Domestic hospitality,gender, and impression management among Danish women

Domestic life and domestic work are often studied in a family setting that only includes members of the focal family unit. However, when opening the home for guests, family life becomes both a back and front stage arena, where guests are relaxed but hosts are not. Being a host includes not only domestic chores but also “doing” identity, relations, and friendship. In this article, we combine Goffman's work with thirteen qualitative interviews from Denmark to investigate domestic hospitality and hosts' perceptions hereof. Domestic hospitality involves not only “putting on a show” but also extensive preparation and complex assessments of appropriate levels of staging. Such staging depends on occasions, host-guest relations, and hosts' predispositions. We discuss how reflexive and well-educated women, who are aware of their “putting on a show,” nevertheless put on such “shows.” Even in Denmark, which is rather progressive in terms of gender equality compared to other European countries, gender still matters and affects women's self-conceptualizations in domestic hospitality. It is well known that people manage the impressions they seek to make and adapt to different types of guests, but the contribution of this article is to pinpoint the extent to which the participants are aware of these processes, and of the fact that they are sometimes almost ridiculous, but still cannot not care.     

Text(ile)s: How to Fabric(ate) Yourself a Body without Organs

Abstract

From momentary metaphorical allusions to “unraveling,” or “stitching,” to more elaborately built philosophical models that directly employ the likenesses of folded and/or patchworked cloth, the regular repetition of fabric(ated) references—punctuated by the physical refrain of turning, cloth-like pages—in the works of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari cleverly makes the relationships between “our bodies,” which are largely understood through clothed pleats, and the matter-content-expression of “their books” exceedingly palpable.

This article aims to unpack this aspect of Deleuze and Guattari's projects and to explore the implications it has not only for our immediate experiences of “the book” and/or “the textile,” but also for the traditional plays between man, beast, and technology that have been historically related through the technology of cloth and which have served to, in part, justify the human's neatly ordered dominance in the world.

As a means of embarking on this project, the article considers Deleuze and Guattari's works alongside a cast of other figures preoccupied with various fabrics, namely the matador, various (textile) artists including Eran Schaerf, and even one's own self and wardrobe, and recasts all of these figures' texts and textiles as “text(ile)s.”     

La Vigilia Italo-Americana: Revitalizing the Italian-American Family Through the Christmas Eve “Feast of the Seven Fishes”

This article ethnographically examines the symbolic importance of seafood and its ritualized consumption in demarcating ideals of “authenticity” and “intangible heritage” in the famed Italian-American Christmas Eve feast, La Vigilia. The Vigilia is a rite of intensification intended to revitalize a community in a climate of schism and “acculturation,” and a rite of incorporation for integrating American spouses into the family's heritage. While continually transforming as participants entertain new culinary understandings, cultivate “Americanized” tastes, and integrate spouses into the ritual, the practices of selecting, preparing, and ritually consuming the Vigilia's food serve to maintain traditional gender roles, reinforce ethnic bonds through commensality, and denote “authenticity” through taste preferences. Suggesting that authenticity is conveyed not through a particular object or its taste, but rather through intangible processes, the author argues that the Vigilia feast becomes a central means of negotiating the antithetical pressures of maintaining tradition and embracing social transformation.     

Beer,Carbohydrates and Diet

The enormous incidence of excess body weight in the population of the United States and the attendant risks that obesity brings has stimulated unprecedented interest in diets, especially those that do not leave an individual feeling hungry. In particular this has led to so‐called ‘low carb’ diets. Beer has suffered unfairly through erroneous claims made in connection with at least one of these diets and has been unfairly categorised as being “high carb”. In the face of this — and despite the fact that the vast majority of beers contain low levels of so‐called “carbs” — there have been certain brands specifically branded as low carb products. Brewers intent on marketing products that may genuinely be considered to be part of a “calorie counting” diet should focus on developing products of excellence that contain low levels of alcohol, the latter molecule being the major source of calories in most beers. They may also do more to press the claim of beer as being a source of “good carbs”, for the soluble fibre and prebiotic molecules that it contains and which are derived from the β‐linked glucans and arabinoxylans that derive from the cereal cell walls.     

