Can the History of Turning Staples into Icons be the Saviour of our Food Future?
Hilary will be available for a ZOOM Q&A on Saturday 17th July at 2.30pm. We'll be posting a schedule of all the Symposium Saturday Zoom Times separately.
This video includes a minute of mindfulness as an exercise to begin .
Click, close your eyes, check your posture, and breathe, until you hear Hilary begin. Your are welcome.
Apologies, for the late addition, references are included here:
Abstract
Eighty years separated the relaunch of an iconic brand and the strapline on its 1996 annual report:
Quick, Name a Soft Drink.
Coca Cola already knew the result. By 1949, only 1% of Americans couldn’t identify the shape of a Coke bottle. The original brief had been simple:
Develop a bottle so distinct that you would recognize if by feel in the dark or lying broken on the ground.
Thus the “Mae West” shape was born.
Arguably the British Empire’s quest for food began the modern age, and with the 20th century, the United States would shape what it would look like, literally and figuratively as it turns out with Coke. The spread of the British Empire and the rise of the United States created a platform for consumerism and food was at its core. All you needed was to win hearts and minds. In the days of empire, tinned and packaged comestibles were seen as prestigious abroad. Crosse & Blackwell soups and Huntley & Palmers biscuits helped colonial officers press further into inaccessible regions — and when they arrived, they used them as a display of culinary prestige.
How something looked communicated a variety of needs states not just physiological but also of safety, belongingness and esteem. Food could be all things to all people.
But this success came with a price that we live with today. This paper will ask can the power of aesthetics work their magic again to influence perception and change, to ensure our food future?
Hilary's career focus has been in food retailing, food manufacturing, hotels and restaurants. She currently works as a food consultant and teaches a course on food ethics. Hilary graduated in the Hautes Etudes du Gout programme run in France, and holds a Le Cordon Bleu Master of Gastronomic Tourism. This and work experience in the UK, USA, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Australia for major retailers, food suppliers and hotel chains have focused her interest on the tensions between consumerism, food ethics and sustainability. Hilary has spoken at the Oxford Food Symposium, the Australian Food Symposium and at Food and Words. Hilary likes to write the stories of food and their impact on us all while never forgetting the sheer pleasure food can bring to us all. She thinks M.F.K. Fisher said it best:
"First we eat, and then we do everything else."
Excellent, so many interesting issues raised in this presentation, I'm looking forward to the discussion.