Dear Ken Friedman,
First of all, i would like to thank you for your informative e-mail that tells everything in my mind in a structural way. I’m appreciate that Gunnar Swanson encouraged me to be more explanatory about my study. Obviously, you already did that for me.
To start over, why food? Because as Maslow mentioned, eating is one of the basic needs of human-being(1). Besides, people are the only species that share food(2). It is also known that it is a huge cultural part of a society that one could get many outcomes out of it. Research on eating, food, meals and nutrient has been increased since mid-twentieth century. People’s eating habits, involving people’s attitudes and the motives behind their food choice has been helping to develop and to understand a society’s cultural, socio-economical aspects in many era. As it said ‘you are what you eat’ so does the cultures and societies. Eating is not only about surviving but also about the symbol, ritual and meaning behind. A meal has the power of bringing people together in many ways when it’s observed in different dimensions such as time, space and social aspects. These dimensions include meal’s situation, order, pattern, and rituals. It exists in every society, culture and socio-economic classes but its’ symbolic meanings have some differences in itself. When we look at in general to define meal times, its seen that there is a three times pattern in a day which is breakfast, lunch and dinner. Comparing those three different time of eating, breakfast and lunch have differences than dinner in structure. People consider these two meal time are more important as a proper meal, thus dinner has a cultural meaning(3, 5).
When it comes to barbecue, we see a habit/ritual that showed up for different reasons in different places all over the world. I believe that the place of barbecue in Turkish culture is somewhat different than the others in terms of nomadic cultural background as you also mentioned, we also see that when we look at the meaning of the word ‘barbecue’ in Turkish.
Barbecue (mangal in Turkish) [noun]: a type of furnace made of copper, galvanize or brass in different forms to heat and/or to cook (6, 7). (It also refers to brazier as well as barbecue).
All the objects that it is carried had to be multi-functional in nomadic culture. That is where barbecue/brazier comes from (Of course this is my hypothesis and i don’t think that i have knowledge to prove it since my subject bases on current situation).
When i came TU Delft to study i wanted to make a research bases on food culture and Timo de Rijk suggested me to investigate ‘Barbecue activity of Turkish Migrants and reasons behind it’. It was interesting as much as scary to me, because i had ideas and days about food culture and dinner ritual but i never thought about barbecue. I didn’t want to decide and kept searching about both subjects and Mafalda Casais, who is helping me with my research suggested me to compare these two rituals, since i found really interesting inputs about both of them:
*Gender differences: Women is the queen of the kitchen but when it comes to barbecue men has the ability(8).
*Space: When dinner takes place indoor, preferably at dinner table (or in front of TV/computer) and it sometimes reflects the importance of dinner to the space (dinner room), barbecue considered as an outdoor activity in an informal way and it might need a specialization where it takes place due to its’ smell, noise etc.
*Interactions: People has different interactions with the objects. In some cases, objects could be transformed with small interventions and/or their meaning could change as a practical solution (for ins. I’ve seen so many people who is using hair dryer to flare the fire up)
*Activities: Interactions of people with each other are different during dinner and barbecue.
*Food: There are similarities and differences in context, amount, preparation, cooking and consumption of food between barbecue and dinner.
*Time: Dinner time has differences according to lifestyles and culture as well as barbecue. It also has differences the time that it is spent between dinner and barbecue.
*Habits: Eating habits have different meanings from person to person, family to family, culture to culture between barbecue and dinner.
Once again, i am examining Turkish migrants because, i think they have some difficulties to be in between two culture; they want to keep their identity, habits and culture and try to avoid any possible interaction to the country they live in. On the other hand, when they go back to their homeland, they realize that all the traditions etc. they try to keep for so long is already gone or changed. Maybe i’m wrong but i think they are still nomadic in that sense (the way they feel).
As methodology, i’m doing my literature review. Meanwhile, i prepared an exploratory survey and seeking for Turkish volunteers in Delft and Rotterdam. After the interviews, i’m planning to make a context mapping section with the participants and try to involve their barbecue and dinner sections as an observer.
1- Maslow, A. H. (1943) - A Theory of Human Motivation - Psychological Review
2- Jones (2007) - Feast - Why humans share food
3- Meiselman HL. (2000) - Introduction - Dimensions of the meal. The science, culture, business, and art of eating
4- Pliner P, Rozin P. (2000) -The psychology of the meal - Dimensions of the meal. The science, culture, business, and art of eating
5- Visser M. (1993) -The rituals of dinner. The origins, evolution, eccentricities, and meaning of table manners.
6- http://tdk.gov.tr/index.php?option=com_gts&arama=gts&guid=TDK.GTS.53453d03c914a9.69634537
7- http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/brazier
8 -Richard A. Shweder (1993) - "Why Do Men Barbecue?" and Other Postmodern Ironies of Growing up in the Decade of Ethnicity - Daedalus
As i told before, i am having difficulties about finding some literature that was the reason why i wrote to list.
Please accept my apologizes for the possible mistakes of my way of thinking and things that i’ve wrote, i am trying to be better.
Thank you all for your kind response and assistance.
