© Jamie Robertson 2016
1st Global Conference
Food and Drink in the 21st Century
including a guided walking and tasting tour of historical and cultural food and drink sites in Lisbon
Saturday 17th March 2018 – Sunday 18th March 2018
Lisbon, Portugal
Food and Drink in the 21st century have become far more than simply sustenance and succour. As cooking shows, slow-food movements, culinary adventure travel and rallies around national or regional ingredients have become common-place in some areas of the world, in others food anxiety, scarcity, and quality have suffered. While these opposing forces surrounding food and drink are not necessarily correlative, they are all indicative of the vital importance of food in our lives today. Food and drink have become so much more than simply or even only about keeping us alive and now they entail, encompass, and engender a wider range of intertwining meanings and possibilities.
Our goal at the Progressive Connexions Global International Food and Drink Event in Lisbon is to address those meanings and possibilities from a range of perspectives including presentations, performances, demonstrations, round-table discussions, walking/eating/drinking tours, and more in a context in which all aspects of food and drink are open for examination. We have chosen Lisbon as our event location for its long and rich traditions around food and drink, and for its unique, international appeal to those seeking new tastes and new cultural adventures.
Unlike other conferences or gatherings, our Event proposes to step outside the traditional conference setting and offer opportunities for independent scholars, academics, performers, chefs, historians, food buffs, writers, and connoisseurs to intermingle, providing platforms for interdisciplinary interactions that are fruitful and conducive to broadening horizons and sparking future projects, collaborations, and connections.
We are excited to accept proposals for presentations, performances, round tables, panels, interactive workshops and more. Below is a non-exhaustive list of possible approaches gathered into potential categorical themes, some of which overlap. Please feel free to mix and match; our goal is to have a lively, exciting, and innovative event wherein all aspects of food and drink can be explored. Some items appear in more than one category.
Food, Drink and Identity: national cuisines as a manifestation of identity; food disasters and crimes; famine and hunger; smuggling (e.g. Prohibition in USA and USST); crimes committed for food (e.g. Golodomor); fast food and its spread via the process of Globalization; the effect of Globalization on food around the world (i.e., rise of national & regional food movements); vegetarianism and veganism and their prevalence, rise and fall, as political statement; food activism; authentic food, local cuisine, the heritage of food; food as power.
Food as Luxury/Food Snobbery: food as metaphor for class, wealth, privilege (as opposed to the labourers who farm the land to produce the food); veganism, vegetarianism, fad diets, food waste; eating and drinking contests?
Food Porn: a theme which interleaves many of the areas in this list, including popular culture, visual culture, illness and disease. Food and drink in photography; picturing food; filming drink; glamourising food and drink. Creating cultures of excess.
Food as Business: food and drink marketing; the growing, selling, buying, distribution; from source to plate; food and drink as an industry; food and drink tourism; the rise of local markets; eating local vs. food production on world-wide scale; policy planning and food; food sustainability; access to food; food poverty; communities and food; brand management.
The Future of Food & Drink: the future of food; food and technology; food and the consumer; market demand and designer food.
Food & Drink in Popular Culture: food, drink and storytelling; food and wine in literature, cinema, music, opera, in the media (TV, film, news shows, talk shows, commercials); food and drink on the screen; food and drink in cartoons and children’s shows—food as poison, food as trap; food and drink in fairy tale (poisoned apples, pomegranate seeds, bags of unending food, magic beans, etc.); food and drink as fetish.
Food & Drink in Visual Culture: food bloggers and writers; food as fetish; food and privilege: the culture of nom – look at me; food and drink as performance; advertising food and drink; food and drink as social cues in advertising; brand placement
Food, Drink and Travel: food and drink pictures on social media; the Facebook phenomenon—look how great my life is; food and drink on vacation; food tourism; wine tours; food bloggers and writers; food and drink as gestures of hospitality (obligations created, warnings given)
The Places and Spaces of Food and Drink: architecture, food and drink; where do we eat; how spaces are designed around food and drink; the role of the chef, sommelier, wait staff; the menu as a form of literature; the wine list as visual literacy; morals and ethics surrounding food and drink; food and drink and rituals
Food, Drink and History: banquets in Medieval world (“Symposium,” orgies, Herod and Salome, Beowulf’s mead hall, etc.); sumptuary laws; café culture / coffeehouses as common space, the commons, conversation, etc; changing morals and ethics surrounding food and drink; food and drink as gestures of hospitality, obligations, warnings, curses, traps, etc; the rise of fast food / fast culture
Food, Drink, Myth and Religion: food and drink as gestures of hospitality / obligations, warnings, curses, traps, etc; religious symbolism of food and wine in Bible, Koran and other sacred texts; food and wine in Greek and Roman myth; Bacchus; etc.
