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Thursday, February 15, 2001 By Marlene Parrish, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
The first issue of Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture is due next week. Don't expect to find suggestions for easy entertaining or new recipes to wow your friends. Do expect to find provocative essays that will make you think about food with a fresh perspective.
Gastronomica is published by University of California Press in Berkeley. It sells for $10 an issue and will run to 128 pages. It will be available at bookstores nationwide or by subscription. For more information or to subscribe, visit www.gastronomica.org.
Put another way, Gastronomica is to Bon Appetit what the New England Journal of Medicine is to Prevention magazine. The scholarly journal deals with ideas and reflects on the history, literature and cultural impact of food.
"I see Gastronomica as a New Yorker for people who like food," says editor Darra Goldstein. "It differs from other academic journals in that it is well written. It's not speaking to one audience of specialists, it's speaking to a broad audience of interests."
She says the purpose of the arty quarterly journal is to provide an exchange of ideas on food.
Goldstein, 48, is a culinary authority and the author of a number of books, including "A Taste of Russia: a Cookbook of Russian Hospitality" and "The Georgian Feast." She is professor of Russian language and literature at Williams College and serves as culinary consultant for the Russian Tea Room in New York.
Goldstein grew up learning about food as a product of her environment. Might that be Manhattan? San Francisco? How about Pittsburgh? Her family lived in Penn Hills until she was 12.
"Almost every Saturday, my mother would take my sister and me to Oakland. We'd go to the Carnegie Library or museums. Often we'd go to Pitt, where sometimes they had food festivals. I think the ethnic food experiences I had in Pittsburgh as a child greatly influenced my career path to food and cultures."
The first issue of Gastronomica is packed with urbane, sophisticated articles on topics, such as the origin of turtle soup, a plea for culinary modernism, the eating adventures of a child, a discussion of Sicilian cheeses and the fundamentals of salt, smoke and history.
It doesn't have traditional food photo layouts or fancy graphics. There is no advertising. Contributors to the first issue include culinary historians, poets, linguists, philosophers, an ethics professor, artists and, yes, even a chef.
Gastronomica is designed to appeal to scholars, food professionals and a somewhat elitist food public. It is for people fascinated by food and its role within cultures and societies. Not everyone will want to read as deeply or broadly about food. But for those who do, the new journal is a gold mine of "provocative analyses, lively features and sumptuous images," according to Goldstein.
The content may be serious, but don't expect the magazine to be stodgy or boring. Gastronomica is anything but. Take that cover for example, a provocative frame from an old film that redefines finger food.
"People will love it or hate it," says Goldstein. "Food is about pleasure. And Gastronomica is both an intellectual and sensuous experience."
She goes on to explain that she was a "closet foodie" in the academic world. It was 25 years ago that she began doctoral work at Stanford University. She told her adviser she wanted to write her dissertation on food and Russian literature. The adviser told her it wasn't a serious topic.
"There are still people who don't perceive the study of food as a serious pursuit, partly because it's pleasurable," Goldstein says. "They think that whatever is pleasurable can't be intellectual. That thinking is related too much to the gut instead of the intellect. I've been thinking about a magazine like this for more than 10 years."
Food studies scholars are delighted by the news media attention being paid to the new journal. "Food studies as an academic discipline is in the same position today that women's studies, black studies or film studies was 30 years ago," says Goldstein. "It's a topic on the margins that is about to come of age. Gastronomica provides a place where the serious articles on the subject can be published."
Gastronomica is underwritten by The International Association of Culinary Professionals and the American Center for Wine, Food & The Arts in Napa Valley, Calif. Corporate sponsors are Bertolli USA and Kitchen Aid. Advertising is welcome in the magazine, but not in volume. "We don't want advertisements to interrupt the articles," Goldstein says. "It's not part of our vision."
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