Monday, February 02, 2004


material culture

reflecting on the fact that coffee is the world's second most heavily traded commodity and that cacao's also an important commodity good, no one can doubt the importance of coffee and chocolate to the global economy.

the introduction and adoption of these foods around the world has dramatically changed the situation of mankind in all spheres: economically, socially, and politically. even sometimes religiously, as when popes, princes, and muftis have banned and/or accepted them!

an indicator of the actual importance of items that may seem banal or merely quotidian to us at first glance is the material culture surrounding them. and both coffee and chocolate abound in this material culture -- dedicated pots, grinders, cups, special bowls, unique brewing devices, spoons, beaters, trays, etc. etc.

all this household stuff, these artifacts, show how important coffee and chocolate social rituals are. most people do expect to come to your house and see coffee served in a proper kind of mug or cup.

you wouldn't serve someone coffee in a cereal bowl or measuring cup, would you? it wouldn't even occur to you to do so. the graduate student jam jar is about as far as you might dare go.

this is a case when anthropologists perk up their ears, because this kind of unthinking social ritual is what's most telling about how we actually live now or how we lived in the past.

long-time readers will recall i recently linked to a serious academic study of the coffee cup. and to follow this up is an exhibit at the met on the material culture of coffee, chocolate, and tea.

it opens tomorrow and runs through the mid-summer. don't miss it!

posted by fortune | 11:38 AM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 0 comments