Spring 2006

Convivium Artium   ::   Representation of Food in Literature, Film, and the Arts

Saint Nicholas of Tolentino
Alonso López de Herrera
San Antonio Museum of Art

After a long wait, the publication of this second issue of Convivium Artium on the internet coincides with the Fourth Conference on Food Representation in Literature, Films and the other Arts, that takes place the last week of February of 2006 at the University of Texas, San Antonio. Several unavoidable limitations slowed down the publication of this journal, but the will to continue with the original project of offering an academic venue for publishing electronically studies on food and the humanities has not dwindled at all; on the contrary, after the difficulties and uncertainties, the decision to continue publishing this electronic journal with regularity has been reaffirmed with this new issue. A third one is already in preparation and should be available by next fall.

The continuity of the biennial conference that gave birth to this publication is indicative of the interest food studies have among scholars from different fields of study. As a limited but widely inclusive perspective, the study of food representation in artistic works as different from other, more practical approaches to food, adds to the subject a level of complexity that certainly will make of everything related to food and eating a still more important issue in the continuous development of a world increasingly affected by seemingly unsolvable problems of hunger and satiety. By focusing in the manifold manifestations of food and related matters in works of fiction and beauty, critics help with their observations in the understanding of human needs and desires, dreams and limitations.

As humanists and cultural critics, scholars involved in the study of literature, art and film find in food as much meaning and significance as those traditionally attributed to political, philosophical, psychological or religious subjects. All of these seemingly more profound fields of study are also affected and combined with the treatment of food as an everyday necessity in life. Man does not live on bread alone, much less on arts and letters alone. The articles included in this issue, as well as those published in the first one, show how much food matters in literature and the arts.

By focusing on the function of food in works of art from different historical periods and from different cultural traditions, Convivium Artium wants to promote interdisciplinary, multicultural and multilingual approaches in the humanities. The global reach of the internet seems the most appropriate venue for a publication that wants to open the field of food studies to a wide variety of scholars and artists. We are all invited to participate in this search for meaning in the seemingly prosaic realm of food and eating, and to contribute with our research and analyses to the growing number of publications and studies on food as an inherently human ingredient, one of the most telling cultural components of our cultures since the very beginning of times.

Not only does Convivium artium invite submissions in the form of scholarly articles, it also welcomes brief essays, reviews and graphic art. The continuity of a journal depends largely on the interest of those who have informative and engaging works to offer for our readers. We count on you.