Abstract
In a post-pandemic world where travel is more complex, what about traveling through cuisine as an alternative? Opening La Centralita Culinary Studio in December 2021 with my creative partner (from Bilbao, Spain) has given us the opportunity to do just that: immerse our guests in the cuisines of Spain through pedagogical tasting experiences in Albany, New York as a complement to our respective careers as a professor and consultant. We observe how people make assumptions about foods they like or dislike based on cultural baggage. This is particularly true with the anchovy. In the United States, it is an unpopular canned food languishing on grocery store shelves alongside tuna. In Spain, it has a completely different connotation: a pricey delicacy, a burst of umami in numerous pintxos (hearty Basque bar snacks); a tiny fish revered and consumed both fresh and preserved in a miniscule tin packed with care by women in factories. Combining theoretical stances of Spanish cultural and culinary studies and drawing upon my experience teaching in our studio, I contrast the food discourses about anchovies in Spain versus in the United States, taking the anchovy off the shelf and into the spotlight as a small but powerful fish whose culinary story has a lot to teach us by traveling to its origins: it has helped to employ numerous women, is a healthy source of omega-3s in the Mediterranean diet, and is a sustainable fish to consume in an era where climate change is of primary concern.
Presenters
Marcela GarcesProfessor of Spanish, Modern Languages and Classics, Siena College, New York, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
2023 Special Focus—Post-Pandemic Tourism Transformations
KEYWORDS
Tourism, Cultural Baggage, Travel Through Cuisine, Sustainability
