We understand food in all its forms as an expressive part of human life, connecting to questions of belonging and identity. The food’s trajectory and status as extreme and symbolically important hinges on several social and cultural implications. The choices and practices of eating seem to articulate sameness and otherness in complex ways (Fischler 1988; Schram 2011). Food and eating emerge as deeply meaningful, establishing, jelling, or challenging boundaries (Julier 2004). By being situational and susceptible to time, food and food making are in flux, never neutral, but questions of power (Jones and Long 2017).

The call suggests a discussion of such foods from a cultural analytical point of view, which includes, but is not limited to, seeing food and meals as performative aspects of human life (Kirshenblatt-Gimblett 2015) as expressions of belonging and symbols of heritage (Enson 2014), and as part of larger narratives of identity and belonging (Bowman et al 2015).

The definition of what constitutes extreme food will vary across food cultures and is highly individual (Veeck 2004), may include spicy and pungent tastes and smells, rare or unusual foodstuffs, as well as foods that are culturally taboo or considered unsafe and nonfamiliar. In other instances, it is the procurement of foodstuffs itself that is considered extreme and boundary-breaking, such as in the cases of poaching or freeganism. Often, the food has moved beyond its materiality and transformed into other playful iterations and artistic practices (Gradén 2024).

For instance, different kinds of fish enhanced with their strong smell and taste are part of Nordic identity. The putrid-smelling surströmming of Sweden, the ”stinky” lutfisk consumed and played with among Nordic Americans (Gradén 2003), and the pungent and salty rakfisk of Norway: all represent foods that are larger-than-life in the stories told about them and the ritual surrounding their consumption. They may represent nostalgia and childhood memories; their eating may resemble masculine initiation rituals (Reeser & Gottzén 2018), or the extreme foods may be a way of showing outsiders ”who we are” (Tolgensbakk 2018; Eckersley 2019). Who decides what foodstuffs mean and what they represent? (Jones and Long 2017) In Sudan, the tarkin (meluha) fish are prepared like the Norwegian rakfisk and are an essential part of Nubian national identity. The odorous character begs to explore why extreme foods lend themselves well to symbolic use and become heritage foods.

Our call builds on the interesting conversations at the 2023 SIEF (International Society for Ethnology and Folklore) panel titled ”Stinky Fish & Other Liminal Foods.” A question emerged: «How can we understand these larger-than-life foods and the stories, performances, rituals, and play surrounding their consumption?». For this special issue, we welcome papers that discuss, e.g. :

• the use of perceived extreme heritage foods in museums and heritage tourism;

• the use of specific extreme foodstuffs in the identity work of groups or in (re)presenting groups;

• gendered aspects of extreme foodstuffs and extreme eating;

• the ritualized performance of extreme foods as part of shaping migration heritages.

Deadlines

Abstracts: February 1st 2025

Abstracts of max. 12 lines, with max. 5 keywords, in English, should be sent to ida.tolgensbakk(at)norskfolkemuseum.no and lizette.graden(at)kultur.lu.se by February 1st 2025.

Full articles: June 31st 2025

In English, max. 8000 words including notes and bibliography, following AoF editorial norms (https://journals.openedition.org/aof/6899) will be expected before June 31st 2025.