The Archaeology of Food: How and Why we eat what we do
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04 Sep
2024
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Indian Aesthetics
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Kurush F. Dalal
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Image:Oldest Olive oil in a glass jar 79 AD from Pompeii
Most of the history of our food is lost to antiquity. This is because humans and their eating patterns are much older than history. At its very oldest history goes back 5500 years, humans on the other hand have been on the face of this planet for over 2 million years. Human Food History is divided into 2 very clear sets; Prehistoric where for most of the 2 million plus years we went from scavengers and opportunistic hunters gatherers to specialised hunter gatherers and the ultimate pack killing machines on the planet, and Neolithic till date the story of peoples who grow their own food. The first starts 2 million plus years ago and ends roughly 11 thousand years ago where the second period starts and in which we live today. The study of human food is thus mainly the province of archaeology and not history. This talk, which dwells mainly on the subcontinent and mainly on the 2nd period is the introduction to that story.
Free In-Person only Public Lecture at JPM institute.
Duration -
September 4, 2024
Timing: Tea: 6:00 PM | Lecture: 6:30 - 8:30 PM IST
Registrations Closed
Kurush F. Dalal
Dr Kurush F Dalal is an Archaeologist, Historian, Culinary Anthropologist and Museum Consultant. His research spans the entire gamut of Indian archaeology including Ancient DNA Studies. He has excavated the Early Medieval site of Sanjan, the Early/Late Medieval site of Chandore and the Early Historic and Medieval port site of Mandad. He has published 47 peer reviewed papers, edited six volumes, written over 100 popular articles and has presented his papers at national and international conferences and Seminars. Along with his wife he runs the very successful Studying Food Workshop (looking at food beyond ingredient, recipe and presentation) and many allied workshops. He has been teaching since 2003 and is currently the Chief Education Officer (CEdO) at Gyaan Factory (Mumbai) and Professor of Practice at the Department of Archaeology, KJ Somaiya Institute of Dharma Studies (Mumbai).