EDIBLE BOUNDARIES: Food, Identity, and the Material Culture of Eating and Drinking

Saturday 14th March 2026 - University of Warwick, UK

Keynote Speaker: Professor Anne Murcott (SOAS)

From sumptuary laws in medieval Europe to edible taboos among Islamic and Jewish communities, eating choices have historically reinforced boundaries. Yet food also facilitated unexpected connections: culinary hybridities can show the different faces of exploitation, colonial violence and resilience. Food-related feelings, like taste and disgust, are socially constructed and reflect power dynamics. Today, these issues persist: quinoa’s globalization raises ethical questions about Indigenous rights, while food deserts in urban centres highlight class and racial disparities in access to nutrition. From food being used to mould ideal bodies in 20th-century diet culture to eating the body of Christ through the eucharist and kitchen work being a gendered activity, food practices are key in almost every aspect of human life.

This conference aims to ground theoretical discussions on food, production, eating and drinking into concrete spaces and social actors. In a world grappling with cultural fragmentation and ecological precarity, food remains a universal language—one that carries the flavours of history and the seeds of change. Edible Boundaries invites participants to savour this complexity, exploring how the simple act of eating reveals the deepest layers of human experience.

We aim to bring together scholars working in the humanities and social sciences leading new conversations about food and drink. Selected contributions may be published as an edited collection in the Warwick Series in the Humanities (with Routledge). 

We accept proposals for 20-min papers touching on, but not limited to, the following topics:

• Medieval guild feasts and modern culinary tourism as performances of identity
• The role of food in colonial conquest and its contemporary reckonings
• Decentring global food histories
• Gender, labour, and the material culture of kitchens across eras
• The materiality of food, consumption and consumerism
• Climate anxiety and the revival of historical preservation techniques
• The paradox of “authenticity” in globalized foodscapes
• Food heritage, national cuisines and nationalism in the 21st century

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Conference Program

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Getting to the Conference Venue

All conference sessions will take place in the IAS Seminar Room, located within the Zeeman Building on Central Campus. Registration will be directly outside the room.

By train

• Travel to Coventry Railway Station. From there:
  • Bus: Take 11 (approx. 30 min) or 12X (approx. 20 min) to “University Interchange”.
  • Taxi: Approximately 15–20 minutes depending on traffic.

By bus (from Coventry city centre or station)

• Get off at “University Interchange”. This is the main bus station on Warwick’s Central Campus.

Walking from University Interchange to IAS (Zeeman Building)

• Walking time: approximately 10-15 minutes.
• Follow signs towards the Library, then Mathematics/Computer Science/ Zeeman Building.
• The Zeeman Building is located next to the Mathematics and Computer Science buildings.
• Please use the entrance marked on the map below.

By taxi / ride-hailing

• Destination: “Zeeman Building, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL”
• Please note that the Warwick campus has traffic restrictions and not all areas allow stopping or parking. If your driver cannot stop directly outside the building, the simplest drop-off and pick-up point is University Interchange, followed by a short walk to the venue (see above).

If you are driving

Use postcode CV4 7AL. Please follow campus signage for visitor parking. Only designated parking areas may be used.

Map

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Organizers: Jingyang Xu & Eloisa Ocando-Thomas