Food, Drink and Children: baby food vs. adult food; picky eaters; food and drink in cartoons and children’s shows; food and drink in fairy tale – poisoned apples, pomegranate seeds, bags of unending food, magic beans, etc; marketing food to children; Happy Meals (and their UK and world-wide equivalents); fast food and children’s health
Food, Drink, Health and Illness: food allergies, food and drink addiction and disorders; diets; changes in food and drink patterns as we age from childhood to adulthood; vegetarianism and veganism; fast food and its effects on health; eating local; food fads; etc
What’s so special about Progressive Connexions events?
A fresh, friendly, dynamic, format – at Progressive Connexions we are dedicated to breaking away from the stuffy, old-fashion conference formats, where endless presentations are read aloud off powerpoints. We work to bring you an interactive format, where exchange of experience and information is alternated with captivating workshops, engaging debates and round tables, time set aside for getting to know each other and for discussing common future projects and initiatives, all in a warm, relaxed, egalitarian atmosphere.
A chance to network with international professionals – the beauty of our interdisciplinary events is that they bring together professionals from all over the world and from various fields of activity, all joined together by a shared passion. Not only will the exchange of experience, knowledge and stories be extremely valuable in itself, but we seek to create lasting, ever-growing communities around our projects, which will become a valuable resource for those belonging to them.
A chance to be part of constructing change – There is only one thing we love as much as promoting knowledge: promoting real, lasting social change by encouraging our participants to take collective action, under whichever form is most suited to their needs and expertise (policy proposals, measuring instruments, research projects, educational materials, etc.) We will support all such actions in the aftermath of the event as well, providing a platform for further discussions, advice from the experts on our Project Advisory Team and various other tools and intellectual resources, as needed.
An opportunity to discuss things that matter to you – Our events are not only about discussing how things work in the respective field, but also about how people work in that field – what are the struggles, problems and solutions professionals have found in their line of work, what are the areas where better communication among specialists is needed and how the interdisciplinary approach can help bridge those gaps and help provide answers to questions from specific areas of activity.
An unforgettable experience – When participating in a Progressive Connexions event, there is a good chance you will make some long-time friends. Our group sizes are intimate, our venues are comfortable and relaxing and our event locations are history-laden and suited to the event. And to further tickle your appetite for exploration, learning and discovery, our Lisbon 2018 event package includes personalized tours of some of the most relevant historical and cultural sites in the city.
What to Send
The aim of this interdisciplinary conference and collaborative networking event is to bring together academics, professionals, practitioners, NGO’s, voluntary sector workers, in the context of a variety of formats: papers, seminars, workshops, panels, q&a’s, etc.
300 word reviews of your proposed contribution (paper abstracts, proposals for workshops, collaborative works or round tables, overviews of artistic projects or any other relevant forms of participation you are interested in) should be submitted by Friday 20th October 2017.
All submissions will be minimally double reviewed, under anonymous (blind) conditions, by a global panel drawn from members of the Project Advisory Team and the Advisory Board. In practice our procedures usually entail that by the time a proposal is accepted, it will have been triple and quadruple reviewed.
You will be notified of the panel’s decision by Friday 3rd November 2017.
If your submission is accepted for the conference, a full draft of your contribution should be submitted by Friday 16th February 2018.
Abstracts and proposals may be in Word, PDF, RTF or Notepad formats with the following information and in this order:
a) author(s), b) affiliation as you would like it to appear in the programme, c) email address, d) title of proposal, e) body of proposal, f) up to 10 keywords.
E-mails should be entitled: Food and Drink Submission
Where to Send
Abstracts should be submitted simultaneously to the Organising Chair and the Project Administrator:
Teresa Cutler-Broyles: teresa@progressiveconnexions.net
Project Administrator: lisbonfood@progressiveconnexions.net
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Ethos
Progressive Connexions believes it is a mark of personal courtesy and professional respect to your colleagues that all delegates should attend for the full duration of the meeting. If you are unable to make this commitment, please do not submit an abstract or proposal for presentation.
Please note: Progressive Connexions is a not-for-profit network and we are not in a position to be able to assist with conference travel or subsistence, nor can we offer discounts off published rates and fees