Investigating York’s changing eating habits
Posted on 10 June 2009
Researchers want to find out how tastes in York have changed since 1945 and discover more about the history of food production in the city.
Central to their research will be interviews with local people about their eating habits, their experiences in York’s cafes, restaurants and their work in the city’s food factories, and they are appealing for anyone with a story to tell to come forward.
Dr Emma Uprichard, from the Department of Sociology, said: “We want to hear from the York community about how what they eat, where they eat, and the way in which it is produced has evolved over the last 65 years.
This study is as much about discovering what has survived over that time as well as changed
Dr Emma Uprichard
“This study is as much about discovering what has survived over that time as well as changed. These days, for example, we cannot imagine going out for a dried egg sandwich but many families will still eat a Sunday roast, both things previous generations might have done.”
In addition to interviewing members of the public, the researchers are hoping to unearth documents including menus, letters and cookery books that shed light on York’s food history.
At the end of the three year project, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, the team plan to hold a workshop of people from the region with an interest in local food to see how their research can inform future developments in this area.
If you or anyone that you know has any stories or anecdotes relating to food in York which you would like to share with the researchers, please contact them via the website http://www.york.ac.uk/res/foodmatters/contactus.htm or write to:
Sarah
Shrive-Morrison
Food
Matters Research
Department
of Sociology
Heslington
York
YO10 5DD
Notes to editors:
- The
Department of Sociology was rated the best in the country in the 2008 Research
Assessment Exercise.
- Twitter users can now keep up to date with news from the University of York at http://twitter.com/UniOfYork. A newsfeed is also available at http://www.york.ac.uk/news-and-events/news-feeds/.
Contact details
Interview
Listen to Dr Emma Uprichard discuss the research into the history of food in York since 1945