Events by SIEF Working Group on Food Research
FUTURE EVENTS
The next Working Group conference will be hosted at the Institute of Slovenian Ethnology ZRC SAZU in Ljubljana in 2026.
PAST EVENTS
SIEF 24th International Ethnological Food Research Conference:
Living Eating Habits, Revitalized Foodways and the Concepts of Tradition and Food Heritage
Museum of Ethnography, Budapest, Hungary
18-20 September 2024
The 24th conference of the SIEF Food Research Working Group, titled Living Eating Habits, Revitalized Foodways and the Concepts of Tradition and Food Heritage, was held in Budapest from September 18–20, 2024, organized by the HUN-REN Institute of Ethnology of the Faculty of Humanities and the Ethnological Museum.
Over the three days, 44 speakers from 14 countries gathered over three days across 9 sessions to examine the role of food and related traditions in shaping or preserving the identities of communities, with a focus on globalization, festivalization, and sustainability.
Since its establishment, the group has met regularly every two years, publishing their findings in conference proceedings. The conference proceedings are underway and will be edited under the careful supervision of former and hardworking working group president Patricia Lysaght and organizer Anikó Báti.
SIEF 23nd International Ethnological Food Research Conference:
Food, people and the city. Comparative perspectives
MAS Museum, Antwerp, Belgium
September 21-23, 2022 (postponed because of corona crisis)
SIEF 22nd International Ethnological Food Research Conference
Tradition and nutritional science in the modern food chain
26 - 29 September 2018
Kalamata, Greece
3rd circular update available now:
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Organisers
Prof. Antonia Matalas, School of Health and Education,
Harokopio Univesity, Athens
Prof. Philippos Papadopoulos, American Farm School, Thessaloniki
Conference Theme
People are influenced by a variety of factors when they choose their food: culinary traditions, socialisation, peer influence and quality. Food quality is closely linked to people’s perceptions of what constitutes “good” and “bad” food. In the past, the quality of food was determined by culinary traditions and cultural norms, while in modern times, technological progress has narrowed the way people view food and, at the same time, has posed new complex questions about what is good to eat and what is not. Thus, health and nutritional information constitutes an important element whenever people engage with food. The conference aimed to discuss how health concerns converge with, or, on the contrary, diverge from, the traditional “gastronomic” view, in various facets of the food chain.
Organisers invited papers covering any topic related to the convergence with, or the divergence from, gastronomy and health sciences, including, but not limited to, the following:
- Promotion of local and ethnic cuisines: tradition versus health.
- Healthy eating and the appropriation of cucina povera by the upper classes.
- Process versus form in traditional foods: can an industrially-made traditional item be considered authentic?
- Social and historical aspects of professionally-endorsed dietary advice.
- Healthy eating models and the ways in which these are perceived by various actors: e.g. what are the connotations of the Mediterranean diet according to health professionals as opposed to those attributed to it by the professionals in the food service?
- Shifts in food evaluation across time, cultures, age groups etc.: e.g. discuss changes observed in the status of a particular food item, from being viewed as a good / healthy food to being regarded as a bad / unhealthy one.
- Does the presence of nutritional information affect food enjoyment?
- Are the media (e.g. TV cooking shows with an emphasis on nutritional facts and novelty) destroying or facilitating mother's traditional nourishing role?
SIEF 21st International Ethnological Food Research Conference
Places of Food Production. Origin, Identity, Imagination
31 August to 2 September 2016, Heidelberg (Germany)
organized by Prof Dr. Silke Bartsch (PH Karlsruhe - University of
Education Karlsruhe)
The SIEF 21st International Ethnologicial Food Research Conference in Heidelberg took place from 31 August to 2 September 2016. The aim of the conference was to analyse the interaction between food, self conceptions and region. Therefore, the conference took a close look at places of food production. The Conference theme was divided into three thematic streams: Food and Region, Hidden/Visible Food and Imagination about Food, Alienation and the Handling of Food.
