{"product_id":"political-gastronomy-food-and-authority-in-the-english-atlantic-world-early-american-studies-9780812244182","title":"Political Gastronomy: Food and Authority in the English Atlantic World (Early American Studies)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"The table constitutes a kind of tie between the bargainer and the bargained-with  and makes the diners more willing to receive certain impressions  to submit to certain influences: from this is born political gastronomy. Meals have become a means of governing  and the fate of whole peoples is decided at a banquet.\"Jean Anthlme Brillat-Savarin  The Physiology of Taste  or  Meditations on Transcendental Gastronomy  The first Thanksgiving at Plymouth in 1621 was a powerfully symbolic event and not merely the pageant of abundance that we still reenact today. In these early encounters between Indians and English in North America  food was also symbolic of power: the venison brought to Plymouth by the Indians  for example  was resonant of both masculine skill with weapons and the status of the men who offered it. These meanings were clearly understood by Plymouths leaders  however weak they appeared in comparison.  Political Gastronomy examines the meaning of food in its many facets: planting  gathering  hunting  cooking  shared meals  and the daily labor that sustained ordinary households. Public occasions such as the first Thanksgiving could be used to reinforce claims to status and precedence  but even seemingly trivial gestures could dramatize the tense negotiations of status and authority: an offer of roast squirrel or a spoonful of beer  a guests refusal to accept his place at the table  the presence and type of utensils  whether hands should be washed or napkins used. Historian Michael A. LaCombe places Anglo-Indian encounters at the center of his study  and his wide-ranging research shows that despite their many differences in language  culture  and beliefs  English settlers and American Indians were able to communicate reciprocally in the symbolic language of food.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45953235648565,"sku":"ByrdShop_0812244184","price":39.9,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780812244182.jpg?v=1788182538","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/political-gastronomy-food-and-authority-in-the-english-atlantic-world-early-american-studies-9780812244182","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}