Other:
Research Areas
Research Content
Current Research Topics
Sensory perception in archaeology
Increasing recognition is being given to the multi-sensory nature of material culture. Work on smell, sound and taste has shown the approach to be a valuable one. Inevitably, given my work in costume, I’m a supporter of this approach.
Despite a growing interest in and study of, recipe books and past foodways, it is remarkable how few of those engaged in academic study have attempted to recreate the sensory experiences which are so fundamental to understanding these topics. A recipe can be interrogated to explore techniques, available equipment and ingredients, past mentalities and, on an individual level, personal development (especially where an authored manuscript collection is under consideration). However, a recipe is designed as a guide to preparing a physical substance, be it medicinal or culinary. Implicit in any discussion of food and dining should be an understanding of the way in which dishes were experienced. This does not have to mean the cooking and eating of recipes (which may in some cases be very difficult to replicate and/or dangerous to consume), but, as any cook knows, with a little imagination it is possible to read a recipe and experience the processes and make an educated guess at the end result.
The involvement of all the senses, not just vision and taste, is increasingly being explored in cookery in general, exemplified in England by Heston Blumenthal, but part of a more general development of cuisine. I regularly cook past dishes, not just in order to eat them, but as a means of exploring, albeit at one remove, the sensations of cook, kitchen staff and eventually diner when faced with them. Through this has come an understanding of, for example, the practicality of vegetables such as scoronzera in small kitchens (very sticky!), and the ‘wow’ factor of highly spiced seventeenth century drinking chocolate.