Whew
A year since my book, Cuisine and Empire came out. It’s been busy, it’s been fun, I’ve made so many new friends, so many good acquaintances, and scales have dropped from my eyes about how the food system actually operates, which has little to do with the way it’s represented in the media.
More of all this later, but for now just hurrah that I can relax a bit, and a heartfelt thanks to so many people who have made this such a special year.
November 11th. Talking with earth sciences students at the National University of Mexico.
Last week, thanks to good friend and historian of science Vivette Garcia Deister (second from right and do check out her eye-opening research), I had the chance to talk about long-ago life and work in history and philosophy of science in the 60s and 70s to students at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Much more closely related to food than you might think.
November 17th. Food: Origins, Innovations, Imagination, Cleveland, Ohio
And this week, it was a symposium in honor of the charismatic star chef, Ferran Adrià (second from right, next to his wonderful simultaneous translator, the author Sofia Perez). I was lucky to be on with someone I’d never had the luck to meet before, historian Felipe Fernández-Armesto (author of Food: A History) and with friend, computational linguist Dan Jurafsky (author of The Language of Food).
Behind are the local team and friends, l to r:
Farmer Jones, Chef Jonathon Sawyer, anthropologist Patricia Princehouse, historian of science and technology and very old friend, Alan Rocke, cosmologist and Director of the Institute for the Study of Origins Glenn Starckman, anthropologist Eileen Anderson-Frye (all at Case Western Reserve) and Jill Snyder (Executive Director, Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland).
MOCA was hosting the exhibit, Ferran Adrià: Notes on Creativity, curated by Brett Littman and organized by The Drawing Center, New York.
See what I mean about special?
Congratulations on the anniversary. I look forward to hearing more about your Damascene epiphany and “how the food system actually operates.”
Well, Damascene may be a bit much. And I don’t know how it actually operates. But I do know it’s not the way it’s represented.
It was so lovely to meet you, Rachel. I have admired your work for some time. A privilege to share the stage, in any capacity.
A mutual admiration society, Sofia. I’ve finally put together the various different capacities in which I’ve run across you. And then there’s the novel. That I really want to read.
And I remembered after the fact your amazing book on Hawaii. My friend and former Gourmet colleague Robynne–with whom I used to sit in the research library–is Hawaiian, and she was the first to rave to me about your book. Though she was not the last!
Thanks, Sofie. It’s amazing what legs that book has. It’s still sells a steady dribble after twenty years.
Many congratulations, Rachel!
Your proposal, Bala, is right at the top of my reading list.
I am so jealous that you were with Felipe Fernandez-Armesto. I LOVE “Near a Thousand Tables.” In fact I have bought it for several friends. Is he the sweet looking man in the vest sitting next to you?
The Goethe and science project is moving ahead.
Indeed he is. And he can be very charming.