Just a taste

The mid-1960s Midwestern neighbors of famille Bourride weren’t exactly sophistiqué when it came to food, lutefisk and walleye pudding the apogees of their cultural cuisine.

So mon père was always trying to get them to branch out, quixotically preparing new dishes for neighborhood potlucks. Alas, the insouciance with which he was often met meant that we enjoyed his untouched contributions—including his very best Western and Eastern dishes—the next day as leftovers.

Thankfully things are a bit less provincial here in Chico, and Henri was delighted to learn that Chico State’s School of Humanities had chosen Food and Culture as this year’s programming theme.

With a talk and tasting on slow food having kicked off the symposium last week, the second event brings Darra Goldstein, professor of Russian at Williams College in Williamstown, Mass., and the founding editor of Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture as well as the author of four cookbooks, including A Taste of Russia and Baking Boot Camp, to the campus. Goldstein also edits the California Studies in Food and Culture book series from UC Press, forthcoming (2015) works including The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets and Fire and Ice: New Nordic Cooking at Home (Ten Speed). Henri was thrilled correspond with her last week via email.

Really? Food and culture, an area of academic study?

Absolutely, though it’s still struggling to be taken completely seriously. Part of the problem is that it’s perceived as both too pleasurable and not cerebral enough. But the study of food offers fresh ways of looking at virtually every discipline, [touching on issues of] culture, gender, class, race, ethnicity, war, economics, politics, biochemistry, the environment and much more.

What are your early memories of food and cooking?

I grew up in Pittsburgh, and from the start I loved being in the kitchen. My grandmother often came to stay with us, and from an early age I remember being struck by the magic of dough transforming in the oven, especially when she made rugelach.

How did you first get interested in cooking, and what were the first connections you saw between food and culture?

My senior year in high school we had moved from a Chicago suburb to a small town in Texas, and the school didn’t have much to offer. I was bored, and my indulgent parents let me stay home a lot. I made my way through the 12-volume Woman’s Day Encyclopedia of Cookery, which offered not only recipes but food history [and] introduced me to the idea of food as cultural identity.

To what degree can you separate yourself from your work and just have fun in the kitchen and at restaurants?

I often bake to relax, so the kitchen’s not a loaded zone for me, unless I’m testing recipes. But restaurants are harder, as my critical mind always seems to kick in.

Can you make any generalizations about U.S. food and culture, other than to say it’s diverse?

I actually think that we’re moving back towards an appreciation of individual traditions, even if the mainstream food system has been homogenized. I see that in the number of young people wanting to bring our food back to a more healthful place, and to celebrate all that is homemade, which now has the cachet of “artisanal.”

It’s hard not to be cynical about the co-opting of “natural” and “organic” foods, and about continuing practices in industrial agriculture, [but] at least there’s greater awareness of what is good for us, and for the country as a whole. And because many schools are including food education in the curriculum, starting in elementary school, and trying to improve lunchtime offerings, young people will be more inclined to think about where our food comes from.

Can you give an indication of what your talk will be about?

It will be a romp through a millennium of Russian history and culture, looking at the land and the politics that have shaped Russian cuisine [since] Russia was unified in 988 when it accepted Christianity.