The Columbian Exchange: How New World Foods Transformed the Worlds Cuisines

European discovery of the New World at the end of the fifteenth century was a crucial step in the creation of a globalized world in which regional economies, empires, and diasporic flows became enmeshed with each other as never before in human history. This talk considers this important stage in world history through the unique lens of food. It explores how New World foods that we now think of as omnipresent -- corn, tomatoes, chilies, and chocolate rapidly transformed the ways people ate in Europe, South Asia, and China, shaping culture in ways that went well beyond taste. Moreover, this richly illustrated lecture delves into the processes through which these foodstuffs became central to the imperial powers that presided over this early wave of conquest and globalization.

Rick Halpern is a social historian whose work has focused on race and labour in a number of national and international contexts. His most recent publication, co-authored with Alex Lichtenstein, is Margaret Bourke-White and the Dawn of Apartheid. He also has written about meat and meatpacking, sugar and plantations, and regionalism. Currently he is researching the long interplay between photography, race, and class in the Canada and United States over the course of the twentieth century. He holds the Bissell-Heyd Chair of American Studies at the University of Toronto.

UNFORKED is a new monthly salon on the first Sunday of each month that connects food, culture and ideas; an opportunity to challenge the way Toronto engages with food. We will explore issues of race, politics, nationalism and class as they relate to food.

Join hosts Samira Mohyeddin and Rachna Cee with guest speaker Rick Halpern in a lively conversation about the Columbian Exchange.

$60 includes a seat at the communal table with 20 other guests in lively discussion, a three-course set menu served family style and wine on the table; let the hunger games begin.

This is not a safe space.

For more information or to reserve a spot...

email banu@bellnet.ca.