AGST Module 1 (Environmental policy & Rural development studies) will hold a special seminar titled “Understanding the Diversity of Local Food: How National Cuisine Evolves in Everyday Cambodian Restaurants” on May 28, 2015.
[Speaker]
Dr. Hart N. Feuer
Assistant Professor (JGP), Kyoto University
[Time & Date]
Time: 16:30-18:00
Date: Thursday 28 May 2015
[Venue]
Room E217, Faculty of Agriculture Main Bldg.,
North Campus, Kyoto University
[Abstract]
The owners of pre-prepared food restaurants (or soup-pot restaurants) in Cambodia and many other Asian countries make their decisions about what to cook in a complex manner, factoring in their culinary skill, seasonality of ingredients, and diners’ expectations for variety. As such, soup-pot restaurants exist as brokers between the diverse range of rural food customs and the prevailing expectations of city dwellers. In urban areas, everyday restaurants such as these are a window into seasonality and market cycles of food, as well as an opportunity to encounter culinary diversity and participate in the formulation ‘national cuisine’. Typically, soup- pot restaurants can accomplish this while also serving as a space of dietary learning, providing meals that are culturally understood to be balanced and nutritious, and garnering support for local cuisine from across the socio-economic spectrum. Indirectly, these restaurants can be seen as potential innovators for managing the consequences of industrialization on food and agriculture, facilitating democratic daily practices of food sovereignty.
[Event Report] Updated on 24 June
The special seminar by Dr. Hart N. Feuer, Project Specific Assistant Professor (JGP), attracted 29 participants, mostly faculty members and graduate students from the division of natural resource economics in the graduate school of agriculture. Dr. Feuer’s 45-minute presentation, entitled “Understanding the Diversity of Local Food: How National Cuisine Evolves in Everyday Cambodian Restaurants,” was very informative and interesting. It was followed by a lively 45-minute question and answer session in which PhD students from Southeast Asian Countries such as Thailand and Indonesia, in particular, actively participated.
[Photos] Updated on 24 June
