CUISINE, CULTURE, AND POLITICS IN RUSSIA AND EASTERN EUROPE: THE FOOD FOR THOUGHT SYMPOSIUM

Abstract

ПИЩА ДЛЯ РАЗМЫШЛЕНИЙ The Symposium ―Food for Thought: Culture and Cuisine in Russia & Eastern Europe, 1800–Present‖ was held at the University of Texas at Austin on February 7 and 8, 2014. Mary Neuburger, Tatiana Kuzmic, and Keith Livers, all of UT Austin, organized this event with support from the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, and other local sponsors. With more than fifty presenters, ―Food for Thought‖ represents the largest conference on Russian, East European, and Eurasian food studies ever held in the United States. This event brought together scholars from a range of disciplines, including history, anthropology, literature, and geography, with culinary professionals engaged in promoting and researching these regions’ foodways. This was a truly international gathering. ―Food for Thought‖ hosted participants from the United States, Canada, Russia, United Kingdom, France, Bulgaria, Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, and Slovenia. Dr. Ronald LeBlanc, Professor of Russian and Humanities at the University of New Hampshire, gave the keynote address, ―From Russian Vegetarians to Soviet Hamburgers: Tolstoy, Pilnyak, and the Ethics/Politics of Diet.‖ This included material from Dr. LeBlanc’s previous monograph,