
Rice Talks
Food and Community in a Vietnamese Town
Nir Avieli(Author)
Indiana University Press
Published on 30. April 2012
Book
Hardback
336 pages
978-0-253-35707-6 (ISBN)
Description
Rice Talks explores the importance of cooking and eating in the everyday social life of Hoi An, a properous market town in central Vietnam known for its exceptionally elaborate and sophisticated local cuisine. In a vivid and highly personal account, Nir Avieli takes the reader from the private setting of the extended family meal into the public realm of the festive, extraordinary, and unique. He shows how foodways relate to class relations, gender roles, religious practices, cosmology, ethnicity, and even local and national politics. This evocative study departs from conventional anthropological research on food by stressing the rich meanings, generative capacities, and potential subversion embedded in foodways and eating.
Reviews / Votes
Rice Talks deserves a readership beyond its obvious geographical constituency. This book makes a thought-provoking intervention in anthropology's long-running engagement with the culinary sphere, and anyone interested in identity, community, and contemporary foodways will find stimulatingarguments to debate here. * Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute * [T]his is a carefully detailed study, which is easily accessible because it is largely jargon free. For those teaching a course on foodways, it would be highly suitable because it illustrates a particular approach well and offers a view on a cuisine that has not been extensively explored in the existing literature. * Social and Cultural Geography * For students, researchers, or everyday readers looking to explore the area of nutritional anthropology, Avieli provides a wonderfully written ethnographic narrative that is as engaging as it is appetizing. * Allegra * Written in a clearly accessible style, this book will be greatly welcomed by food researchers, teachers of undergraduate anthropology classes, and general readers, who will then understandably want to search out a good Vietnamese restaurant in their neighborhood. . . . Highly recommended. * Choice * Rice Talks brings a unique perspective to the study of foodways. The rich ethnography of the culinary sphere of Hoi An fills an important gap in the study of Vietnamese culture, and the theoretical framework adds a new dimension to the study of foodways. . . . For anyone interested in doing a comparative study of the culinary sphere, Rice Talks is a highly valuable addition to anthropological studies on food. * Sojourn *
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Bloomington, IN
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
College/higher education
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Weight
41 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-253-35707-6 (9780253357076)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
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E-Book
04/2012
1st Edition
Indiana University Press
from
€33.29
Available for download
Person
Nir Avieli is Lecturer in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Ben Gurion University in Israel.
Content
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Deciphering the Hoianese Meal
2. The Social Dynamics of the Home Meal
3. Local Specialties-Local Identity
4. Feasting with the Dead and the Living
5. Wedding Feasts: From Culinary Scenarios to Gastro-anomie
6. Food and Identity in Hoianese Community Festivals
7. Rice-cakes and Candied Oranges: Culinary Symbolism
in the Big Vietnamese Festivals
Conclusion: Food and Culture Interconnections
Epilogue: Doing Fieldwork in Hoi An
Glossary
Notes
References
Index
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Deciphering the Hoianese Meal
2. The Social Dynamics of the Home Meal
3. Local Specialties-Local Identity
4. Feasting with the Dead and the Living
5. Wedding Feasts: From Culinary Scenarios to Gastro-anomie
6. Food and Identity in Hoianese Community Festivals
7. Rice-cakes and Candied Oranges: Culinary Symbolism
in the Big Vietnamese Festivals
Conclusion: Food and Culture Interconnections
Epilogue: Doing Fieldwork in Hoi An
Glossary
Notes
References
Index