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The Eastern Shore of Virginia is a narrow peninsula separating the Chesapeake Bay from the Atlantic Ocean. Residents of the rural counties of Accomack and Northampton County share a strong sense of cultural identity based on geography, rooted in a distinct communal sense of place reinforced by an agricultural lifestyle. Storytelling around dinner tables and on front porches at dusk, speeches at high school graduations, family recipes talked through in a grandmother’s kitchen – it is through oral language that Eastern Shore people have primarily shared the knowledge that sustains their sense of communal identity. Oral knowledge of farming techniques and land use are handed down generation by generation through material lessons in the fields and woods. The most natural and effective research method for understanding Eastern Shore culture and its peoples’ sense of place is the collection of oral histories. The interviews collected for the Eastern Shore Stories project focus on farm life on the Eastern Shore of Virginia in the mid-twentieth century, before the widespread use of electricity, tractors, or chemicals. The stories from the interviews seem quaint individually – nostalgic stories of how things used to be – but as a body of interviews, they accrue a weight and a coherence that offer interesting counterpoints to pervasive assumptions about progress and technology. It is those interesting counterpoints that this dissertation explores. This researcher expected to hear about plowing behind a team of mules and scratching out potatoes. She did not expect to hear retired farmers speak of the loneliness of modern farming, of how 2,500 acres used to support fifty families and now barely supports one. What emerged from the collective interviews was a sense that the industrialization of agriculture in this local community has caused unforeseen losses and those losses, however intangible, have been deleterious. Despite this, people from the Eastern Shore struggle to retain a sense of communal identity, defined by geography and familial connections. Their sense of belonging to this particular place persists in the face of rapid technological and cultural changes, creating tension between the place as it was and the place as it evolves in the twenty-first century.

“Eating German, the American Way” explores how and why the mayonnaise-based potato salad came to be a staple of American culinary tradition. It examines how native-born Americans and German immigrants in the nineteenth century identified themselves based on their culinary traditions and what they ate and how the interactions between, and accessibility of, those traditions created a new identity based on the sharing of recipes as the two groups mingled and assimilated to each other. It uses food as a way to understand the processes of assimilation by defining the distinctions between the two groups based on their separate repertoire of recipes, looking at the obstacles to the adoption of ingredients or techniques, and engaging with the primary sites of contact that facilitated the mixing of the cuisines to create a shared culinary identity. Cookbooks are used to establish the boundaries which defined German and American cuisine and introduce the first obstacle to be overcome, the language barrier. Magazines removed the language barrier and created the opportunity for more direct interaction between readers from both traditions, but also introduced another obstacle in the perceptions and preconceptions each group had regarding the other. Changes in the understanding of diet and nutrition in the closing decades of the century introduced another obstacle as attempts to standardize and control what Americans ate limited or excluded the contributions of immigrant groups and the language of control and standardizations reinforced preconceptions and the effects of “othering.” Restaurants and ethnic groceries functioned as the sites of direct contact, exposing native-born Americans to the food offerings of German immigrants, and providing direct access to both complete dishes and the ingredients needed to recreate them at home. As native-born Americans and German immigrants interacted and overcame these obstacles, they shared the recipes that defined them and created a new definition of what it meant to eat American food and a new identity as American eaters.

Les six dimensions du concept d’espace social alimentaire ont été structurées pour faciliter l’analyse de l’aspect proprement social de l’acte alimentaire. Analysée à travers ce concept, une cuisine régionale révèle le vécu alimentaire des personnes qui la consomment. Car la promotion d’une cuisine régionale se base sur des produits emblématiques qui ne sont pas nécessairement consommés au quotidien. Dans le village provençal de Sault, village resté à peu près hors des sentiers du tourisme de masse, je m’intéresserai aux habitudes alimentaires de la population. Ces habitudes correspondent-elles à ce que nous a habitué la promotion culinaire et diététique de la cuisine provençale ? En abordant l’aspect proprement social de l’acte alimentaire des habitants de Sault, je verrai la particularité composite des habitudes de consommation alimentaire illustrée par une identité provençale, un discours micro-régional et des habitudes françaises. / The concept of a 6-fold ‘social landscape of foodways’ (l’espace social alimentaire) was designed to facilitate the analysis of the social aspects of food practices. When analyzed in this manner, regional culinary practices come to be understood through the daily experiences of local people, and it becomes clear that the promotion of regional cuisine is often based on iconic food products that are not necessarily consumed on a daily basis. In the village of Sault, located in a part of Provence that has remained largely off the beaten path of mainstream tourism, I examined the food practices of local Provencal residents. Do their practices correspond to the image of Provencal cuisine that is so often promoted within culinary circles and the mass media? In examining the social aspects of Sault’s foodways, I discuss the specific elements that make up the community’s food practices: a Provencal identity through a micro-regional discourse and French customs.