Sincerely,
Cansu Pelin Isbilen
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9 Nis 2014 tarihinde 02:56 saatinde, Ken Friedman <[log in to unmask]> şunları yazdı:
> Dear Pelin,
>
> Gunnar Swanson's post points to an interesting aspect of your research that seems to be unclear — what you are calling "barbecue" may refer to any one of several styles of cooking meat. This may not be evident to North Americans, though Lucy Niemeyer's note demonstrates that this is clear to her.
>
> What you are calling "barbecue" in Turkish cuisine would probably be called "grilled" or "roasted" in some places. The divergent and parallel thinking that pops up list discussions brought the word "churrasco" into play. While the churrasco tradition may be relevant to your study, it is not barbecue as North Americans use the term. Churrasco is grilled meat. A restaurant that serves churrasco is a "churrascaria," -- in English, this is a "steakhouse."
>
> Some etymological research in the Oxford English Dictionary will shed light on the several terms that may apply in your research.
>
> As Gunnar notes, barbecue may refer to any or all of three things in the Southern United States. What these are depends on the region or heritage of the speaker: the meat, the method of preparation, and the sauce.
>
> The traditional roasted meats of the Middle East are roasted on a grill over an open fire or turned on a spit over an open fire. This is the way that the Passover lamb was prepared in the Biblical Exodus account: "That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire—with the head, legs and internal organs" (Ex. 12: 8-9; see also: Ex. 12: 1-23). The roasted lamb is a centrepiece of the Last Supper (Mark 14: 12-26; Luke 22: 7-20). Whatever you believe about the Bible, these passages reflect the culinary traditions of nomadic herding and pastoral herding peoples of the Middle East and the inhabitants of Hellenistic and Roman Palestine.
>
> Traditional roasted or grilled meats have been prepared this way for several thousand years in the Middle East. They are still prepared this way on festive occasions. I gather from press coverage that Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz served a whole roast baby camel to the Prince of Wales during a recent banquet, along with sheep and lambs roasted whole.
>
> On the more humble side of things, this tradition of grilling or roasting is also visible in cuisines that feature such dishes as souvlaki or kebabs.
>
> As I understand it, what you are calling barbecue among Turkish migrants refers to meat that is grilled over an open flame or else roasted on a spit.
>
> The issue for your research involves several questions. The first is to sort out the exact English word you mean for the way that Turkish migrants prepare the food. This is probably grilling or roasting. To examine the research methods used in understanding food traditions, you might look into anthropology, applied anthropology, culinary anthropology, or sociology. Reviewing the literature or speaking with researchers from these fields will allow you to compare research methods and food practices — and it will help you to locate the literature you seek. To learn about past traditions and how they influence the present, speak with historians who specialise in Turkish and Middle Eastern food, hospitality, and entertainment.
>
> To learn more about the food itself, I'd visit a few high-end restaurants to speak with chefs, and a few street-side restaurants to learn what the cooks know. You'll be able to do your restaurant inquiries in Delft, Rotterdam, and Amsterdam. And you'll find the researchers who can help you at universities in these cities.
>
> This is a manageable amount of work for a master's thesis. It should take less than two weeks altogether. I'd suggest allowing a day or two to set up appointments, four or five days for interviews and visits in the three cities, and a week of desk research and library research.
>
> If you decide against a deeper inquiry into history, food preparation, or comparative contemporary traditions, it will take even less time.
>
> The one thing you must do will be to understand the actual interactions that take place. For this, meeting with a few specialists from the social sciences will be vital — followed by some actual experience watching Turkish migrants interact. If you can get yourself invited to dinner, so much the better.
>
> You'll need to establish one crucial limit. The group of Turkish migrants about whose rituals you learn and whose interactions you describe will share some common behaviours and attributes with Turkish migrants everywhere because they come from Turkey. Even so, there may be differences. Customs and interactions may differ based on the region of Turkey from which immigrants originally come and the nation where they now live may account for more differences. A Turkish family from Izmir living in Amsterdam may have very different customs than a Turkish family from Ankara that moves to Melbourne. For that matter, there may be differences even among different migrant groups to Amsterdam. I can't say that this is the case — it's a possibility, though, and we do research to find out what is so.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Ken
>
> Ken Friedman, PhD, DSc (hc), FDRS | University Distinguished Professor | Swinburne University of Technology | Melbourne, Australia | University email [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> | Private email [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> | Mobile +61 404 830 462 | Academia Page http://swinburne.academia.edu/KenFriedman
>
> Guest Professor | College of Design and Innovation | Tongji University | Shanghai, China ||| Adjunct Professor | School of Creative Arts | James Cook University | Townsville, Australia
>
> Cansu Pelin İsbilen:
>
> --snip--
>
> My subject is Interactions in Eating Rituals of Turkish (Migrant) Culture: the Barbecue and the Dinner.
>
> I would explain more detailed for whom is interested to know but, to summarize, it will be a cultural study about comparison of dinner and barbecue rituals through Turkish migrants.
>
> I desperately need help for literature especially on Barbecue. I would appreciate if you could suggest me any related information to my research.
>
> --snip--
>
>
>
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