Welcome to Food History Reading Group. This reading group is convened by postgraduate students and postdoctoral researchers in the History Department at the University of Warwick. We aim to provide a friendly and inspiring environment to discuss different themes and approaches to food history, and welcome students and scholars from different disciplines to join in our discussion.

Sessions are held once a month at term times. During each session, one group member will convene the session and lead the discussion. Each meeting will be on a different topic, and please do feel free to only join us for the discussions that interest you!

We look forward to seeing you in our next session. Please email this address if you would like to join us and to access the readings: foodhistory@warwick.ac.uk or contact this session's convenor (below). Thank you!

NEXT EVENTS:

Tuesday 26 November, 11am-12pm
FAB 4.79Link opens in a new window

Convenor: Jingyang Xu

For this session, I have selected two readings that examine the ways in which food, identity, and national sentiment intertwine, with a particular emphasis on cultural perspectives surrounding meat. The selected readings are:

Waddington, Keir, ‘“We Don’t Want Any German Sausages Here!” Food, Fear, and the German Nation in Victorian and Edwardian Britain’, Journal of British Studies, 52.4 (2013), pp. 1017–42. – This article examines how German sausages became a focal point for anti-German sentiment in Britain from 1850 to 1914.
 

Otter, Chris, ‘Hippophagy in the UK: A Failed Dietary Revolution’, Endeavour, 35.2–3 (2011), pp. 80–90. – Contrasting it with attitudes in France, this piece delves into the cultural and social resistance to horsemeat in Britain.

To see our past events and discussions, please look here. You can also find the programme for our 2021 Conference here.

'Floating grocery' ca.1800-1820
/V&A collections

'Morning Coffee' 1739

François Boucher/ Musée du Louvre

Food shop in India. ca.1870s

Kindly supported by Warwick Food GRP