Summer School - Food from Field to Fork, 22-26 July 2019, Netherlands

Recent discussions about health, food safety and an awareness of vanishing traditions have resulted in an increasing interest in traditional foods and food heritage. The summer school Food fromField to Fork: an archaeobotanical approachis organised by the Groningen Institute of Archaeology, an institution well known for its advanced research of subfossil plant remains.

This summer school is aimed at broadening and deepening your knowledge of traditional food practices. It will help you to learn to recognize them in your archaeobotanical assemblage.

Food from Field to Fork engages with key questions that arise from the archaeobotanical study of past food practices. For instance:

• how can I recognize crop processing in my samples?
• how can morphological traits help me to determine crop preferences?
• are traces of preparation marks recognisable on subfossil remains?
• what can historical sources tell me about crop processing in the field and food preparation in the home?

This summer school challenges you to think about how to tackle these key questions. We will assist you and help you learn to do so by studying examples of recent traditional food products, subfossil samples from Early Modern cesspits as well as a variety of historical recipes. In order to adequately interpret the archaeological record in relation to the aforementioned themes, the programme of this summer school will be divided into a theoretical and a practical session, during which there is always time for discussion.

Target group

This summer school is designed for Undergraduate students, Graduate students, PhD’s and Postdocs as well as Researchers and Practitioners working in disciplines such as Archaeobotany, Palaeoecology and Palaeoethnobotany.

For this summer school it is required to have a basic training in Archaeobotany (macro plant remains). Undergraduate and Graduate students are asked to provide a letter of motivation for enrolling in this summer school.

Furthermore, it is expected that the participants have a sufficient command of the English language to actively participate in the discussions and to present their own work in English.

Course schedule

Participants are invited to arrive on Sunday 21 July to participate in the welcoming activities of the summer school (city tour, welcoming drinks and dinner).

Monday through Thursday mornings will consist of lectures that will cover:

1. relevant plant morphology and adequate usage of terms;
2. basic principles of crop processing and food preparation techniques;
3. the information to be gained from historical recipes;
4. the role available toolkits can play within further research.

Learning outcomes

After this course you will be able to:

• Use correct terms to describe plant parts and the applied processes
• Use morphological features and plant macro remains to improve the interpretation of crop processing and food preparation
• Integrate relevant historical sources to interpret your archaeobotanical plant parts
• Form a critical opinion about the archaeobotanical toolkit available
• Assess the pros and cons of the archaeobotanical toolkit in relation to the study of food practices

Workload

After successful participation, students will receive a certificate of participation signed by the coordinators of the summer school. Upon request the certificate can mention the workload of 65 hours (28 hours corresponds to 1 ECTS). Students can apply for recognition of these credits to the relevant authorities in their home institutions, therefore the final decision on awarding credits is at the discretion of their home institutions. We will be happy to provide any necessary information that might be requested in addition to the certificate of attendance.

Fees

(Under)Graduate students: € 150 
PhD-students and Postdocs: € 275
Researchers and Practitioners: € 425

The fee includes:

• A manual for the Identification of Plant Seeds and Fruits (textbook: € 30)*
• Digital Atlas of Traditional Foods made from Cereals and Milk (textbook: € 45)*
• Guided city tour on Sunday
• Welcoming drinks on Sunday
• Welcoming dinner on Sunday
• 5 x Lunch
• 5 x Coffee, tea and fruit (twice a day)
• Goodbye Reception on Friday

*The textbooks are offered for a reduced price. Those participants who already have a copy of one or both textbooks will not have to pay for them.

Housing

For (under)graduate and PhD-students: 
Housing (7 nights, from Saturday 20 July to Saturday 27 July) is available upon request for € 245. You will stay with your fellow summer school participants in Frascati International Students House (private room, shared bathroom and kitchen).

For researchers and practitioners: housing (7 nights, from Saturday 20 July to Saturday 27 July) in a different accommodation can be arranged (hotel room € 600).

Application

Applications will open soon. The deadline for application is Monday 1 April 2019.

Please submit the following documents with your application:

• CV
• Letter of motivation

For more information click "LINK TO ORIGINAL" below.