Les six dimensions du concept d’espace social alimentaire ont été structurées pour faciliter l’analyse de l’aspect proprement social de l’acte alimentaire. Analysée à travers ce concept, une cuisine régionale révèle le vécu alimentaire des personnes qui la consomment. Car la promotion d’une cuisine régionale se base sur des produits emblématiques qui ne sont pas nécessairement consommés au quotidien. Dans le village provençal de Sault, village resté à peu près hors des sentiers du tourisme de masse, je m’intéresserai aux habitudes alimentaires de la population. Ces habitudes correspondent-elles à ce que nous a habitué la promotion culinaire et diététique de la cuisine provençale ? En abordant l’aspect proprement social de l’acte alimentaire des habitants de Sault, je verrai la particularité composite des habitudes de consommation alimentaire illustrée par une identité provençale, un discours micro-régional et des habitudes françaises. / The concept of a 6-fold ‘social landscape of foodways’ (l’espace social alimentaire) was designed to facilitate the analysis of the social aspects of food practices. When analyzed in this manner, regional culinary practices come to be understood through the daily experiences of local people, and it becomes clear that the promotion of regional cuisine is often based on iconic food products that are not necessarily consumed on a daily basis. In the village of Sault, located in a part of Provence that has remained largely off the beaten path of mainstream tourism, I examined the food practices of local Provencal residents. Do their practices correspond to the image of Provencal cuisine that is so often promoted within culinary circles and the mass media? In examining the social aspects of Sault’s foodways, I discuss the specific elements that make up the community’s food practices: a Provencal identity through a micro-regional discourse and French customs.

Cette thèse analyse la contemporanéité alimentaire de la communauté anicinabe de Lac Simon de manière à comprendre comment ces Anicinabek ont fait face, d’un point de vue alimentaire, aux bouleversements engendrés par la colonisation. Je soutiens que les changements alimentaires qu’ils ont vécus n’ont pas abouti à une acculturation alimentaire complète et que l’on peut constater autre chose qu’une dégradation alimentaire. Se situant dans l’anthropologie dynamique, cette thèse se penche sur le changement social qui est appréhendé par l’entremise de l’alimentation, faisant ainsi de l’anthropologie par l’alimentation. La recherche est encadrée par une approche relationnelle dont sont empreintes la méthodologie et l’axiologie. L’analyse s’appuie sur une ethnographie alimentaire exploratoire et rend compte de savoirs acquis par l’intermédiaire de l’intersubjectivité établie entre les Anicinabek et la chercheuse qui a adopté une approche participante et un engagement expérientiel. Un souci d’historiciser les transformations alimentaires découle de la mobilisation de l’approche dynamique et l’approche adaptative. La première partie de la thèse analyse les composantes du colonialisme alimentaire vécu par les Anicinabek et situe le contexte catalyseur de bouleversements, la colonisation au Canada. En mobilisant le concept de situation coloniale, la dépossession de l’autonomie alimentaire des Anicinabek, et plus largement des Autochtones, est démontrée. Les effets des actions économique, missionnaire et administrative sur la culture alimentaire anicinabe sont examinés. La continuité des dynamiques de contrôle et de pouvoir est mise de l’avant alors qu’il est exposé qu’une assistance contemporaine en matière alimentaire, incarnée par la santé publique, aliène toujours en partie la capacité des Anicinabek de retrouver une autonomie alimentaire et qu’en ce sens, une forme de colonialisme alimentaire s’observe toujours. Cette assistance s’incarne dans le transfert d’une normativité alimentaire pensée dans une optique biomédicale idéale. La deuxième partie présente quatre stratégies d’adaptation mise en place par les Anicinabek pour assurer l’inscription