pockets: Food, Gender and Indulgence in Early Modern Spain
— The Perils and Promises of Portability: Sweets and Snacks in Modernizing Japan
Live discussion with the presenters of the panel on: Modern Miracles?
— Savour the Flavour?: A Portable History of Instant Coffee
— Cooking Summer by the Beach: Wellness Policies, Modernity, and Eurocentrism in Three Egyptian Cookbooks (1950-1968)
Live discussion with the presenters of the panel on: By Rail
— Food for Travel, Travel for Food: The Story of Ekiben
— ‘The Clever Dining Car Conductor’: The Creation of a Luxury Dining Experience on the Move in Britain, 1879-1948
— Food on the Move: Commensality inside an Indian Train Compartment
— Inside the Box: Eating on the Rails in Japan
Live discussion with the presenters of the panel on: Transgressive Eating in Public
— The Raw and Disorder: Portable Feast, Blood, and Raw Meat Salads in the Contemporary Political Movements in Thailand
— Eating in Public in Antiquity: Honorable or Obscene?
— Urban Nomads and Vagabond Food: Eating Away from the Table in Nineteenth-Century France
Live discussion with the presenters of the panel on: The Body and the Spirit
— Don’t Eat Out: The Lactating Virgin in Twelfth-Century French Sculpture
— Food for the Final Journey: Feeding the Soul in Hindu Death Rituals
Live discussion with the presenters of the panel on: Conquest and Conflict
— An Army Marches on Its Stomach: Portable Foods in War and Peace
— A Rational Approach: Portable and Practical Eating ‘Beyond the Seas’
— Hoosh, Dogs, and Seal Meat: The Role of Food in the Race to the South Pole
Live discussion with the presenters of the panel on: Rules for Picnics
— When the Lord Eats Away from the Table: Outdoor Food in Indian Gaudiya Vaishnavism
— Saraband for the Greek Picnics of the 1950s to 1970s: Keftedes (Meatballs) against Zwan (Luncheon Meat); La Vache qui Rit Processed Cheese and the First Canned Dolmades (Stuffed Vine Leaves)
— Picnicking in Iran: From Cemeteries to Ski Slopes, Caves, Traffic Circles, and Beaches
Live discussion with the presenters of the panel on: Trail Mixes
— Pemmican: An Ideal Trail Food
— Portable Poetic Commensality: Reflections on the Use of Food Language in Ancient Israel’s Pilgrimage Songs (Psalms 120-134)
— Food for Walking: Food on the Backs of Travellers on the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro
