Week 5: Religion, Ritual, and Taboo

HIST 840
Syllabus
Weekly discussion materials
Some historic menus

Readings:

Reay Tannahill, Food in History, pp. 124-140 (Chap. 10: “China”)

The Bible, Leviticus, Chap.11 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=leviticus+11

Jean Soler (French diplomat and scholar of monotheism, d. 2019), “The Semiotics of Food in the Bible,” in Food and Culture: A Reader, ed. Carole Counihan and Penny Van Esterik (New York: Routledge, 1997), pp. 55-66.

Jeffrey M. Pilcher, ¡Que vivan los tamales! Food and the Making of Mexican Identity(Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1998), pp. 7-18.

Caroline Walker Bynum, “Fast, Feast, and Flesh: The Religious Significance of Food to Medieval Women,” in Food and Culture: A Reader, ed. Carole Counihan and Penny Van Esterik (New York: Routledge, 1997), pp. 138-158.

Margaret Visser, The Rituals of Dinner, pp. 33-37 (“Feasting and Sacrifice;” plus notes on pp. 360-1), 300-309 (“No Offence;” plus notes on pp. 374-5)

K. T. Achaya, Indian Food: A Historical Companion (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1994), pp. 61-71 (Chap. 6: “Indian Food Ethos”).

Article in NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/20/us/for-hindus-and-vegetarians-surprise-in-mcdonald-s-fries.html

Images of Virgo Lactans:

Images of the Virgo lactans, 12th-16th cent.:
http://www.riccardobrunetti.it/madallattanti.htm

Jean Fouquet, Melun Diptych, c. 1450; the king’s mistress Agnes Sorel was the model for the Virgin Mary (Antwerp):
http://paintinghistory.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/jean_fouquet1.jpg

Leonardo da Vinci, Madonna litta, 1490-91 (Hermitage):
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2562/3952562903_ebeb86a198_o.jpg

Images of St. Lidwina van Schiedam (d. 1433, aged 53), from an account published in 1498:
Skating accident, at age 16:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/Liduina_ijs.jpg
The bedridden saint visited by an angel:
https://i2.wp.com/catholicsaints.info/wp-content/uploads/saint-lydwina-of-schiedam.jpg?w=330&ssl=1

 

Videos:

What is kosher? (2:06 min.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifKFC4jYqS8

South Indian banana leaf lunch in Kuala Lumpur (3:34 min.):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUQYoDDQcMY&feature=related

World Food Markets: China (2:50 min.):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nq7pJ9-PP8w

Beijing Wanfujing Night Market (2:46 min.):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jO9DI94SPsM&feature=related

Shanghai Street Noodles (1:36 min.):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEkbRb2vCNQ&feature=related

How to fold tamales (1:57 min.):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fObQQ9Bv0xc&feature=related