Visual consumption: an exploration of narrative and nostalgia in contemporary South African cookbooks by Francois Roelof Engelbrecht 92422013 A mini-dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Magister Artium (Information Design) in the Department of Visual Arts at the UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA FACULTY OF HUMANITIES MAY 2013 Supervisor: Prof J van Eeden © University of Pretoria DECLARATION I declare that Visual consumption: an exploration of narrative and nostalgia in contemporary South African cookbooks is my own work and that all the sources that I have used or quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by means of complete references. __________________ Francois Engelbrecht Student number 92422013 6 May 2013 ii © University of Pretoria “What is patriotism but the love of the food one ate as a child?” – Lin Yutang (Lin Yutang > Quotes [sa]) iii © University of Pretoria SUMMARY AND KEY TERMS This study explores the visual consumption of food and its meanings through the study of narrative and nostalgia in a selection of five South African cookbooks. The aim of this study is to suggest, through the exploration of various cookbook narratives and the role that nostalgia plays in individual and collective identity formation and maintenance, that food, as symbolic goods, can act as a unifying ideology in the construction of a sense of national identity and nationhood. This is made relevant in a South African context through the analysis of a cross-section of five recent South African cookbooks. These are Shiny happy people (2009) by Neil Roake; Waar vye nog soet is (2009) by Emilia Le Roux and Francois Smuts; Evita’s kossie sikelela (2010) by Evita Bezuidenhout (Pieter-Dirk Uys); Tortoises & tumbleweeds (journey through an African kitchen) (2008) by Lannice Snyman; and South Africa eats (2009) by Phillippa Cheifitz. In order to gain an understanding of cookbooks’ significance in modern culture, it is necessary to understand that cookbooks – as postmodern texts – carry meaning and cultural significance. Through the exploration of cookbooks, as material objects of culture, one is also able to explore non-material items of culture such as the society’s knowledge, beliefs and values. Other key concepts to this study include the global growth of interest in food; the shift from the physical consumption of food to the visual consumption thereof; the roles that consumption, narrative and nostalgia play in constructing and maintaining personal and collective identities; and the role of food as a unifying ideology in the construction of a sense of nationhood. Key terms: consumption and identity, cookbooks, food, food imagery, food porn, gastronationalism, gastroporn, gastrosopher, identity, narrative, national identity, nationbuilding, nationhood, nostalgia, recipes, South African cookbooks, symbolic goods, visual consumption. iv © University of Pretoria ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND DEDICATION • The financial assistance of the University of Pretoria towards this research is hereby acknowledged. Opinions expressed in this dissertation and conclusions arrived at are those of the author and are not necessarily to be attributed to the University of Pretoria. I would like to express my gratitude to the following people: • Jeanne van Eeden. Thank you for your encouragement, enthusiasm, and above all, patience. Your knowledge and passion about your field – and eagerness to share it – is what makes you such an inspiring supervisor. • Marian Sauthoff. Thank you for pointing me in the direction that turned out to be the main focus of this study. • My wife, Christine. Thank you for your patience and support, and more importantly, believing in me. Your enthusiasm and encouragement kept me going. • My mom, Hester. Thank you for instilling in me the two loves essential to this study; a love of learning and a love of cooking. I would like to dedicate this dissertation to the following people: • My mom and dad, who taught us that learning is a lasting inheritance. • Christine and Elza, who make my life richer than I could ever have imagined. v © University of Pretoria TABLE OF CONTENTS Page DECLARATION ii SUMMARY AND KEY TERMS iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND DEDICATION v LIST OF FIGURES viii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER TWO: THE NARRATIVE OF THE COOKBOOK AND THE VISUAL CONSUMPTION OF FOOD 10 2.1 Gastrosophy 10 2.2 Food porn 15 2.3 Visual consumption 18 2.3.1 The photographic message 19 2.3.2 The rhetoric of the image 21 2.4 Consumption and identity 29 2.5 The structure of the narrative 34 2.6 The narrative of the cookbook 38 2.7 Nostalgia and consumption 41 2.7.1 Definition of nostalgia 41 2.7.2 Four classifications of the nostalgic experience 42 2.7.3 How objects of consumption become objects of nostalgia 45 2.7.4 