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Consider this rather advance notice, but the Less Sociable Half will be taking part in a panel discussion sponsored by the Cambridge Global Food Security research initiative, the University of Cambridge Conservation Research Institute and the Forum for Sustainability and the Environment. The discussion is part of the University of Cambridge’s Festival of Ideas, and we’ll be at the David Attenborough Building, (New Museums...

Or maybe it’s a problem with me. At any rate, it seems the more I think about Anthroenology, the more directions I end up going in. I start a blog entry on one particular aspect of the project, and it leads me to think of six different other things that may or may not be worthy of investigation. But they require thinking about. And so I have at least three or four blog posts on various aspects of the project in different states of...

Last week was our last classroom session for the WSET Diploma. Alas, I missed it because of illness. But it seems a good time to reflect on my not-quite-finished two years of fieldwork among the WSET. (With apologies to Evans-Pritchard.)  Like most fieldwork, it seemed at times interminable, and at other times, to go by in a flash. There was culture shock and disorientation. Who are these people? Why do they do these things? There...

Last week we had two of the ‘small’ (as WSET calls them) exams. These were the sparkling wine and spirits units. It would be a miracle if I didn’t have to resit the sparkling wine one. Spirits? Who knows. What happened? Simple – I blanked. I think the sparkling tastings went ok. I was correct on 2 out of 3, but then again, that’s only 2 out of 25 points each. The rest is description and justification. As readers will know by now,...

Apologies for not getting a blog post out in almost two weeks. Besides the WSET exams yesterday (more on those soon), I’ve been spoilt for choice. Yes, indeed. The silence isn’t the lack of something to say, but rather I have three blog posts in various states of unreadiness. Some are even on the research topic of Anthroenology – wine and sustainability. Speaking of sustainability – in the next week or so, the...

Almost two weeks ago now, we had a reading week for WSET, so no trekking down to London for classes. This past week, I was sidelined with a stomach complaint, so also no trip to London. Both of these, however, left me time to sit back and reflect on larger issues. (Despite that, it took me ages to get this post to what I consider an acceptable condition – hence the silence on the blog. I’m still not as happy as I’d like to be with...