Tom Hoogervorst receives ERC Consolidator Grant for proposal on culinary change

27-11-2023

KITLV researcher Tom Hoogervorst received an ERC Consolidator Grant for his proposal on culinary change. This competitive five-year grant is awarded by the European Commission to mid-career academics with the aim to set up independent research projects. Tom will start his project, titled ‘Trajectories of taste: An analytical framework of culinary change after migration’, in 2024.

This project asks how culinary traditions change after migration. What factors contribute to new eating patterns? What is the role of traditions, memories, cultural contact and emotion? How do economic, socio-cultural and ecological considerations interact? What is taste and on which levels does it operate? Where do ideas about what food “should” taste like come from? To what extent are culinary changes similar to linguistic change? An interdisciplinary research team will be recruited to investigate these diverse aspects in consultation with Indonesian diasporas in Suriname, South Africa and Sri Lanka.

As a historical linguist, Tom has focused on language contact in Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean, viewing the past through the lens of language. He has also published several articles on cooking, eating, and drinking according to early Malay and Javanese texts. It is often said that food brings people together, but culinary history also offers insights into the inequalities, migration flows, and colonial exploitation that have shaped and continue to shape our world.