Culinary Crossways: New Perspectives on the Gastronomic Heritage(s) of Asia

Roundtable Convenor(s)

• FF

  Francesca Frassineti

  Ca' Foscari University, Italy

Roundtable Chair(s)

• BK

  Bernard Keo

  The Graduate Institute, Geneva, Switzerland

Roundtable Participant(s)

• FF

  Francesca Frassineti

  Ca' Foscari University, Italy
• BK

  Bernard Keo

  The Graduate Institute, Geneva, Switzerland
• CC

  Catherine Chan

  Lingnan University, Hong Kong
• YK

  Yunhee Kim

  Seoul National University, Republic of Korea
• KL

  Katon Lee

  Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong

Roundtable Abstract:

Food is serious business in Asia. The region is home to many of the world’s great culinary traditions, which have developed their own unique cultural mores. At the same time, these cuisines have engaged in exchanges of ingredients and techniques with food cultures from outside the region that have come together to form new and distinct foodways. Within the countries that comprise Asia, dining experiences span the gamut from extravagant fine-dining at some of the world’s top restaurants to hearty home cooking to local fast food chains that rival the conventional behemoths to more humble and accessible street food which can be found in thoroughfares across the great cities of Asia. This rich culinary tapestry has been made possible by a mélange of people, ingredients, and techniques, all of which have been brought together by a long history of interconnectedness across the region and beyond it. 

This roundtable brings together a range of scholars spanning anthropology, cultural studies, environmental studies, history, international relations, sociology, and urban studies to rethink the food and foodscapes in, of, and from Asia. It serves as an interdisciplinary gathering designed to articulate innovative models of researching the myriad gastronomic heritages of Asia and generate new insights into the place of these culinary traditions within the region and far beyond it. With the intention of developing possible collaborations between not just the participants themselves but also with members of the audience in attendance, ‘Culinary Crossways’ will emphasise a format based on open dialogue centred not only on academic scholarship but from an experiential perspective as well. Each participant will provide a short presentation of their current academic work on Asian food and foodscapes that includes a discussion of their positionality and relationship to these topics, with the desire to prompt a high level of audience engagement. As such, we invite those planning to attend the roundtable to reflect on their own experiences with the food cultures of Asia through production or consumption or both and what that means in relation to the development, maintenance, and transformation of gastronomic heritage.