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Focusing on soy sauce exports from Hong Kong to the United States, this article traces the origin of the 'Made in Hong Kong' label to the US-led embargo on Chinese goods during the Korean War and explores the repercussions the recent Sino-US conflict generated on the label. By examining the history of an enterprise embroiled in two episodes of global trade disruptions, this article reveals how politically motivated US trade policies steered businesses in Hong Kong to pursue commercial opportunities by leveraging geopolitics, both global and local. Strategically capitalizing on Hong Kong's position during the Cold War that allowed local exports to the United States, Hong Kong entrepreneurs created an international product chain. When the latest Sino-US trade war erupted, Trump's elimination of the distinction between China-made and Hong Kong-made exports coincided with a wave of local consumerism in Hong Kong and unintentionally imbued meaning into homegrown products. From a commercially expedient marker aimed at satisfying the US government's anti-China trade requirements, the 'Made in Hong Kong' label has recently been repurposed as a badge of local pride and perseverance as Hong Kong/mainland tension escalated. Necessitated by global trade policies and infused with connotations of shifting geopolitics, the malleable 'Made in Hong Kong' label signified not only reactions to US policies but also fluid Hong Kong/China relations. In successive rounds of US-initiated trade disruptions, the place-of-origin label reflected Hong Kong's changing place in global geopolitics and the city's position vis-à-vis the PRC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we provide a framework for studying the ways in which food endures the passage of time. Central to our inquiry is the following Duration Question: when is it that the predicate-schema "Is an X-Food," where "X-Food" stands for a certain type of food (e.g., Champagne, yoghurt) ceases to apply to an entity? We show that the answer depends on two independent theoretical aspects: the underlying conception of food and the kinds of change that a specific food can undergo. We then argue that specific answers to the duration question should take the form of conceptual rethinking among different stakeholders (e.g., producers, consumers, institutions), where philosophers would feature among the experts guiding the negotiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eating local food has become a mainstream proxy for virtue and a reliable model of sustainable dieting. It suffers, nonetheless, from genuine criticisms and limitations. In this paper, we suggest theoretical amendments to reorient the local food movement and turn eating local into a robust concept—comprehensive, coherent, and inclusive, affording a firm grip over structural aspects of the food chain. We develop our argument in three parts. The first contends that 'local' can be said of lots of entities (e.g. whole or multi-ingredient foods, recipes, menus) and that its meaning varies depending on which entities are under consideration. The second examines three dimensions of being local: the distance from the place of production; the geographical origins; the social links to consumers and producers. The third presents our robust conception of eating local, grounded on a more realistic model that accommodates for heterogeneous and complex actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fermented foods have a valuable and positive impact on food security and prove to be an efficient way for improving food shelf life, reducing cooking time, preventing spoilage, and thus reducing waste. Keywords: Lebanese food; Spontaneous fermentation; Food identity; Traditional food; Microbial diversity; Deliberative democracy EN Lebanese food Spontaneous fermentation Food identity Traditional food Microbial diversity Deliberative democracy 589 600 12 07/12/22 20220601 NES 220601 The Challenge to Traditional Fermented Food and Beverages We address the crucial challenge for fermented food and beverage production of achieving the quality currently expected by international health and economic standards in terms of safety, nutritional values, and process manageability, without threatening the survival of the products and compromising their identity. Laban is a nutrient-dense fermented food containing bacteria and various macro- and micro-nutrients along with bioactive metabolites derived from fermentation. [Extracted from the article]

Featured Application: The data presented here recommend a systematic analytical flow based on a metabolomic approach to be applied for different foods, food bioresources or byproducts valorization, identifying the profile of valuable components, including phytochemicals, as authenticity biomarkers and health-promoting molecules. Functional vegetable oils are highly considered not only for their nutritional value, but also for their health benefits. The profile of phytochemicals responsible for their quality is useful also for the identification of possible mislabeling or adulteration. The comparative composition of eight categories (sunflower, pumpkin, hempseed, linseed, soybean, walnut, sea buckthorn and olive) of commercial vs. authentic oils was determined. Fatty acids, volatiles, carotenoids, tocopherols, and phenolic components were analyzed by gas- and liquid chromatography-based techniques coupled with diode array, mass spectrometry, or fluorescence detection. Classification models, commonly used in metabolomics, e.g., principal component analysis, partial least squares discriminant analysis, hierarchical clusters and heatmaps have been applied to discriminate each category and individual samples. Carotenoids, tocopherols, and phenolics contributed mostly, qualitatively, and quantitatively to the discrimination between the eight categories of oils, as well as between the authentic and the commercial ones. This metabolomic approach can be easily implemented and the