Food Rules and Rituals - Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery 2023 - Mark McWilliams

Food Rules and Rituals - Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery 2023 - Mark McWilliams

Rituals of Hygiene in the Cathedral of Meat

Food Rules and Rituals - Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery 2023 - Mark McWilliams

Jack Hanlon [+-]
Jack Hanlon is a historian of food and cities based in London. His research focuses upon the emergent spaces, stories, and technologies that connect modern 'farms and forks'.

Description

In the early twentieth century Smithfield was the largest meat market in the world, a central node in a food system that supplied Imperial London with meat from across the globe.  This paper explores the ‘rituals of hygiene’ that informed the market’s handling, inspection, and disposal of meat. These practices not only shaped the market’s workplace culture, but also reached the national public through the lens of mass media. As Britain’s food system spiralled into new scales of globalisation and institutional complexity, such performances of cleanliness addressed the material risks and symbolic anxieties proliferating in the gulf between farm-and-fork.

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Citation

Hanlon, Jack. Rituals of Hygiene in the Cathedral of Meat. Food Rules and Rituals - Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery 2023. Equinox eBooks Publishing, United Kingdom. p. 180-189 Jul 2024. ISBN 9781800505766. https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/view-chapter/?id=46063. Date accessed: 09 Dec 2024 doi: 10.1558/equinox.46063. Jul 2024

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