Over the past few weeks, I feel that I have already improved my research abilities tremendously. I regrettably admit this, but prior to Rhetoric of Food I had never used the UT Library Database, so having recently utilized this tool feels like an achievement in itself. When considering what topic I want to explore, I immediately thought, “Why not research food and eating in Cape Town”? since I am traveling there this summer and will probably be doing some recon on the topic anyways. However, finding scholarly articles on this topic proved to be difficult; instead I was left with a handful of texts about food regulations in South Africa.
Scratching that idea, I moved on to plan B, my favorite food: pizza. I quickly decided that this topic would prove to be interesting because I have already journaled about my love for pizza and its a food appreciated by most everyone. I can also take this topic in all sorts of directions: types of pizza, it’s history, strange toppings around the world, and the list goes on. Google Scholar and Ebsco are the main data bases I have been using so far and they have a collection of material to read and chose from. Does anyone else have a database they would recommend?
Pizza: A Global History by Carol Helstosky
Slice of Heaven: A History of Pizza in America
Great topic! There is definitely many routes you can take when writing about pizza, but I think that the history of pizza may be a tad limiting. There may be only so much you can find about the history of pizza, so maybe you can explore the different types of pizzas or how pizza is made around the world. You can find articles from different cultures. You obviously don’t have to do this, but this is just an idea! As far as research, the UT database would probably be beneficial and worth learning about and checking out. I myself am not too familiar with it, but I plan on exploring it for this assignment. Sounds like you are off to a good start!
How pizza differs from continent to continent would be pretty interesting topic. You’d be able to show how other people’s cultures find their way into influencing such a popular food.