Culinary Translation / Traduire le culinaire

   Image: "Food for Thought" © Jeffrey Batchelor

Translation and the culinary arts are universal human activities. Both have been practised since time immemorial. They are also eminently cultural. When Larbaud says “you are who you translate” (“Dis moi qui tu traduis, je te dirai qui tu es” – 1946: 95), he is obviously thinking of Brillat-Savarin’s aphorism, “you are what you eat” (“Dis moi ce que tu manges, je te dirai ce que tu es” – [1825] 2017, Aphorisme IV, p. 19). Each has long been an object of investigation in the humanities and beyond, and the recent growth of research in the field of Translation Studies has been mirrored in the field of Food Studies. It is also arguable that they are historically inextricable, being intertwined domains of intercultural transfer. The two earliest cookery books in the French and English languages (the Viandier of Taillevent and The Forme of Cury, both published in the fourteenth century) contained rival adaptations of recipes from the Latin Liber de Coquina. In fact, it seems curious that the complementary areas of investigation have not been combined more often. We have therefore decided to marry these two ingredients at an international conference to be held at the University of Lille, France, from 30 November to 2 December 2021. Read the full article