OXFORD, Miss. – Warren Belasco, food scholar and renowned sociologist,
\nspeaks Tuesday (Oct. 13) at the University of Mississippi on the
\neconomic, historical and cultural impact of food studies.
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\nBelasco, professor of American Studies at the University of
\nMaryland, delivers the free, public address “Why Study Food?” at 6:30
\np.m. in the Tupelo Room of Barnard Observatory. The program is the
\nsecond annual Viking Range Lecture, sponsored by the Southern Foodways
\nAlliance, an institute of UM’s Center for the Study of Southern Culture.\n<\/p>\n
\nBelasco is the author of “Appetite for Change: How the
\nCounterculture Took on the Food Industry” (Cornell University Press,
\n1993), “Meals to Come: A History of the Future of Food” (University of
\nCalifornia Press, 2006) and “Food: The Key Concepts” (Berg Publishers,
\n2008). He is also the editor of the journal Food, Culture, and Society.\n<\/p>\n
\nBelasco will, in part, answer the question, “Why study food?” by
\nsaying that “food is the first of the essentials of life, the world’s
\nlargest industry, our most frequently indulged pleasure, the core of
\nour most intimate social relationships.”\n<\/p>\n
\nThe SFA’s mission is to document, study and celebrate the food
\ncultures of the American South. That mission is grounded in the notion
\nthat food is a lens through which a region as vast and diverse as ours
\ncan be seen and understood. Simply put, what and where and how a
\nSoutherner eats speaks volumes about who he or she is.\n<\/p>\n
\nIn “Key Concepts,” Belasco argues that food is not just a device
\nfor understanding a culture. Food is the culture. To fully understand
\nfood requires a complex interdisciplinary understanding of
\nanthropology, sociology, economics, politics and agricultural science.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe Viking Range Lecture series, underwritten by the Viking
\nRange Corp. of Greenwood, brings scholars, writers, and artists to the
\nOle Miss campus. Each lecturer, regardless of discipline, uses food as
\na vehicle for a greater understanding of self, community and culture.\n<\/p>\n