de leur culture alimentaire dans un nouveau contexte de vie: la modulation alimentaire en fonction des territorialités alimentaires; la redéfinition des unités de commensalité et des modalités d’échange; l’adoption d’une conceptualisation dynamique de l’alimentation traditionnelle; la redéfinition des instances de transmission notamment par le biais de l’anicinabéisation de l’école. Chacune de ces stratégies révèle l’adaptation de relations: aux lieux et aux territoires, aux commensaux, à la tradition et à la mémoire, aux savoirs et aux connaissances. À travers cet examen, il est démontré que la relationnalité alimentaire des Anicinabek, c’est-à-dire leur réseau de relations alimentaires, s’est reconfigurée. La thèse met délibérément l’accent sur une facette positive d’une culture alimentaire autochtone se détachant ainsi du vaste corpus d’études qui se penche sur les problèmes qui leur sont souvent associés et qui caractérisent négativement l’état de santé des peuples autochtones au Canada. La thèse témoigne plutôt de l’agentivité des Anicinabek, de leur capacité d’adaptation ainsi que de leur inscription dans un processus de reprise de pouvoir alimentaire. / This thesis analyzes the food contemporaneity of the Anicinabe community of Lac Simon in order to understand from a dietary perspective how these Anicinabek have coped with the changes caused by colonization. I argue that the dietary changes they experienced did not result in complete dietary acculturation and that something other than foodways decline can be observed. Situated in dynamic anthropology, this thesis looks at social change as understood through food; ie., by doing anthropology through food. The research is framed in a relational approach that informs the methodology and axiology. The analysis is based on an exploratory food ethnography and reports knowledge acquired through the intersubjectivity established between the Anicinabek and the researcher who adopted a participatory approach and an experiential engagement. A concern for historicizing dietary transformations stems from my mobilization of the dynamic and adaptive approaches. In the first part of the thesis, I analyze the components of food colonialism experienced by the Anicinabek and situate them in the context of Canadian colonization. By mobilizing the concept of colonial situation, I seek to demonstrate the dispossession of the Anicinabek food autonomy, and more broadly, that of indigenous people in Canada. I put forward the effect of economic, missionary and administrative actions on Anicinabe foodways, showing continuity of colonial dynamics of control and power. Contemporary food assistance, embodied in public health, still alienates in part the capacity of the Anicinabek to reclaim food autonomy and that, in this sense, a form of food colonialism is ongoing. This assistance is embodied in the transfer of a food normativity thought from a biomedical perspective. In the second part of the thesis, I present four adaptive strategies the Anicinabek have developed to ensure that their foodways is inscribed in their new life context: the food modulation according to food territorialities; the redefinition of units of commensality and exchange modalities; the adoption of a dynamic conceptualization of the traditional food; the redefinition of the instances of transmission, in particular by the means of anicinabeization in schooling. Each of these strategies reveals the adaptation of relationships: to places and territories, commensality, tradition and memory, knowledge and skills. I show that the Anicinabeks’ food relationality, that is, their network of food relationships, has been reconfigured. The thesis deliberately focuses on a positive facet of an indigenous foodways in contrast to the large body of research that focuses on the problems often associated with them and that negatively characterize the health status of indigenous peoples in Canada. Instead, I seek to highlight the Anicinabek agency, their adaptive capacity, and their inclusion in the process of reclaiming their food power.

