Food & Power: Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery 2019

Food & Power (Oxford Symposium 2019) was a vivacious gathering, and the debates were heated. The Jane Grigson lecture came from Joanna Blythman, on the differences between the natural, homely world, and that of commerce, resulting in food 'pyramids', for example how a traditional diet of fish and seal fat, the Innuit diet, can be seen to be the top of a pyramid shape, with the carbohydrates and fatty processed foods they sadly consume now forming the wide base. From Brexit food security to hunger strikes, feminist restaurants in 1970s Chicago, to lower class diners in Belle Epoque France, the symposium formed both opinions and new impressions.