When Americans think of brunch, they typically think of Sunday mornings swelling into early afternoons; mimosas and Bloody Marys; eggs Benedict and coffee cake; bacon and bagels; family and friends. While brunch has become a modern meal of leisure, its history is far from restful; this meal’s past is both lively and fraught with tension.
Professor Farha Ternikar presents a modern history of brunch not only as a meal, but also as a cultural experience. She explores the gendered and class-based conflicts around this meal, and provides readers with an enlightening glimpse into the dining rooms, verandas, and kitchens where brunches were prepared, served, and enjoyed. Relying on diverse sources, from historic cookbooks to Twitter and television, her recent book Brunch: A History is a global and social history of the meal including brunch in the United States, Western Europe, South Asia and the Middle-East.
Farha Ternikar is an associate professor of Sociology at Le Moyne College where she teaches Food and Culture, Gender and Society and the Sociology of Food. She has authored several articles on ethnicity and immigrant identity in such publications as the Journal of Ethnic Studies, International Journal of Contemporary Sociology, and Sociology Compass, and most recently her research was included in the 2012-2013 exhibitionLunch Hour at the New York Public Library.
Sponsored by Culinary Historians of New York and the Food Studies Program at the New School for Public Engagement.
Comments are closed.