User:Alice/Thesis outline

Topic

The appropriation and reinterpretation of food culture through technology.

Main argument

Tech culture is appropriating food culture and changing its nature. Software engineers are increasingly becoming food entrepreneurs, constantly reinventing the role of food in people's lives. While there is a need to rethink current ways of food production, from agriculture to ultra-processing of our meals, the money currently being invested in food development are going into Silicon Valley businesses selling hyper-processed complete foods that have consumers completely dependent on these companies for their every meal.

Question: How could food be approached from a technological point of view without falling into techno-idealism?

Sub-questions: What is gained and what is lost through this association? How can one positively inform the other?

Introduction

Background

Food conversations are becoming more prevalent in technology contexts. 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. 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.

Another take on this by Marketa Dolejsova (Edible Speculations in the Parlour of Food Futures, 2018):

Technology design is increasingly contributing to people's food lifestyles and offers promising yet
debatable food futures. From cooking and shopping to dining and dieting, our mundane food practices have
been colonized by an array of electronic devices, uploaded data, and 'biohacked' food products. While
proponents suggest its potential to support efficient food lifestyles, critics highlight limited safety and ethical
validity of digital food innovation

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, as well as the cultural and community-related values of food, 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

There is a theory that says the following: the development of the brain in Homo Sapiens happened mainly due to the discovery of fire, and subsequently cooking. By using less energy to hunt constantly for fresh food, and spending less time chewing raw materials, the human brain had increasingly more space and time to develop new activities, ponder upon its surroundings and physically grow. (reference needed) Throughout the years, cooking has maintained its crucial role in all parts of the world, as fundamental part of culture and society. However, the roles associated with food production have been extremely imbalanced.

Point A: Gender roles in food production have been very strictly defined for centuries. In recent years, cooking has received a new role of entertainment, in which men are the most prominently seen.

• 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 - How can humans become more self-reliant, less dependent on corporations in the food industry to provide every single thing they ingest?

• Disconnection between humans and their food has led to an increasing lack of cooking in people's lives. Now, there is an increasing trend in meal replacements, that have gone from medicinal use to status symbol, first in Silicon Valley, then in the home of a human you might know.

• A manifesto for being less of a consumer, more involved in the process of production

• Cooking as labour, taken over by food industry. People are encouraged to spend less time doing unproductive things. Humans are considered purely for production and profit purposes, and anything that slows them down or reminds them of their human nature and bodily needs should be eliminated. (Entreprecariat)

Second topic

A bridge between cooking and technology. What is the current situation regarding food technologies? How has food become an issue viewed as an engineering problem that needs to be solved?

Point A: The recipe is often used as metaphor for computer programs (needs expanding)

• Programmers have been appropriating food terminology

• Programming and computer engineering has often been explained through the metaphor of cooking, sometimes in a patronizing way

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

• Food and the human body viewed as engineering problems to be solved

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

Third topic

What can we take out by putting all these matters into perspective? How can we positively use technology as a context in which food communities can thrive, while at the same time being critical of techno-idealism, and moving away from the control of corporate interest?

Point A:FLOSS culture is a positive example of communities, and an alternative food future can develop within them

Conclusion

TBA