Prompting nostalgic reflection 46 2.8 The role of nostalgia in the visual consumption of cookbooks, recipes and food imagery 47 CHAPTER THREE: NARRATIVE AND NOSTALGIA IN SOUTH AFRICAN COOKBOOKS 50 3.1 Narrative and nostalgia in selected South African cookbooks 50 3.1.1 Shiny happy people (2009) by Neil Roake 51 3.1.2 Waar vye nog soet is (2009) by Emilia Le Roux and Francois Smuts 61 3.1.3 Evita’s kossie sikelela (2010) by Evita Bezuidenhout 71 3.1.4 Tortoises & tumbleweeds (journey through an African kitchen) (2008) by Lannice Snyman 85 3.1.5 South Africa eats (2009) by Phillippa Cheifitz 95 3.2 Food as a unifying ideology in the construction of a sense of nationhood 105 vi © University of Pretoria CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION 114 4.1 Summary of chapters 114 4.2 Contribution of the study 116 4.3 Limitations if the study 124 4.4 Suggestions for further research 125 SOURCES CONSULTED 127 vii © University of Pretoria LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1: The photographic message 19 Figure 2: Panzani advertisement 23 Figure 3: The various components that make up the self, 2006 32 Figure 4: Tension between ‘I’ and ‘me’ with consumption as reconciler, 2006 33 Figure 5: The three levels of the narrative. 36 Figure 6: Mittal’s four classifications of the nostalgic experience, 2009 44 Figure 7: Two fictitious advertisements for Kodak brand film, 2004 46 Figure 8: The cover of Shiny happy people 52 Figure 9: Endpaper of Shiny happy people 53 Figure 10: Author’s introduction to Shiny happy people 54 Figure 11: Page 32 and 33 of Shiny happy people 57 Figure 12: Page 38 and 39 of Shiny happy people 58 Figure 13: Cover page and inside front flap of Waar vye nog soet is 63 Figure 14: Author’s introduction to Waar vye nog soet is 64 Figure 15: Author’s introduction to Waar vye nog soet is 65 Figure 16: Page 86 of Waar vye nog soet is 68 Figure 17: Page 56 of Waar vye nog soet is 69 Figure 18: Pages 82 and 83 of Waar vye nog soet is 70 Figure 19: Cover of Evita's kossie sikelela 74 Figure 20: Dust jacket of Evita's kossie sikelela 76 Figure 21: Pages 8 and 9 of Evita's kossie sikelela 79 Figure 22: Page 10 of Evita's kossie sikelela 81 Figure 23: Pages 52 and 53 of Evita's kossie sikelela 82 Figure 24: Cover and dust jacket of Tortoises & tumbleweeds (journey through an African kitchen) 86 Figure 25: Pages 6 and 7 of Tortoises & tumbleweeds (journey through an African kitchen) 89 Figure 26: Pages 16 and 17 of Tortoises & tumbleweeds (journey through an African kitchen) 91 Figure 27: Pages 18 and 19 of Tortoises & tumbleweeds (journey through an African kitchen) 93 Figure 28: Pages 22 and 23 of Tortoises & tumbleweeds (journey through an African kitchen) 94 Figure 29: Cover and dust jacket of South Africa eats 96 Figure 30: Front endpaper of South Africa eats 98 Figure 31: Pages 4 and 5 of South Africa eats 99 Figure 32: Pages 8 and 9 of South Africa eats 101 Figure 33: Pages 10 and 11 of South Africa eats 103 Figure 34: Pages 12 and 13 of South Africa eats 104 viii © University of Pretoria CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION Cookbooks tell unusual cultural tales, according to Arjun Appudarai (1988:3), a social-cultural anthropologist. Even though cookbooks can be categorised as belonging to the humble literature of civilisation, they are unique in the way they combine the pragmatism of a manual or guide with the sensory pleasure of literature. They not only represent culinary lore and tradition regarding the journey of food from the garden to the market, kitchen and table, but may also confront the reader with domestic ideologies, the logic of meals, the demands and restrictions of the household budget, and culinary and cultural customs and taboos. By exploring and understanding the interdependency of the material and non- material process of culture and the meaning of objects in culture, one sees how it is possible for cookbooks, as material objects of consumer culture, to carry meaning and cultural significance, transcending their genre as mere food preparation manuals. According to Luz María Jiménez Narvaez (2000:38), artefacts created or constructed by human beings as part of the material process of culture rely on the non-material process of culture. This refers to the shaping of knowledge, beliefs and values through the process of ordering, disordering and re-ordering meaning as a result of everyday engagements with life (Buchanan 1998:10). These two processes are interdependent. Therefore, by examining material artefacts of consumer culture, one is able to explore non-material items of culture such as the society’s knowledge, beliefs and values around intangible and (potentially inexplicable) concepts like identity and nostalgia. The interdependency of the material and non-material processes of culture also raises the issue of meaning in objects of culture.