Recent controversies over high-priced restaurants and cafes in formerly working class neighborhoods reveal the deep connections between food and cultural identity.
J. Wesley Judd ponders the significance of the explosive controversy surrounding the Cereal Killer Café in London—a retail location in East London that "sells popular commercial cereals for around $6 a bowl."
According to Judd, the angry protest provoked by the Cereal Killer Café, documented and already reflected upon in outlets like The Guardian and CityLab, indicates the connection between food and the widespread angst over gentrification. As a precedent for the Cereal Killer debacle, Judd notes the outpouring of condemnation afforded the popularity of toast in San Francisco.
Moreover, academic research by social scientist Isabelle Anguelovski, in a study released earlier this year, concludes that "environmental racism and privilege affected the relationships that a community has with its food, invisibilized its members and its cultural and social practices around food and beyond, and in turn destabilized their place-making and territorialization…"
FULL STORY: The Problem With Cereal
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This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
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Heyer Gruel & Associates PA
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Harvard GSD Executive Education
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