Anthropologists like tradition. We have a long tradition of studying it, and we often seemed more concerned with tradition than the people whom we live and work with. They often, quite understandably, want to get on with life, while we stand in their way, metaphorically and often physically, going on about tradition. Nonetheless, tradition is worth thinking about, at least sometimes. What does it mean, how do people think about and...
Read MoreThis post comes a bit later than planned, as I’ve mostly been dealing with administrative issues and helping prepare students for their upcoming exams, turning in dissertations, and so forth for the past few weeks. So while I’ve had time to think about wine, it has been even less coherent than usual. However, I don’t want to give the impression that Anthroenology has disappeared. If anything, we are more active than ever, just not...
Read MoreThis is a lightly edited version of the talk I gave at the Oxford Food Forum conference ‘Culture, Food, & the Environment: New Perspectives on Food Sovereignty and Security’ on 2 May. As it was written to be read, the original version does not include references, and I have not bothered to add them back in. Most edits are not marked here, but as a kind of experiment, instead of adding in footnotes where they might be appropriate...
Read MoreThis was one of the most interesting things I came across in our recent fieldwork in Austria. These are organic (bio-) wines in the Merkur (a supermarket chain) branch in the Westbahnhof railway station in Vienna. Two things strike me as particularly worthy of comment. The first is that a company that markets organic products – Ja! Natürlich – has own-label wine. Second, that you can come across a fairly decent stock...
Read MoreWe have a guest post over at the Future of Food / Oxford Food Forum: http://www.futureoffood.ox.ac.uk/food-security-forum/blog/market-sustainable-wine Or: http://bit.ly/1xs4mng
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