Food and Society 2014

FOOD AND SOCIETY 2014

BSA Food Study Group Conference:

Food & Society 2014

Monday 30 June 2014, 09:00-19:30

British Library Conference Centre, London

Keynote speaker: Professor Lotte Holm, Institute of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen

Call for Abstracts

Poor diet, levels of food waste and intensification of agriculture are key themes in contemporary food research and policy making, yet they can appear disconnected from everyday social practices and the lived experiences of food and food systems. The fourth BSA Food Study Group conference will bring together researchers, practitioners and policy makers to explore this apparent disconnect and showcase the most cutting edge research and practice from within and beyond the sociology of food.

‘Why do people fail to comply with ‘healthy eating’ advice?’ is a central question for public health policy makers. However it is one which generally fails to acknowledge that for consumers, food is also about pleasure and plays an ideological role in constituting family life. What, therefore, can social science tell us about food and eating in everyday life? To what extent are individuals responsible for their unhealthy or unethical eating practices and is it reasonable for them to be ‘blamed’? What is the significance of the social contexts in which lives are lived? How do emotions and ideas about food, pleasure and commensality influence food practices, over and above official dietary advice? What criteria do different groups of consumers use in selecting foods; are issues of provenance, safety and ethics the preserve of the few? What part can and should be played by food policy makers, manufacturers and retailers in addressing food related health and environmental inequalities? And what can industry, policy and academia learn from each other about the so-called ‘gap’ between knowledge and individual ‘behaviour’ and practices? The conference will bring delegates together around these – and other - issues to discuss what is important in food research now.

Call for Abstracts, Symposia, Posters and Images

The conference will provide a forum for the presentation of rigorous research on food and eating from sociology and other disciplines, looking at experiences in both the Global South and North. The presentation of research from related disciplines and topics is welcomed. Particular focus will be placed on the conference themes:

- The enjoyment of food, consumption preparation and eating

- Food ethics including food insecurity and waste

- Production and consumption, including global dimensions

- Procurement and institutional food

- Food health, obesity, morality

- Children’s food and breastfeeding

- Food and related policy (responses and interventions)

- Food and Public Health

We invite abstracts for oral papers lasting 20 minutes, with 10 minutes to follow for questions, and for posters. As in previous years a prize will be awarded for the poster which delegates agree best communicates its aims, methods, findings and conclusions.

We also invite abstracts for symposia with a maximum of three connected papers of relevance to the conference theme.

Acknowledging the methodological diversity of delegates’ research, we also invite the submission of original fieldwork photographs which reflect a research project. These should be submitted with captions of no more than 30 words.

Abstract Submission Deadline: Friday 14 March 2014

Online abstract submission at: http://portal.britsoc.co.uk/public/abstract/eventAbstract.aspx?id=EVT10331  

Please direct any academic enquiries to the Food Study Group co-convenors:

Hannah Lambie-Mumford: h.lambie-mumford@sheffield.ac.uk  

Rebecca O’Connell: r.oconnell@ioe.ac.uk  

Andrea Tonner: a.tonner@strath.ac.uk  

For administrative issues please contact the BSA Events Team: events@britsoc.org.uk

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