Remembering Bad Cooks

Holtzman, Jon D.

doi:10.2752/174589210x12668381452881

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Certainly, there are many important points to take away from reading Holtzman. Importantly, he points to a tendency in much of anthropology to treat food and taste as stereotypically ‘Western’ forms of sensuality, drawing on epicurean sensibilities that are deeply situated in and particular to a dominant ideological and phenomenological discourse whereas hunger, lack, discomfort, and sickness may actually be more relevant points of reference in many parts of the world (Holtzman 2006 , 2010 ). This corporeal sensuality—“the catnip so many of us enjoy in food studies scholarship” (Gálvez 2020 :545)—also endow scholarly literature on food with an unusual allure: “That is, where a book on structural adjustment programs, for instance, has little potential for popular appeal, a book on camembert has potential marketability among high-brow, deep-pocketed cheese lovers.” (Holtzman 2006 :364) Although many phenomena exist on a spectrum of materiality and abstraction, few are at once as deeply sensuous and symbolically charged as food.…”

Section: Methodology and Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Of course, this privilege to frown upon certain foods or treat them as amusingly ‘retro’ is intimately tied to socioeconomic conditions (Wills et al 2008 ). Moreover, it has been argued that bad cooking may in fact be more memorable than good cooking (Holtzman 2010 ). Likewise, the food that we as children disliked but were forced or demanded to eat by parents or teachers can remain with us as life-long aversive embodied memories (Batsell et al 2002 ).…”

Section: Introduction: Food In Memory and Trauma Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Food and Trauma: Anthropologies of Memory and Postmemory

Strand

2022

Cult Med Psychiatry

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Much has been written about the multifaceted significance of food and eating from an anthropological perspective; the same can be said about the role of food in collective identity construction and nation building. In contrast, the nexus of food, memory, psychological trauma, and disordered eating has been less explored. The aim of this interdisciplinary article is to synthesize available knowledge on this topic by engaging with research literature in fields such as food history, anthropology, sociology, and psychiatry as well as autobiographical works, cookbooks, etc. One main section of the article focuses on the role of food and cooking in exile and refuge. Another section deals with the role of food in the aftermath of historical trauma, whereas a final section discusses various works on disordered eating in the wake of traumatic experiences. In sum, the dual nature of food and cooking—at once concrete and abstract, material and symbolic—offers an arena in which ambivalent memories of trauma can take on tangible form. The concept of postmemory may be useful in understanding how food and cooking can function both as a vehicle and as a remedy for intergenerational trauma.

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Section: Methodology and Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introduction: Food In Memory and Trauma Workmentioning

confidence: 99%