Eleventh International Conference on Food Studies

Abstract

Miami, Florida is only nominally a city in the United States: rather it is a fascinating mixture of Pan-Caribbean and Pan-Latin cultures. This diversity is of course reflected in our foodways–not only the food we eat in South Florida, but also the way it is grown, produced, and marketed. As an archivist/librarian with a lifelong interest in culinary history, I have worked with my colleagues at the University as well as community members to document the richness and vibrancy of our food cultures, building a collection that includes books (including rare books written by explorers, conquerors, and visitors who wrote about foodways), menus, oral histories, ephemera, and archival collections. Recently, we have also striven to document the struggles of farm workers, growers, restaurant owners and food industry workers. We are telling the story of how the food got to the plate or the market, from seed to final product. We are also emphasizing how various diasporas – Cuban, Haitian, Colombian, Peruvian, and so many more–have contributed to the variety of our cuisine. This session focuses on how we’re doing it, and exploring the possibility of and international “clearing house” for institutional repositories that focus on food culture and history.