Drug Foods, Fast Foods and Feasts: the Social Science of Eating

So this session was not absolutely about library services, but it was really treat for me and there was quite a bit to be learned.

The first speaker, Wendy Woloson, Curator of Printed Books at the Library Company of Philadelphia, told us the history of sugar in America (an abridged version of her book Refined Tastes: Sugar, Consumers, and Confectionery in Nineteenth Century America).  Especially interesting was the shift in attitudes toward sugar as it became more common and less expensive with time.  Initially, sugar was seen as a prized commodity, but eventually it was demoted to today’s junk food status.  From a luxury good available only to the wealthy it became a necessity for everyone and with it lost any glitter that it had previously possessed.

The second speaker, Gerald F. Patout, Jr. the Head Librarian at the Williams Research Center/Historic New Orleans Collection spoke about Louisiana food culture and culinary research.  This is his outline for culinary research which he applied in his own Louisiana cookbook collection, but which could probably be applied to any regional cooking research:

1. Bibliographies of cookbooks
2. Dissertations/Theses about culinary history will often include bibliographies of resources
3. Others’ book collections throughout history (for example, household inventories from previous eras)
4. The cookbooks themselves may include references to other books and resources
5. Serials
6. Newspapers- and where there is no index of early issues, this is quite the manual labor

He brought many examples of early Creole cookbooks, and spoke of the importance of these artifacts to the cultural history of a region.

The third speaker, Susan Tucker of the Newcomb Archives and Varhoff Library, Seltzer Gerard Reading Room, Newcomb College Center for Research on Women at Tulane University, is currently writing a book entitled Atomic Foods of New Orleans, which discusses in detail the twelve specific foods that reflect New Orleans. One such food: Bread Pudding.  In her words, this reflects the thriftiness in the home (i.e. using day old bread) and grandeur on the outside  (you’ll know what this means if you have ever tried good bread pudding).  Additionally, this shows the French influence of the region, since it is not a very sweet dessert; the French view of sugar is not to use it too excessively, instead to find a happy medium.

Tucker presented videos of oral history interviews about food that they had done prior to Katrina.  She spoke about the Slow Food movement and about the food-related problems in New Orleans, especially among the lower income neighborhoods, where no fresh produce is available and where the food culture has become more about fast food.  About Katrina and its aftermath she said that in the midst of the recovery effort you occasionally pause to think about how you can create a better society out of the disaster, but that living in the midst of it, you are basically in survival mode and have no time.  She encouraged the audience to think of ideas for improvement, since we might have more resources and time to do so.

She also handed out a list of food and drinks that we all must try in New Orleans: French Bread, Poor Boy Sandwich, Muffelletta, Jambalaya, Shrimp Remoulade, Gumbo, Turtle Soup, Stuffed Artichokes, Mirlitons and Shrimp, Red Beans & Rice, Jambalaya, Oysters, Crawfish, Boiled Shrimp and Crabs, Daube Glacee, Grits and Grillades, Creole Tomato Salad, Creole Cream Cheese, Beignets, Bread Pudding, Pralines, Calas, Cafe Brulot, Snowballs, Coffee & Chicocky and Sazerac Cocktail.  I’ll be sure to use this as a checklist for my next visit to New Orleans!

The fourth and last speaker was Jason P. Block, a doctore at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston who is originally from New Orleans and came back after the hurricane to help in Red Cross shelters.  Dr. Block’s role in the program came from an article he had co-written: “Fast Food, Race/Ethnicity, and Income: A Geographic Analysis” (American Journal of Preventive Medicine 27 (2004): 211-17).  His presentation focused around the obesity epidemic and its main factors:

- genetic
- physiological
- behavioral
- environmental (especially important to note: decreased availability of healthful products in low income, low education communities)

The solutions are complicated and much debated:
- educated people about portion size, calories
- Address problem of fast food as the only choice in many neighborhoods

One positive light: doctors who pay more attention to their patient’s  culture, background, etc. when instructing them about better habits (i.e. you can’t direct someone with a fixed income to shop at an upscale organic supermarket, but you can help them find a better diet with the resources they have).

The session ended up with a discussion to try and tie together all this food information and lore.  I am just beginning my exploration into library services and the library world in general, but as centers of information, libraries do have a role in educating people about better choices.