Proceedings of the Wellington Symposium of Gastronomy
Review by Colin Sheringham
Laura Kroetsch and Michael Symons, eds. Proceedings of the Wellington Symposium of Gastronomy: 11ath [sic] Symposium of Australian Gastronomy in Holiday Mood (Wellington: Symposium of Australian Gastronomy, 2001).
I should state up front that attending the Australian Symposia of Gastronomy has been one of the true pleasures of life for me. It was a sad realisation that I would be unable to travel across the Tasman to participate in the first New Zealand Symposium. While conscious that I would miss the conviviality and the wonderful food at least I could take comfort that I would be able to experience the intellectual component via the proceedings, no mater how long they took to publish.
It seems that if you take a proven formula, modify it slightly for local conditions then you can transport it into another culture and offer a product that tastes almost the same. The Wellington Symposium offered all the ingredients that have made the Australian Symposium stimulating.
Thirteen individual papers addressed a very broad range of topics, religious fasting (Marion Maddox), farmer’s markets (Jane Adams), regionalism (Margaret Brooker) or the Pavlova (Jennifer Hillier), to name a few. Many of the papers also traced a personal journey that helped illustrate the dynamic nature of a food culture. But, within the diverse topics, a number of familiar themes that have generated often-heated debate at past Symposia immerged. Is it just possible that it is these paradoxes that help maintain and fuel our interest in food?
By way of example, the disillusionment with Modernity surfaced in a number of papers. Fond memories of the past competed with praise for the new. There was stated disenchantment with the present coupled with a longing to recreate a vision of the past. Change it seems is contentious; especially the recognition of the importance of commerce as a driving force of change, whether in the past as part of colonisation or presently via the forces of globalisation. Here the ambivalent relationship that gastronomes have with the commerce of food came to the fore.
The Symposium may have been in ‘holiday mood’ but the brain was still challenged. I strongly recommend a leisurely read of these proceedings, accompanied by a glass of your local wine, both for the individually fascinating papers or collectively for the intellectual debate that they raise.
The success of each Symposium has been due to the passion of the individuals concerned; from my reading of the Wellington proceedings the passion is alive and well. The Symposium has a bright future. One can only wonder now that it has begun a global march how long it can be before we see a Symposium in Moscow?
For copies of the proceedings contact Laura Kroetsch, 2 Plunket Street, Kelburn, Wellington NZ. laura.kroetsch@vuw.ac.nz
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