Eating Solo: Food Practices of Older Hong Kong Chinese Migrants in England

By documenting some of the food practices of a particular cohort of older Chinese migrants to Britain, this article attempts to show how a study of food can provide insight into the complex experience of migration because food is central to the memory, comfort, and all the processes needed to adapt to a host country. In this case, it also has an impact on the migrants' social relations within and beyond the family long after they had stopped working. This cohort is unique in their being the first amongst their peers who chose to retire in Britain and in their living in sheltered housing instead of with their married children, which was the pattern they expected. As most of these respondents were involved in the food service industry, this article will also explore how this memory of “eating bitter” (hardship) in the Chinese restaurant business continued to mark their personal prestige and social status. In analyzing their avoidance of commensality—thus eating solo—within their flats, I use the concepts of gossip and the “gift as poison” to demonstrate the important role that a luncheon club played in providing not just food but a safe, neutral, and social space for these respondents. The willingness for the one exception to let others into her flat for meals is viewed as an example of conspicuous consumption, which, in turn, confirms how the respondents’ previous status within the Chinese restaurant “food chain” remained an indicator of their social status.     

Determining consumer purchase intentions: the importance of dry matter, size, and price of kiwifruit

Abstract: Knowledge of the relative importance of food quality attributes in determining consumer purchase intention is critical for robust assessment of economic opportunities for industry growth. The aim of this study is to demonstrate how conjoint analysis methodology that incorporates tasting of fruit can be used to collect such information. Three hundred Japanese consumers took part in research designed to measure the importance of dry matter (DM), size, and price of kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa “Hayward” and Actinidia chinensis “Hort16A”) for purchase intention. Measurement of consumer liking for kiwifruit of different DM content was a key first step. Liking increased as DM increased and was accompanied by increased purchase likelihood/choice probability for kiwifruit. The size of kiwifruit presented to consumers varied from “small” to “extra large.” Consumers liked “mid‐sized” kiwifruit over “small” or “extra‐large” kiwifruit. Despite these differences in liking, size was of little importance in determining purchase likelihood/choice probability for kiwifruit. Price was a very important factor in determining purchase likelihood/choice probability but was less important than DM content. As price increased, purchase likelihood/choice probability decreased. Beneath these general findings, heterogeneity existed. Some consumers placed more/less importance on the focal purchase drivers than suggested by the aggregate model. Overall, the results suggest that incentive schemes already implemented by industry should consider rewarding high‐DM fruit more than fruit size. Practical Application: This research has contributed to the New Zealand kiwifruit industry gaining a better understanding of the relative importance consumers place on DM, size, and price of kiwifruit and has resulted in changes to grower incentive schemes. The research approach presented forces consumer to tradeoff attributes of kiwifruit against each other and decide on how important two key quality attributes—DM and size—are relative to each other and relative to price. The application of conjoint analysis in this article can be transferred to other fruits, food, and beverages and help guide consumer‐led innovation.     

Comparison of consumer perception and liking of <Emphasis Type="Italic">bulgogi</Emphasis> marinade sauces between Korea and Japan using flash profiling

This study compared the perception of and preference for seven bulgogi marinade sauces between Korean and Japanese consumers. Flash profiling (10 panelists each) and consumer test (97 Japanese and 102 Koreans) were conducted. Results showed that both Korean and Japanese panelists perceived the samples similarly but described using different terms. There were significant crosscultural differences in most liking and just-about-right attributes, except texture liking and sweetness. Both consumer panelists preferred sweeter samples, but Japanese consumers rated liking for less sweet samples higher than Korean consumers. Japanese consumers considered strong saltiness, umami, and soy sauce flavor as “just-about-right,” whereas Korean consumers considered the same levels as “much too strong”. Familiarity showed a significantly positive correlation with both Korean and Japanese consumers’ liking, but authenticity was only significantly correlated with Korean consumers’ liking. This indicates that perception of authenticity might not have a strong impact on Japanese consumers’ liking.     

“One Fish,Two Fish,Red Fish,Blue Fish”: How ethical beliefs influence consumer perceptions of “blue” aquaculture products?

