Rachel Laudan

Linguists use the term loan words for terms borrowed from another language.  Would this help clarify the discussion of what are popularly called “fusion cuisines?”   The more I think about this term, the more it seems to me to obscure more than it clarifies.  Cuisines are complex structures with culinary/social/political/aesthetic/economic/religious/health/even environmental goals, rules for achieving [...]

Rolling right along with the series on what culinary historians might learn from linguists, see the background at the end of this post. Languages die out.  The world is littered with dead languages, most of which are unknown to us.  Cuisines die out.  We no longer have the cuisine of Shang China, nor of the [...]

For the second time this year, the first being in Panamá Gastronómica, I’ve had the feeling of being in a universe parallel to the English-speaking world.  Great events, well-attended (half a million in the “FEEEL” as the Feria del Libro is pronounced in English), discussing the same themes as the English-speaking world. But influence, copying, [...]