Tasty Food for Thought

Posted: December 17, 2009

Oxford, England-The annual Oxford Symposium on Food & Cookery took place on a crisp English weekend in September, when 260 scholars, chefs, and food lovers convened to chew over their favorite subject. Symposiasts, as they're called, came mostly from the United Kingdom and the United States. The theme this year was "Food & Language," and topics of the learned papers ranged from "Sex, Food, and Valentine's Day: A Linguistic Analysis of Parisian Restaurant Menus" to "The Hermeneutics of Wine Criticism."

But lots of eating, drinking, and networking were also stirred into the academic pot. Highlights were an exceptional dinner orchestrated by Raymond Blanc (of Michelin-starred Le Manoir aux Quatr' Saisons, outside Oxford) and a stimulating keynote talk by Simon Schama, the eminent British historian, educational TV personality, and Columbia professor. Yet more feasting was a Samuel Pepys-themed meal directed by Fergus Henderson, celebrated chef/owner of London's St. John restaurant and early champion of nose-to-tail cooking. From thin slices of ox tongue to savory pies of venison and pig's trotters to whopping slow-roasted shins of beef, his dinner was accompanied, as Pepys would say, "with plenty of wine and mirth." The only ones not amused were ardent vegetarians. Over the weekend the guest chefs were assisted by Tim Kelsey and his staff at St. Catherine's College. Most attendees agreed that the meals, which are included in the forum fee, were the best in its history. (The Oxford Symposium began in 1979 with just 18 food-loving scholars conversing around a college conference table interspersed with potluck meals.)

Schama's address was titled "Mouthing Off: Reflections on Eating and Uttering." He pointed out that the tongue is one of the most vital parts of the body and that, while eating thin slices of an outsized ox tongue is OK for many, they would be leery of consuming lamb's tongue since it's too close in size to their own. Several panel discussions ranged from the obscure: "Culinary Traditions in Early Bantu Speech Communities" to the timely: "Can an Author be Protected from Plagiarism on the Internet?" Chairing the panels were scholars, editors, and cookbook authors such as Madhur Jaffrey, Darra Goldstein, Claudia Roden, and Julia Child's editor, Judith Jones.

Blanc's banquet, titled "The Language of French Gastronomy: From the Raw to the Cooked," opened with a tomato essence served in a teacup with a peeled cherry tomato rolled in smoked black salt flakes. Succulent braised ox cheeks were served family-style with wild mushrooms, root vegetables, and mash, followed by French cheeses and a photogenic apple and cider mousse with Granny Smith sorbet.

The next Symposium will be July 9-11, 2010. For info: www.oxfordsymposium.org.uk. -Anne Semmes