Respecting ethical beliefs of consumers is an important precondition for food manufacturers in their attempt to improve their positioning in the European food market. Based on a cross-cultural survey of 2511 European participants, this research demonstrates how ethical beliefs affect consumer perceptions of “blue” (i.e. environmentally friendly) aquaculture products. The study further emphasises that the positive effect of ethical beliefs on purchase intention operates via an indirect route mediated by consumers’ trust in a product category. Consumer involvement has limited moderation effect on the above relationships. To expand its “blue” business, a key policy recommendation to aquaculture product manufacturers and policy makers is to urge stable and reliable standards of control in environmentally responsible aquaculture production so that consumers can rely on the information source and increase their trust in aquaculture products.     

Digital Clothes: Active,Dynamic, and Virtual Textiles and Garments

Abstract

This article will examine the probable and possible pitfalls offered to consumers and designers by the potential of textiles and garments that are responsive, active, interactive, and aware, using technologies inherited from other craft fields such as medical sensing and information technology.

These developments present obvious, and much discussed, opportunities for the design of functional garments for applications in dangerous industries, sports, rescue, and the military. However, the effect on the already complex dynamic between garment and everyday wear has not been so well examined. Using the social effects of the uptake of other now ubiquitous technology devices such as mobile phones and the Internet as a model for social impact, this article will take a look into the possible near future to see both what is possible, but also what can go wrong with active garment fashion.

This examination of the “digital” in garment manufacture moves well beyond the current, often rather clumsy incorporation of wires, sensors, and novelty “glow in the dark” fiber optics into conventional clothes. Rather, it examines the maturing of a field in which revolutionary display technologies and bio-feedback sensing are merging with textiles to produce totally natural feeling and looking fabrics that can not only change their overall color, but can display complex patterns, as well as respond to stimuli from wearer and environment. Aspects such as the effects on personal health, social conventions, and economic costs will be considered.

The article will also consider the domain of clothing and fashion for people who inhabit “virtual” environments, interacting with other people in real time. Unlike more familiar computer games, these online environments involve extensive, long-term social interaction between participants. Unfortunately, the choice of “costume” for the visual representation of each player, currently very limited, has become a frustration for individuals, and threatens to limit the social agency and growth of these environments. The problems of designing and implementing credible and engaging fashions for virtual reality are therefore also examined.     

Making New Vintage Jeans in Japan: Relocating Authenticity

Abstract

Japan has become renowned as a site for the production of artisanal-quality denim and jeans, which appeals to increasingly discerning cognoscenti. The usual mass-produced, non-designer “safe” denim has a ubiquitous presence in Japan as it does elsewhere but there are many Japanese for whom a pair of jeans has many more qualities that should be carefully considered before its consumption than the perhaps usual factors of price, brand, cut, wash and color. These include the types of machines the denim was woven on, the presence of certain (sometimes invisible) rivets, the technique of stitching and so on. “Made in Japan” has become the catchphrase for new denim authenticity sought by “denim maniacs” (denimu mania no hito). This paper gives a brief history of jeans in Japan, introduces the area where they are made and examines two jeans companies as well as consumers of these premium jeans. It looks at how expensive Japanese jeans echo the mingei craft movement in their emphasis on method of production over the aesthetics of the final product. It shows that authenticity in Japan can be relocated both geographically and from the “original” to the “copy.”     

Fillet proximate composition,lipid quality,yields, and organoleptic quality of Mediterranean-farmed marine fish: A review with emphasis on new species

Species diversification in Mediterranean mariculture involves various important fish that contribute to the diet of many human populations. These include meagres (Sciaenidae), flatfishes, mullets, and various sparids. Their quality aspects (yields, fillet proximate composition, and lipid quality) are discussed in this review. Their filleting yield is mostly 40–45%. The viscerosomatic index ranges from 1.5% to 14%, depending on species. Low muscle fat contents of flatfishes and meagres differentiate them from the rest of the farmed species. Farmed fish contain high n-3 polyunsaturates fatty acids (PUFA; 12.3–36.3% vs. 5.48–37.2% in the wild) and have higher muscle fat and n-6 PUFA contents (mainly 18:2 n-6) than their wild counterparts. The aquaculture management, diet, and season can affect fillet composition and fatty acids, while season (i.e. food availability and maturation) largely affects lipid quality in wild fish. Data on the sensory quality of Mediterranean-farmed species are mainly limited to whether specific management differentiates the sensory quality; thus, further development of tools for sensory analysis is required. Observations on the quality features in farmed Mediterranean fish indicate that species diversification can also provide product diversification based on different commercial weights and fillet quality specifications.     

