About Me
Raised on an English farm (mixed dairy and arable), I studied sciences, first math, physics and chemistry, then a degree in geology. Fascinated by how science works, I went on to a PhD in history and philosophy of science from University College London, then years teaching and writing about history of geology, technology, and scientific change in American universities.
At the University of Hawaii, I discovered an amazing local food culture which I described in The Food of Paradise: Exploring Hawaii’s Culinary Heritage which won the Julia Child/Jane Grigson Prize.
In the mid 1990s, my husband and I decided to abandon academia, try new free lance careers, and move to Mexico. Since then, I have published in journals such as Scientific American, the Los Angeles Times, Gastronomica, and Saveur and in 2005 was Scholar-in-Residence at the Dallas meetings of the International Association of Culinary Professionals.
Should you want more details, like everyone who has passed through academia I have compiled my doings into that curious, obsessive art form known as my Curriculum Vitae.
Writing down my thoughts is wonderfully helpful in clarifying what puzzles me. I am on several wonderful listserves and discussion groups but it would be boorish to inundate them with posts on problems that probably only interest me. So here you’ll find me trying to work through all kinds of unfinished business.
If you’d like to jump in, I will be thrilled. In my dream world, blogs are a way of building an intellectual community that transcends geographical and institutional boundaries.
Posts
Wonderful to have found this site! As a chef, I work primarily with my hands and have been slow to fully enter the blog world. I am opening a Mexican restaurant just north of sydney Australia. I grew up and trained in San Francisco, have lived in Europe and japan, finally returning home 7 years ago. In considering my menu, I am trying to incorporate authentic recipes to present Australians with the variety of flavors that few here know. I have been lately researching tacos and tortas. I am fascinated by the bread vs tortilla change, with many of the same fillings. Is size a big factor as in a western influence. A dietary fulsomeness? I don’t think I can make my own bread at the restaurant but would like to get close to a ‘type’ of bread that would be acceptable, I think, to telera a bollito, is baguette out of the question? Can someone living there give me a more historical and thoughtful description as I have never had a tort a( have been to Mexico only twice)
Hello Rachel,
I just found your blog. I was looking for articles responding to Michael Pollan’s letter to the Farmer in Chief back in October 2008. I could only find your preliminary comments. Would you happen to have your other articles archived so that I could find them?
I am having the students in my Plants and Civilization course (at Cal Poly Pomona University) read the Pollan article and I want to find some material that counters his arguments.
Thanks for any assistance you can provide.
Peggy Perry, Ph.D. Professor of Plant Science
Peggy, Pleased that there are others who find Pollan facile in his analysis. I have little else because I decided I did not have the time to continue the analysis. I’d suggest the following. Google rachel laudan nostalgia and you will get much of my writing on this. Look at Why We Should Love Fast, Modern Processed Food. It’s under favorite articles on my blog. And Joe Pastry has some things to say about Pollan too. So does Julie Guthman in Can’t Stomach it. Why Michael Pollan Makes me want to Eat Cheetos. But none of these address agriculture, concentrating instead on eating. Would love to follow up with you on this.
Dear Dr.Laudan,
My webmaster just found your blog and passed it on to me–excellent! I read with interest your post on Argentine-Italian food, and the same process seems to be at work there as was in the States, i.e. adding meat to everything. Have you read Hasia Diner’s “Hungering For America”? An excellent source. My colleague, Simon Young, and I run a blog for our students here in Perugia (Italy). Have a look if you have time, and thanks for the great resource!
Sincerely, Zachary Nowak
What a pleasure to meet someone with like interests, Zachary. Your site is on my RSS feed and I look forward to lots of useful interchange.
Hi Rachel,
Not exactly on your blog topics but I did wish to say a brief hello (after several lifetimes since Pitt, apparently on your side as well as mine)! You’re doing culinary studies; I at the moment, doing military history, go figure. (Having lost a career I did gain a life; which does include opportunities to travel & to eat. I have a day job which allows me to teach philosophy a bit — almost never sociology — and a stepson who is a chef with Wolfgang Puck here in LA.) Did enjoy a piece of yours on “authentic” food & Luddism which appeared in the LA Times some time back.
Best,
Michael
I am so happy to have found this site. I found it while looking for your 2001 article on “authenticity”, the most common buzz word in my class. I teach a class at USC entitled “The Culture of Food in Hispanic Los Angeles.” Needless to say, the issues of national cuisine and authenticity are debated constantly. I wish I had known about the Guadalajara conference before now…
Sarah, I’ve love to hear more about your course and its syllabus. What a great topic to teach in LA. And I will keep posting away about the conference.