The deadline for receipt of paper proposals is 14 August 2010.

Architecture and food have long held analogies. Both can be characterized by words such as ‘tasteful’, ‘bland’, and most prominently in recent years –  ‘organic’. Their synergy is embodied by the Latin word colere (‘to till, tend’), which is also the root of our modern term ‘to cultivate’. Importantly, cultivation can reference both pragmatic and symbolic phenomena. Cicero notably fused the concrete and figurative inflections of the term, proposing that the human mind must be cultivated in order ‘to fruit’. During the Enlightenment this analogy was widened into architectural theory when J.F. Blondel defined ‘taste’ as the ‘fruit of reasoning’. Just as chefs designed recipes for fine cuisine, architectural theorists began to devise rules for good architecture. While both architecture and gastronomy are disciplines that espouse fundamental principles and standards, neither can be wholly controlled by absolute prescriptions or rigid formulae. They rely on a combination of intuition, inventiveness, and even wonder. This session aims to illuminate and clarify the reciprocity between building and eating, paying particular attention to the role of gastronomy in the expression and interpretation of architecture. Proposals can be from diverse approaches, and those that reassess the metaphorical relationship between taste and architecture are particularly welcome. Speakers may also wish to present case studies that address how the built environment, including landscape, participates in the experience of a meal. Possible questions to explore might include: What is the underlying significance of the terms like ‘setting’ and ‘service’ within architectural discourse? How do food markets contribute to the character of a city? In what ways does architecture structure certain forms of dining, such as ritual meals and communal feasts? How can tastes and smells help define the memory of particular places? The session is also open to presentations that examine emerging dialogues between building and eating, such as how vernacular architecture and regionalism have been aligned with contemporary movements like Slow Food and Edible Schoolyards.
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