Yor-K Festival - 'Gastro-diplomacy: the language of kimchi'

York St John University was founded in 1841, born out of a socially conscious, ethical conviction in sharing education as a route to a fairer world.As a leading education, training and research institution in the heart of the historic city of York we serve a global campus of staff and students who thrive on academic excellence, graduate employability and a strong sense of community.

York St John University

Join Dr Tim Wharton (University of Brighton) for a talk exploring food sustainability and the language of kimchi!

CC/011, York St John Creative Centre

The food industry, like the fashion industry, is driven by the pursuit of impossible perfection: endless rows of blemish-free fruit and vegetables in supermarket aisles (tasting of not-very-much), pre-packaged trays of skinless, boneless meats with nary a head or foot or tail in sight and a steady stream of cookbooks and articles with photo-shopped, super-saturated photos of beautiful dishes bathed in summer sunlight. In their book Ugly Food, Tim Wharton and Richard Horsey argue for a more responsible approach to food and cookery. In so-called ‘Western’, Anglo-Saxon cuisines there are a range of ingredients that people refuse to eat simply because of the way they look: certain ugly fish, for example – gurnard, garfish, horse mackerel’ ugly vegetables too – celeriac, Hamburg parsley and Jerusalem artichoke.In the current environmental climate, this is unacceptable.In his Yor-K Festival talk, Dr Tim Wharton will present the 'Maxims of Gastronomy' outlined in Ugly Food: The Maxim of Quality, The Maxim of Purity, The Maxim of Availability and The Maxim of Sustainability. He will show how one everyday ingredient rises to the challenges inherent all these maxims and ticks all the boxes when it comes to the more responsible approach proposed in Ugly Food. In one culture, the humble cabbage – derided by just about every school-age child in the UK (a derision that persists in many adult victims of childhood school-cabbage-trauma), has well and truly transcended its status as a mere vegetable. Salted and fermented with chilli and garlic – kimchi (and the process of making it – kimjang) has become a way of life in South Korea and, more than that, a means of promoting peace and well-being: a kind of gastro-diplomacy. This talk celebrates the language of kimchi. A recipe for kimchi is about more than just the preparation of cabbage; it is, in effect, a recipe for happiness!Dr Tim Wharton has been a singer-songwriter and recording artist, a butcher’s boy, a marquee-erector, an English teacher, and currently works as a linguist at the University of Brighton. He is an accomplished cook and, as well as his academic work, has published on food culture and recipe writing.Events Access &amp; InclusivityAt York St John University we are committed to making our events as welcoming and inclusive for as many people as possible.If you are planning to attend one of our events and have specific access requirements, please contact us by e: events@yorksj.ac.uk or t: 01904 876318 and we will make every effort to accommodate you. If you need a suitable seat reserved for you (and companions), please let us know, preferably at least one week before the event. Sign language interpreters and real-time captioning may be requested in advance. Please contact us as soon as possible (ideally at least 3 weeks before the date of the event) if you require either BSL interpretation or captioning. We will try our best but cannot guarantee provision.Privacy PolicyYork St John University will use the data you submit in Eventbrite for the purposes of administering this event. York St John University utilises third party software for data storage, tracking and analysis activity but your details will not be used by any of these third parties in order to contact you Any data you share with us will be used to help us improve your event experience and for event tracking and analysis activity within the University.We will only send you important information and reminders related to the event you have booked unless you tell us otherwise. During the booking process, if you opt in to receive emails about the latest events hosted and supported by York St John University, you consent to York St John University contacting you with relevant information.If you no longer wish to hear from us you can opt out at any time by changing your contact preferences via the link in emails you receive from us or by emailing events@yorksj.ac.uk.

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