Commensality: From Everyday Food to Feast

Description

Throughout time and in every culture, human beings have eaten together. Commensality - eating and drinking at the same table - is a fundamental social activity, which creates and cements relationships. It also sets boundaries, including or excluding people according to a set of criteria defined by the society. Particular scholarly attention has been paid to banquets and feasts, often hosted for religious, ritualistic or political purposes, but few studies have considered everyday commensality. Commensality: From Everyday Food to Feast offers an insight into this social practice in all its forms, from the most basic and mundane meals to the grandest occasions. Bringing together insights from anthropologists, archaeologists and historians, this volume offers a vast historical scope, ranging from the Late Neolithic period (6th millennium BC), through the Middle Ages, to the present day. The sixteen chapters include case studies from across the world, including the USA, Bolivia, China, Southeast Asia, Iran, Turkey, Portugal, Denmark and the UK. Connecting these diverse analyses is an understanding of commensality's role as a social and political tool, integral to the formation of personal and national identities. From first experiences of commensality in the sharing of food between a mother and child, to the inaugural dinner of the American president, this collection of essays celebrates the variety of human life and society.

Susanne Kerner is Associate Professor of Near Eastern Archaeology at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Cynthia Chou is Associate Professor and Head of Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Morten Warmind is Associate Professor and Head of Studies of Sociology of Religion at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

The coherence of these essays ensures that Commensality will be a useful addition to any food studies library. -- Barbara Santich, University of Adelaide * Petits Propos Culinaires * The contents of this fascinating volume range from the neolithic to the present, from the intimacies of breast-feeding to the display of political banquets ... Shows the depth and subtlety of insight into human experience that we gain from taking commensality seriously -- Francesca Bray, University of Edinburgh, UK