{"id":2081,"date":"2024-12-10T09:17:32","date_gmt":"2024-12-10T07:17:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs2.abo.fi\/etnologi-folkloristik-norden\/?p=2081"},"modified":"2024-12-09T11:19:26","modified_gmt":"2024-12-09T09:19:26","slug":"cfp-anthropology-of-foods-extreme-foods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs2.abo.fi\/etnologi-folkloristik-norden\/2024\/12\/10\/cfp-anthropology-of-foods-extreme-foods\/","title":{"rendered":"CFP Anthropology of Foods: Extreme foods"},"content":{"rendered":"
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For this call, we suggest the concept of extreme foods, to explore foodstuffs and eating practices that in certain situations and contexts, for different reasons and in different ways, are pushed to the margins of the mainstream, while yet held symbolically important (Matejowsky 2013). By making what is perceived as extreme elements our focal points when studying food and eating practices (Veeck 2010; Rozin 1999) we wish to make boundaries visible: geographical, cultural, political, emotional and artistic. <\/span>We move our attention to the verge of things.<\/div>\n
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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).<\/span><\/p>\n

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).<\/span><\/p>\n

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 (Grad\u00e9n 2024).<\/span><\/p>\n

For instance, different kinds of fish enhanced with their strong smell and taste are part of Nordic identity. The putrid-smelling\u00a0<\/span>surstr\u00f6mming<\/span><\/em>\u00a0of Sweden, the ”stinky” lutfisk consumed and played with among Nordic Americans (Grad\u00e9n 2003), and the pungent and salty\u00a0<\/span>rakfisk<\/span><\/em>\u00a0of 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 & Gottz\u00e9n 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\u00a0<\/span>tarkin<\/span><\/em>\u00a0(meluha) fish are prepared like the Norwegian\u00a0<\/span>rakfisk<\/span><\/em>\u00a0and 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.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our call builds on the interesting conversations at the 2023 SIEF (International Society for\u00a0<\/span>Ethnology and Folklore<\/span>) panel titled ”Stinky Fish & Other Liminal Foods.” A question emerged: \u00abHow can we understand these larger-than-life foods and the stories, performances, rituals, and play surrounding their consumption?\u00bb. For this special issue, we welcome papers that discuss, e.g.\u00a0:<\/span><\/p>\n