Cooking in theory: Risky events in the structure of the conjuncture

Abstract

What could the practice of everyday cooking contribute to anthropological theory? I consider this question in developing my own approach to cooking, drawing from a modified version of Marshall Sahlins’ theory of historical practice. Thinking through key concepts from Sahlins, including ‘the structure of the conjuncture’ and ‘the risk of categories in practice,’ I suggest some of the ways this might be applied to the practice of cooking, and I argue that, indeed, such an approach – one that recognizes the role of recipes as well as of improvisation – fills a gap left in understandings of cooking based on strictly phenomenological approaches such as that of Tim Ingold. I argue that a modified Sahlinsian approach can help us understand the daily reproduction and change that happens each time a recognizable dish is cooked. I then suggest some of the ways that my own research on Greek cooking lends itself to thinking about risky practices. Finally, I suggest that doing ethnography informed by this approach will not only illuminate our kitchen lives but will provide a valuable model for ethnographic studies of the historical processes involved in changes in daily life more broadly.