Cuisines: Regional, National, Global?
A Symposium hosted by the Research Centre for the History of Food and Drink
14-15 May 1999
Report by Andrew Ratledge
A quick glance through the program of the symposium tended to make a novice like myself a little nervous.
Many of the papers discussed topics with which I lacked any depth of knowledge — multiculturalism,
post-modernism and globalisation, for example.
It was, therefore, with great relief and pleasure that I listened as Sidney Mintz gave
the symposium a foundation of longevity and perspective.
He began by reminding us of the diversity of foods available to the more affluent portions of our global village.
This process started with the tea and sugar that became an integral part of the
British diet from the middle of the seventeenth century.
The technologies of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, such things as freezers,
packaged and canned foods and the improved transport facilities, have played a
part in the dilution to both national and regional cuisines.
His paper breathed some real history into the proceedings, reminding us that recent events are not
the only contributing factors in the globalisation of cuisines.
Elspeth Probyn with her very postmodern presentation, "Alimentary Assemblages", gave us a glimpse
inside her youthful focus group, whose members perceived food in a highly individualistic way.
Food, for them, is an extension of their identity. "What I eat and what I am are inseparable".
In a paper entitled "A Nice Baked Dinner...Or Two Roast Ducks from Chinatown" Jean Duruz took us to the place
where theory meets reality with the example of the busy Chinese/Australian homemaker, who was trying to balance
the convenience of western food with the cuisine of her homeland, while retaining
some semblance of her ethnic identity within her family.
"In this paper the postmodern family kitchen becomes the conduit of change,
the point where cuisines meet, are changed, creolised and globalised".
In the session on "The Imprint of History on Local Cuisine" Angela Heuzenroeder and Barbara Smith,
brought us a discussion on continuity and change, Angela through her paper about Barossa German cuisine and
Barbara with an equally interesting paper on "How Cuisines Evolve".
Angela told us of German settlers overcoming the problems caused by climate and distance,
replacing original German ingredients with "Bush Tucker".
Yet, despite this, they still succeeded in retaining much of their cuisine's ethnic authenticity.
It may also be the case that this regional cuisine, isolated by geography from its formative roots,
may indeed be more authentic that its modern European parent.
Barbara in her paper seemed to be cautioning us against rushing to the conclusion in this
postmodern age "that all things are new", pointing out that alongside the apparent rush of
change there is also a process of evolution at work.
The so-called "Mediterranean diet" is authentic and healthy, or is it no more than a sales pitch?
Pat Crotty questioned the value of diets removed from the location to which they owe their social integration.
Pat challenged the idea that such cuisines were actually healthy, even in their traditional setting, and
asked if the substitutions of ingredients in our affluent society render them little more than another marketing ploy.
In a quick excursion through Australian history John Newton's paper on "The Tyranny of Culture" asked
if there was such a thing as contemporary Australian cuisine. Newton pointed to the early Australians,
who would rather starve than eat the "bush tucker" that grew and hopped around them.
After discussing years of cultural stubbornness and making a short journey into multicultural cuisines,
Newton posed the question, "Is there now such a thing as Australian cuisine?"
Rosario Scarpato offered us an interim interpretation of global cuisine as an eclectic creature
that has no known parameters. Its region is the world and the only barriers it knows are the imagination of its chefs.
The responsibility for definition of this postmodern beast lay with gastronomic researchers, who
through their interpretations might have an impact on national cuisines greater than that
produced by the waves of foreign invaders.
Michael Symons whirled us through a cacophony of ideas about personal identity.
He discussed the gain or loss of identity in a society where one cuisine appears on the
breakfast table and another at lunch time.
Michael posed the question, "Should we along with postmodern authors welcome the
invigoration of living in a city of Strangers?"
His conclusion was one with which I felt comfortable, "Think globally and eat locally".
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