The Center for Khmer Studies welcomes Hart Feuer, Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Khmer Studies and an Associated Researcher at the Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn, Germany to the CKS Lecture Series in Phnom Penh, for a talk entitled:
"Urban Brokers of Rural Cuisine:Food Literacy at Cambodian Soup-Pot Restaurants"
Date: 21 February 2015
Time: 5.30 -6.30 pm
Venue:
CKS Phnom Penh
234 Street 450
Tuol Tumpung II, Chamkamorn,
Phnom Penh
This Lecture is limited to 15 people only as a range of traditional Khmer food will be available to taste. Please register early to avoid disappointment.Please Confirm attendance by 20/2/2015
Email: puthea_sim[atmark]khmerstudies.org or call 023 991 937
Abstract:
Unlike restaurants that prepare food on-demand, pre-prepared food venues (or soup-pot restaurants) in Cambodia and other Asian countries make their decisions about what to cook in a more complicated food-society nexus, factoring in their culinary skill, seasonality of ingredients, and diners' expectations for variety. As such, soup-pot restaurants exist as tenuous brokers between rural food customs and modern expectations of city dwellers. For urban migrants, these familiar locales are an invaluable resource in overcoming the economic and social challenges of transitioning to the city. For longtime urban dwellers, they are a transparent window into the agricultural and market cycles that they encounter less in the city, as well as an opportunity to re-acquaint with national cuisine. Fulfilling the expectations of rural and urban patrons, however, requires carefully crafting an experience that balances the agricultural and social dynamics of rural eating customs with city comforts. Under good management, soup-pot restaurants can accomplish this while also serving as a space of dietary learning, providing meals that are culturally understood to be balanced and nutritious, while exposing children and adults to culinary diversity. As a site of research, these restaurants can be seen as potential innovators for managing the consequences of industrialization on food and agriculture.
Hart Feuer is a senior research fellow at the Center for Khmer Studies Cambodia and an Associated Researcher at the Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn, Germany. His work focuses on higher education reform and internationalization and on agricultural processes of ecological modernization, rural change. He received a PhD in Agricultural Sociology from the University of Bonn (2013) and has been a student of diverse topics in Cambodia, Germany and the Middle East since 2003. Contact: hfeuer[atmark]gmail.com