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Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study focuses on the gendered social relations that are attached to food, through an exploration of women’s management of food and food security in poor households in Paternoster, a small fishing community on the west coast of the Western Cape Province of South Africa. My study explores how women navigate the everyday provision, management and distribution of food within a context of limited resources, with food understood both in terms of sustenance and as implicated in processes whereby gender norms and larger concerns with ‘respectability’ (ordentlikheid) are established and maintained under difficult economic conditions. One of the important strategies employed to ensure food security within households in Paternoster is the establishment and maintenance by and among women of foodways in and between households. An exploration of foodways between households sheds light on the various social networks that exist in Paternoster and the important role of women within these networks. Paternoster is a space where the navigation of these issues is informed by the long history of subsistence fishing in the area and the symbolism attached to fish and fishing in the ways in which the local fishing community engages with the challenges of food security. Of particular interest is how women manage individual and/or household food security in Paternoster in the light of existing gender dynamics involved in the production, collection and consumption of food. The sharp division of labour historically has meant that women have traditionally been involved in the pre- and post-harvest sector, rather than in the actual catching of fish. This study is also driven by concerns around the impacts of the changing fishing environment on food security and social relations in this small village. One of the major consequences of these changes is the feeling of impending food insecurity experienced by many households. The increase in mechanization in marine resource use activities, drastic changes in fishing policies and the process of fisheries rights allocations as well as diminishing fish stocks are systematically impacting on the social systems and lived experiences of the people who were, and still are, heavily dependent on the fishing industry in Paternoster for their livelihoods.. Paternoster has seen the development of new sources of employment as a result of the growth of tourism, which has presented women in particular with new work opportunities, including working in guest houses and restaurants. However, this is on the low wage end. In this context the management of food security within the household and between households through maintaining foodways and established food networks is predominantly the responsibility of women. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie fokus op sosiale verhoudings van gender wat verband hou met voedsel, deur‘n verkenning van vroue se bestuur van voedsel en voedselsekerheid in arm huishoudings in Paternoster, ‘n klein vissersgemeenskap aan die weskus van die Wes-Kaap Provinsie van Suid-Afrika. My studie verken hoe vroue die daaglikse voorsiening, bestuur en verspreiding van voedsel navigeer in ‘n konteks van beperkte hulpbronne, met ‘n begrip van voedsel as lewensmiddele sowel as geïmpliseer in prosesse waarin gender-norme en ‘n gerigtheid op 'ordentlikheid' onder moeilike ekonomiese omstandighede gevestig en onderhou word. Een van die belangrike strategieë wat deur en tussen vroue in huishoudings in Paternoster onderneem word om voedselsekerheid te verseker is die vestiging en onderhouding van voedselnetwerke (foodways) in en tussen huishoudings. ‘n Verkenning van voedselnetwerke tussen huishoudings werp lig op die verskeidenheid sosiale netwerke wat in Paternoster bestaan en die belangrike rol van vroue in hierdie netwerke. Paternoster is ‘n plek waar die navigasie van hierdie kwessies ingelig word deur die lang geskiedenis van bestaansvissery in die gebied sowel as die simboliek wat aan vis en visvang geheg word in die wyses waarop die plaaslike gemeenskap met die uitdagings van voedselsekerheid handel. Wat van besondere belang is, is hoe vroue individuele en huishoudelike voedselsekerheid in Paternoster bestuur in die lig van die bestaande gender-dinamika met betrekking tot die produksie, versameling en gebruik van voedsel. Die skerp historiese geslagsverdeling van arbeid het beteken dat vroue tradisioneel betrokke was in die voor- en na-oes proses, eerder as in die werklike vang van vis. Hierdie studie word ook gemotiveer deur kommer oor die impak wat die veranderende vissery-omgewing op voedselsekerheid en sosiale verhoudings in hierdie dorpie het. Een van die belangrikste gevolge van hierdie veranderinge is die gevoel van dreigende voedselonsekerheid wat deur talle huishoudings ondervind word. Die toename in meganisering in die aktiwiteite rondom die gebruik van mariene hulpbronne, die drastiese veranderinge in visserybeleid en die toekenningsproses van visregte asook die afname in visbronne impakteer sistemies op die sosiale sisteme en ervaring van die mense wat sterk afhanklik was van die visindustrie in Paternoster vir hul leeftog afhanklik was en nog steeds is. Paternoster het die ontwikkeling van nuwe bronne van werk ervaar as gevolg van die groei van toerisme. Dit het aan vroue veral nuwe werksgeleenthede gebied, insluitend werk in gastehuise en restourante. Hierdie werk was egter op die lae loonvlak. In hierdie konteks is die bestuur van voedselsekerheid binne die huishouding en tussen huishoudings, deur die handhawing van foodways en gevestigde voedselnetwerke hoofsaaklik die verantwoordelikheid van vroue.