Implementation of quality control methods (physico-chemical, microbiological and sensory) in conjunction with multivariate analysis towards fish authenticity

Nowadays authenticity of foods and fish in particular has become of crucial importance because of high number of adulteration cases. Authenticity control has gained ground thanks to the development of several rapid physico‐chemical and microbiological methods aiming at distinguishing one species from another based on solid scientific evidence. It has been proven that despite the precision and accuracy of robust analytical and protein and DNA‐based techniques, detection of authenticity could not be claimed without resorting to multivariate analysis. This review summarizes both the most advanced and state of the art used techniques for detecting fish and seafood authenticity (both in terms of species and geographical origin). Another issue reported in this review is the preservation of fish and seafood through the implementation of old and novel techniques (ice, modified atmosphere packaging). Several informative tables were included in this paper referring to the employed quality control and sensory analysis methods and multivariate analysis for fish and seafood.     

Discourses of Distinction in Contemporary Palestinian Extra-Virgin Olive Oil Production

This article shows how Palestinian producers, faced with an “existential threat” to their own physical locality, seek to re-qualify their goods such as olive oil not only as elite goods based on the discourse of distinction of taste, but also in politically-inflected global discourses of distinction that attend to how the product is sourced, produced, and exchanged. Palestinian entrepreneurs and NGO-sponsored agricultural professionals are making olive oil “distinctive,” thereby seeking to locate these Palestinian products as elite goods within a global space of circulation and distinction. To produce this kind of extra-virgin olive oil, production practices must change and new skills must be inculcated, like organoleptic “tasting practices.” Ethical consumerism is promoted through fair trade strategies which seek to connect producer with consumer, embedding Palestinian olive oil with a “taste of solidarity.” “Quality” is perceived as a tool to gain international recognition of its olive oil and, by proxy, of Palestine itself.     

Beast Dreaming: Myth,Materials, Fantasy,and Psychoanalysis in Making a Beast Costume

Abstract

This paper examines the process of creativity, primarily in the context of psychoanalysis, oscillating between tactile experience—my love of fabric and the creation of a beast costume—and my thinking about both the experience and the process. It can also be read as a dialectic between my roles as amateur costume maker and professional psychotherapist—although both disciplines are practice based, one in the studio, the other in the consulting room. In recording my experience I have tried to follow the nuances of dream and fantasy, but in a cultural context. Psychoanalytical concepts are introduced that can be located not only in theories of child development, dreaming and daydreaming, but also in the myths, fairy tales, films, and literature to which I refer, as well as my own thoughts about the role of women's sewing in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The journey, however, is an erratic one, following the methodology of “free association” that is used in the consulting room. The associations that accompany my beast dreaming, although located in specific contexts, are peculiar to me, but the methodology itself can be applied elsewhere. My aim is to illustrate how apparently incompatible concepts and texts can meet together in the process of creating a product, or at least in recording it. It is this process that engages me rather than the analysis of the end product, although by definition this is both evasive and elusive and risks breaking the butterfly on the wheel of theory.     

Benefits of fish oil replacement by plant originated oils in compounded fish feeds. A review

Fish oil constitutes a major dietary ingredient in compounded fish feeds for carnivorous marine fish due to its essential fatty acid content, in particular omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFA). The issue of fish oil substitution in fish feeds has come to the forefront only recently, due to the release of recent data which indicates that the aquaculture industry uses 40 and 75% of the global production of fish meal and fish oil, respectively. Within the next decade fish oil production may not meet the required quantities for aquaculture, meaning that food grade fisheries which provide fish oil and fish meal have reached their limit of sustainability. Over the past few years, significant breakthroughs have occurred in the replacement of fish oil with plant oils in compounded fish feeds in order to reduce dependence on fish oil as well as reduce costs. All recent data, focussing on the benefits of replacing fish oil with plant oils in compounded fish feeds, are presented in this review.     

