Tag: Summer 2018
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“I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat”: the complicated history of American food aid
Joy LiuRochester, Minnesota Every afternoon after preschool, I would crisscross the maze of stolid Beijing apartments to collect a jar of fresh suan nai. Equal parts sweet, tangy, and savory, the fermented milk drink was a favorite I usually devoured as soon as the elderly peddler handed me a bottle and straw. One day, I…
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Drunk in love: bodies and consumption in Samson and Delilah
Lee Andrews Peter Paul Rubens’ rendition of Samson and Delilah (1610) depicts Samson sleeping on Delilah’s lap as a Philistine cuts his hair, thereby removing the secret to his herculean strength. The artist who gave us the term “Rubenesque,” in which the words “plump” and “pleasing” describe the female form, had much to express about…
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Lord Byron and his strange relationship with food
Mildred Wilson “. . . I would rather not exist than be large.” Lord Byron – Trinity College (1805-1808) On April 15, 1805, George Gordon Byron wrote to Hargreaves Hanson, a fellow classmate at the prestigious school for boys Harrow, in conjunction with a planned visit to Hanson’s home: “. . . wish that you…
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The modern drought
Ana Paula Bottle LeónQueretaro, Mexico In any adventure film or novel where the main character gets stranded on an island, a mountain, or in the middle of the woods, an unquestionable priority is to find a source of drinkable water. Water is vital; it regulates body temperature, nourishes the brain, lubricates bones and joints, and…
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Are we gorging on autonomy?
Oliver William MorrissCambridge, England A potentially fatal crisis in the contemporary world threatens the very foundations of public health, in that what were formerly known as “diseases of affluence,” namely stroke, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes, have become a global phenomenon affecting individual lives as well as national economies. Respect for autonomy is fundamental to bioethics;…
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Half-digested clues
Sarah KearnsAnn Arbor, Michigan, USA On a warm spring day in Denmark in 1950 two brothers, Viggo and Emil Hojgaard, ventured out into the marshlands to gather peat to make fuel. With hefty sharp spades, they cut out earthen bricks of decayed organic matter to be used as an energy source. During this laborious task,…
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Fufu and the body
Princewill UdomPort Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria Fufu, West Africa’s finest local delicacy, continues to maintain its scintillating sheen, especially in Nigeria. The congealed, doughy, smooth, white lump of processed cassava meal remains as popular as ever. Made from cassava, a root crop widely cultivated in West Africa, it enjoys luxuriant growth because of favorable climatic…
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A physician examining a patient’s urine
This painting from the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford shows a physician uroscopist examining a specimen of urine in order to determine what was ailing his patient. It is a serious painting, unlike that of Dutch artists such as Jan Steen who regarded uroscopists as quacks and made fun of their pretentious mien and attire. The…