Ferguson’s “Food Fears” in the Era of Covid-19

Abstract

My article is inspired by the French scholar and sociologist Priscilla Parkhurst Ferguson (1940–2018) who played a pioneering role in the booming field of food studies. In her last book, Word of Mouth: What We Talk About When We Talk About Food, she addresses comfort food, culinary boredom, eager eaters, food talk, and food fears. I endeavor to show how her notion of “food fears” is particularly relevant in the era of Covid-19 in a wide array of matters, from the purported birthplace of the coronavirus, a wet market in China, to “anosmia,” the “smell blindness” that can be caused by the disease. Had she lived to see this pandemic, she would express deep concern for the well-being of our planet and its people. And yet she would indulge in all of the ways we have found to stave off “culinary boredom” in the shape of quarantine cooking. By examining pandemic food trends through a Fergusonian lens, I endeavor to show how interconnected our world is, how food connects us, one food fear and one comfort food at a time.

Keywords:

• Ferguson
• Priscilla Parkhurst
• Proust
• Marcel
• Perec
• Georges
• comfort food
• pandemic
• food trends

Notes

1 Lisa Jennings, “Tom Colicchio amplifies Independent Restaurant Coalition’s grassroots movement of chefs and restaurateurs working to save independent restaurants from the crushing blow of the pandemic,” Nation’s Restaurant News, 20 January 2021, https://www.nrn.com/people/tom-colicchio-amplifies-independent-restaurant-coalition-s-grassroots-movement-chefs-and. Accessed 19 April 2022.

2 PJ Hamel, “A Short History of Banana Bread,” King Arthur Baking Company [Blog], 23 February 2017, https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2017/02/23/short-history-of-banana-bread. Accessed 19 April 2022.

3 Jerry Adler, “Why Fire Makes Us Human,” Smithsonian Magazine, June 2013, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/why-fire-makes-us-human-72989884/. Accessed 19 April 2022.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Priya Wadhera

Priya Wadhera is Associate Professor of French at Adelphi University in New York where she is Chair of the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures. Her recent work focuses on food (or lack thereof) in French literature of the postwar period.