Detection and Quantification of 41 Antibiotic Residues in Gilthead Sea Bream (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Sparus aurata</Emphasis>) From Aquaculture Origin,Using a Multiclass and Multi-residue UHPLC-MS/MS Method

Aquaculture is one of the worldwide strategic development fields, and its importance is evident in its significant worldwide growth in the last decades. This growth is associated with the implementation of intensive and semi-intensive production methods, with the use of antibiotics in order to prevent the emergence and spread of infectious diseases in fish. This practice constitutes a real public health problem, not only due to the presence of antimicrobial residues in edible tissues, which can cause allergic reactions in hypersensitive individuals, but also due to the emergence of bacterial resistance. Consequently, the Regulatory Agencies have established maximum residue limits (MRL_s). In the present study, a validated multiclass multi-residue ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry in tandem methodology was used for the determination of 41 antibiotics from seven different classes—sulfonamides, trimethoprim, tetracyclines, macrolides, quinolones, penicillins and chloramphenicol—in 29 samples of gilthead sea bream of aquaculture origin, purchased in Portugal. The analysed samples showed that, in eight of them, antibiotic residues were present, three being of doxycycline—antibiotic for which no MRL is established—that was detected in concentrations ranging from 0.35 to 0.61 μg kg^?1. Other antibiotics were also detected and quantified and their concentrations were below the MRL established by the European legislation.     

Persistence of pesticides in water,sediment and fish from fish farms in Kolleru Lake,India

Kolleru Lake is a freshwater lake in south‐eastern India with a high potential for aquaculture. It is located between 61°32′ and 61°47′N latitude and 81°15′ and 81°27′E longitude. Various chemicals such as pesticides are used to control diseases and ectoparasites in intensive aquaculture farms in India. The main aim of this paper was to determine selected pesticides in water, sediment and fish from 12 fish farms located in Kolleru Lake in order to assess the quality of fish for human consumption and to improve the further risk assessment and management of such chemicals in aquaculture and also to evaluate the impact of aquaculture chemicals on the Kolleru Lake environment. The chemicals used in intensive aquaculture farms were documented. Water, sediment and fish samples were collected from the fish farms during the production period and analysed for the pesticides α‐BHC, γ‐BHC, malathion, chloropyrifos, isodrin, endosulfan, dieldrin and p,p′‐DDT using gas chromatography. © 2002 Society of Chemical Industry     

Linking small-scale fisheries and aquaculture to household nutritional security: an overview

Small-scale fisheries and aquaculture have been recognized as important opportunities to enhance household food security in developing countries. While interventions aiming at promoting these activities reveal many positive effects, their direct and indirect impacts on nutritional status have not yet been fully documented. The objective of this paper is to identify more specifically the potential pathways that exist between fish-related livelihoods (small-scale fisheries, fish farming) and household nutritional security. The existing literature reveals scattered but increasing evidence of the contribution of fish to nutritional security through three distinct pathways. The first one is the direct nutritional contribution from fish consumption: because fish are rich in essential nutrients such as vitamin A, calcium, iron and zinc, households engaged in small-scale fisheries or aquaculture are, in theory, able to improve their own nutritional intakes by consuming some of the fish they capture or farm. The second relates to income: increased purchasing power through the sale of fish is recognized as critical for households to be able to access other foods and to improve their overall dietary intake. Finally, because the degree of control exercised by women over family income impacts directly on household food security and nutritional outcomes, enhancing the economic status of women through their involvement in aquaculture and/or fisheries-related activities (fish processing and trading) is also identified as another important pathway to improve household nutritional security. For these three pathways, however, evidence is often only anecdotal and therefore, the paper concludes by highlighting areas where further research and data are needed.