madumbi

Thanks again Jamie - I have that on order in fact. And for you - do you know the work of the medievalist Kathryn Reyerson? Both of these might interest you: The art of the deal: intermediaries of trade in medieval Montpellier (Leiden, Brill, 2002) Society, law, and trade in medieval Montpellier (Aldershot, UK, Brookfield, USA, Variorum, 1995) madumbi

In the happy instance that you might be interested in our petite culinary culture, Thank you Jamie - sorry to have missed this earlier. I do have an interest in North American culinary cultures, although it's tangential to my main interests. My lecture to the first year Anthrop students on North American food websites is standing-room only though! madumbi

indeed - and i certainly would not claim to any fullness of understanding in a few hours (rather than a few moments) - just perhaps a little more than i had previously. and certainly not enough to even begin to discuss it in a public forum. but enough to give me something to ponder on. and i think you can rest assured that i won't be devoting any time to writing about it in any serious scholarly way - enough on my plate already without adding north america to it i'm afraid... sometimes though we can come to understandings of a field or a theme in interesting refracted ways - french markets through north american responses to them? it's got possibilities.... madumbi

excellent - thanks so much, i've located and ordered it - will take a while to get to me but i look forward to it. and to reading the de la pradelle which i also found on amazon.fr - this discussion has been fascinating for me. I think i have learned more about North American understandings of food and its cultural authenticities than i would have thought possible in a few hours of reading. and what i read made me want to read the book in its original text rather than in translation. like many others on the thread i have some experience over a number of years of shopping in french markets - mostly in and around the Doubs and the Jura, and centring on besancon. And perhaps because besancon is not a touristic town (at least for english-speaking visitors) the market there has always been for me a place to shop well, each day, and to discover my own tastes within the ranges of foods available there. There are indeed some peasants who still come down to town, with small quantities of chevre, salades, other vegetables, sometimes one person setting up a small table and selling for a whole family of small producers or even for a group of people from the same area (so one day one sees the one person, but next day someone else, but from the same group). I've had the opportunity over the years to visit a number of those people on their farms/small holdings and so I have seen directly the link between production and sale. A few years ago a market building was constructed on par tof the old market square in Besancon - only slowly has that become accepted and many of my friends are sufficiently conservative that they still patronise the fewer in number but still robust sellers who remain outside. Some of those - not the peasants - as well as all the sellers inside the hall, sell produce they have not grown/made themselves. It seems to me that one of the early lessons I learned about shopping in besancon (long before the covered market) was to know which of those sellers had a good eye and nose for produce at the wholesalers - whom i could trust to have the best tomatoes, the best mache, whatever. The authenticity then lay in the connection between the wholesaler and teh retailer - and what i had to learn was how to suss out which of the retailers best corresponded with my own requirements for freshness, taste, purity, etc. thanks again ptipois - the book will be on its way to me on 1 march .... madumbi

ptipois: just in case you are still here (and have not decided that the thread has gone on too long ....) - can you post the biblio details of your own work on markets? That you mentioned way back in this thread? Hachette I think you said? It sounded really interesting and I'd like to find a copy if possible (as another ethnographer of food and its cultural contexts). madumbi

incredibly evocative piece - thank you! can you talk some more about what is on the menus now? madumbi

But when Eva and I shirk our day-to-days, I'd surely like to spend more time in the Antipodes. We share a lot in common with our Commonwealth brethren: with apologies to Freddy Mercury, we're children of a common Queen. I particularly enjoy Vietnamese and Cambodian food, and the wine districts of South Africa call out. And I want to explore Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria, the latter two not so much for their cuisine as for their still quite untrammelled countryside. sorry - i don;t quite have the hang of this yet - but as an australian who is also a resident (some of the year) of south africa (kwazulu-natal - home of great curries) i wanted to ask about how much awareness of south african/australian cuisines/wines there is in what is obviously a very multi-cultural vancouver?

But when Eva and I shirk our day-to-days, I'd surely like to spend more time in the Antipodes. We share a lot in common with our Commonwealth brethren: with apologies to Freddy Mercury, we're children of a common Queen. I particularly enjoy Vietnamese and Cambodian food, and the wine districts of South Africa call out. And I want to explore Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria, the latter two not so much for their cuisine as for their still quite untrammelled countryside.

Margaret River/Yallingup region is about 3 1/2 hours south of Perth by car , a winery region, with masses of places to eat scattered across the countryside. The area (part of the "South-West") is partly agricultural (the wineries, dairy cattle, horticulture) partly forested, including old-growth native forest, karri trees which stretch up to 80-90 metres tall. Yallingup is on the world surfing circuit, stunning beaches up and down the coast "between the capes" (Naturaliste and Leeuwin), lots of good walking on the coast and in the forests. Lots of good eating and shopping too (because a lot of crafts people and artisanal producers work and live in the area). A lot of self-catering accommodation available, and the ingredients to go with it are just as accessible in Margaret River itself, but also Dunsborough, Augusta, and from the farms and producers across the area. Meelup/Eagle Bay are paradise if you like to be close to the water - lunch at Wise's and a walk along Meelup beach in the late afternoon followed by some fish on the barbecue for supper seems like a dream of the perfect day. Christmas/New Year is just about the busiest time of the year in the South-West - you will need to book early I think. But there is always some accommodation available later. The roads are easy to get around so the distances are not a problem - Lots of websites - try Margaret River, Yallingup and Eagle Bay as search terms. madumbi

Margaret River/Yallingup region is about 3 1/2 hours south of Perth by car , a winery region , with masses of places to eat scattered across the countryside. The area (part of the "South-West") is partly agricultural (the wineries, dairy cattle, horticulture) partly forested, including old-growth native forest, karri trees which stretch up to 80-90 metres tall. Yallingup is on the world surfing circuit, stunning beaches up and down the coast "between the capes" (Naturaliste and Leeuwin), lots of good walking on the coast and in the forests. Lots of good eating and shopping too (because a lot of crafts people and artisanal producers work and live in the area). A lot of self-catering accommodation available, and the ingredients to go with it are just as accessible in Margaret River itself, but also Dunsborough, Augusta, and from the farms and producers across the area. Meelup/Eagle Bay are paradise if you like to be close to the water - lunch at Wise's and a walk along Meelup beach in the late afternoon seems like a dream of perfection. Christmas/New Year is just about the busiest time of the year in the South-West - you will need to book early I think. But there is always some accommodation available later. The roads are easy to get around so the distances are not a problem - Lots of websites - try Margaret River, Yallingup and Eagle Bay as search terms. madumbi