User:Alice/Thesis outline

1. Topic: The reinterpretation of food culture through technology.

2. Argument: Tech culture is appropriating food culture and changing its nature.

3/4 Food related topics are becoming more prevalent in technology discussions. This association could be a representation of tech culture appropriating food culture, stripping it of its basic values and putting less emphasis on the past struggles associated with the oppression of women forced into domestic labour, and the community aspects related to collective memory and cooking, and more on technical experimentation. The disconnection between humans and the food they eat has never been greater, and new food technologies are not helping to decrease it. In my view, there is a need to critically reimagine food in technology to include all aspects, be more self aware and less elitist.

Question: What is gained and what is lost through this association? How can one positively inform the other? How could food be approached from a technological point of view without falling into techno-idealism?

Introduction

Background

I've always been accustomed to food being considered either a trivial subject (food=sustenance or food=entertainment), or extremely elitist (fine dining). The fact that food related discussions and events are increasingly associated with tech culture and organized in hackerspaces is striking to me, and I would like to critically reflect on this phenomenon.

Thesis statement

Tech culture is appropriating food culture, stripping it of its basic values, using its terms and further increasing the disconnection between humans and the source of their food. The past struggles associated with the oppression of women forced into domestic labour are often overlooked, and instead the focus is on playful experimentation and a display of a skillset.

The fact that more attention is being given to reflections on food is a positive step forward, but how critical are the current approaches?

Body

First topic

Reflection on the role of cooking in our lives and how it has changed in time.

Point A: Gender roles in food production have been very strictly defined for centuries

• Women have always been pushed towards domestic work, deemed too unimportant for men

• Women's role in the family is secondary in terms of power structure

• Cooking as caregiving, for health benefits - identified more with women, cooking as entertainment, skill display - men

Point B: Cooking as political act

• Disconnection between humans and their food - meal replacements

• Less of a consumer, more involved in the process of production

• Cooking as labour, taken over by food industry

Second topic

A bridge between cooking and technology

Point A: The recipe is often used as metaphor for computer programs

• Appropriated terminology

• Explaining one through the other, sometimes in a patronizing way

Point B: Food technologies, future of food, issues that are rather dystopian

• The rise of food startups, meal substitutes, 'historical food', engineered/personalized nutrition

Point C: Mutual contributions from FLOSS culture and food culture

• Community aspect is beneficial for both and can be used as a starting point

• Collaborative cooking/programming

• Reflecting on histories/methods/tools/biases/prior assumptions

Third topic

Imagining a concept for mindful cooking experiments

Point A: Food is becoming an important topic discussed in hackerspaces

• Background, notable members

• How they work/how can they be improved

Point B: Tech and cooking can work together in harmony

• How tech can improve people's relationship with food, by making them more aware of its sources, methods, etc

• How food can improve tech culture, by making it more inclusive, open, positive.

• Bringing the body back in the equation - hands on work, eating for the body and for the mind

Conclusion

TBA