‘Meals as Micro-rituals: How Eating Shapes Antarctic Tourists’ Perceptions of Climate Change’ is the title of a seminar that happened on January 14, 2022, online, organized by The SOAS Food Studies Centre in London, UK. Professor Clare Sammells of Bucknell University led the micro-exploration. This was one of the few scholarly gatherings to address in […]
If you are a researcher studying, say, concrete bridge structures, or microprocessors, then you probably wouldn’t have to be overly concerned about potential criticism from peers regarding the possibility that you might eat your research subjects. But this is not the case for all academic fields. Take for example, ‘Animal Studies’. A 2018 paper published […]
When it comes to eating in restaurants, some people like ambient music, some don’t like it, and others aren’t bothered one way or the other. But nevertheless, the question can be asked :- does the tempo of the music, measured in Beats Per Minute (BPM) affect customers’ Bites Per Minute (BPM) ? A unique study, […]
“This article examines how food can be used to access the zombie in performance as a means to reconfigure the eating body.” – explains Dr Jenny Lawson of Leeds University,UK, describing her data-gathering project Eating Minds which was undertaken in 2014 in Stockton UK. “The personal zombie-food-fantasies disclosed in Eating Minds were evocative of private […]
Eating popcorn in front of a mirror is a provocative act — provoking the urge to eat more popcorn — suggests this study: “The ‘Social’ Facilitation of Eating Without the Presence of Others: Self-reflection on Eating Makes Food Taste Better and People Eat More,” Ryuzaburo Nakata and Nobuyuki Kawai, Physiology and Behavior, epub 2017. The […]
“Cravings for rice, a Japanese dietary staple, have been reported for Japanese people. Deprivation of a craved food is known to increase the desire for it, but the effects of deprivation of rice have yet to be explored.“ Until now, that is … for investigators Sakura Komatsu,Yasushi Kyutoku, Ippeita Danc, and Kenjiro Aoyama at Doshisha […]
“Sharing a mealtime, but not truly eating together can cause social friction and discomfort. For instance, being closely observed whilst eating can feel awkward and disrespectful. The person who is last to finish the food may suffer the discomfort of being watched by their no longer actually eating dining companions.” What, if anything, might be […]
“Recent psychological studies have revealed that the amount of food consumed is influenced by both its actual volume and external factors during eating.” Therefore, reasoned a research team from the University of Tokyo, if a portion of food seems bigger, maybe diners would eat less of it? Their experimental real-time computer graphic kit creates the […]
‘Graphophagia’ is a new word (or neologism if you prefer) coined by Janet Beizer who is Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures at Harvard University. It’s derived from Greek, [literally ‘writing-eating’] and refers to a type of ‘Pica‘ – specifically a subset of ‘Xylophagia’ (i.e. eating wood or paper) but whereby practitioners not only eat […]
Vegetarians sometimes get challenged with questions along the lines of “If you think it’s unethical to eat animals, how about plants, maybe they have feelings too?” What are the ethical implications of/for a pea in a bowl of pea soup for example? Just such a question has been considered by Michael Marder, who is Ikerbasque […]