heatmaps can be considered as "identity" cards of each oil category and the quality of commercial oils, comparative to the authentic ones of the same botanical and geographical origin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Commensality is a term that has been used by social scientists to address the practices that lead people to share a meal at a common table. Recently, food scholars have focused beyond the actual act of sharing a meal to specifically study the networks of relationships that come together to make this sharing of a meal possible. Through the analysis of three food-centered oral histories I gathered in 2018–2019 for El Paso Food Voices digital project, part of the Institute of Oral History at the University of Texas at El Paso, I illustrate how an individual's evolving relationship with food gives form to everyday commensalities. To understand the kinds of social transformations that emerge at the personal, familial, and community level, I am calling these commensalities ancestral, embodied, and responsible. The stories I present emphasize how each individual reached a turning point that changed them as cooks, infused food with culturally specific symbolism and socio-economic realities, and transformed cooking into an act of social responsibility. The overall goal is to stress that food is transformative and acts of significant social change are experienced through individuals' everyday culinary practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meat and, less so, dairy are contested for their significant ethical and social‐ecological impacts. Abjuring animal products, veganism is conventionally treated as a dietary ideology related to consumer identities. Drawing upon practice and materialist turns, this article explores variations in the performance of veganism and how its boundaries are drawn. Yet, rather than an eating practice, I suggest to look at veganism more broadly and conceptualised as a food practice which also involves provisioning. By example of stockfree organic agriculture (SOA), a production‐based, processual understanding is outlined by which plant foods are 'vegan' if animal by‐products are not used as fertilisers in crop cultivation. Thereof, a conceptual case is made to shift the focus away from veganism as a consumer identity and towards performative vegan food practices (VFP) as a global responsibility to reduce the 'long shadow' of livestock and maintain Earth as a relatively safe operating space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The migration of the Chinese community to Malacca in the 16th century has enabled the process of cross culturing and culinary acculturation, producing a unique mixture of Baba Nyonya food. Even though Baba Nyonya food is pretty much has been localised (Malay), its Chinese representation cannot be denied. This study aims to assess how the acculturation of the Baba Nyonya community affects Malacca food identity. A quantitative methodology is employed in this study. This study classifies Baba Nyonya food acculturation through (1) types of food; (2) methods of cooking; (3) ingredients; and (4) eating decorum. From the regression analysis, this study found that Baba Nyonya cultural polarity explains significant variation in the formation of Malacca food identity. This study then elaborates on the importance of Baba Nyonya food in Malacca destination branding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Boletin de Antropologia is the property of Universidad de Antioquia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Since Lévi-Strauss' declaration 'good to think, good to eat,' the social sciences have supported the idea that foods first have to be edible for our minds and only subsequently physically digested by our organism. If so, then it is culture that creates the categories that we use to classify foods. But, with the process of nutrionalization, food is understood as a collection of biochemical nutrients that are necessary in order to achieve the balance needed to live a long and healthy life. The categories scientists use to classify our foods have changed considerably. This fact implies an important qualitative change in our perception of food and our diet in its totality. With food technology, nutrition and genetics food identification (identity?) escapes the reach of today's citizens as members of each respective culture. In any case, even if our primary preoccupation seems to be exclusively nutrit ional, and today it is very easy to 'modify' the foods we eat and create new combinations to 'improve' our diet, we must not forget that those food habits that are damaging our health are also determined by sociocultural factors because when we 'modify' the original composition of a food, it seems that we are acknowledging the importance of such sociocultural factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research investigates the perceived images that “typical” Australian dishes evoke in the minds of consumers, including words they associate with descriptions of typical Australian dishes. A questionnaire designed and distributed among undergraduate students at various universities yielded 561 usable responses. Three predominant responses were associated with typical Australian dishes: grilled/barbequed meats, steaks, and meat pies. In addition, Australian dishes evoked four different images among respondents: positive (related to specific images e.g., barbequed foods), neutral, negative, and food related. Overall, the findings underline a limited knowledge. Consumer education could help broaden understanding and enhance images of the country’s culinary attributes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an analysis of Brazilian cooking, with a focus on cultural and historical aspects. It is the author's view that local cooking is part of an intangible cultural heritage and historical memory. Topics include the role of cookbooks in the preservation of a culinary memory, food history research in Brazil, and food habits.