What is ‘commercial’ cider?
During the course of research into craft cider in Wales, I keep hearing the word ‘commercial’ used by the crafters. It is a common term used by craft cider makers operating at a range of scales, from garden cider makers to cider makers with successful ‘commercial’ businesses. ‘Commercial’ is typically used to differentiate between a […]
Cider in Unexpected Places? Rural Chile and the Cider Pressing
For most people the mention of authentic craft cider will probably lead to visions of Somerset and the West Country, so our project’s concentration on Welsh producers of craft cider posed some interesting questions. Contrary to some initial expectations, Emma-Jayne Abbots’s research has found that the Welsh-ness of the product is not that important to […]
New Directions in Drinking Studies Conference, 6-7 June 2015
Our Consuming Authenticities project kicked off the papers in what would turn out to be a fantastic conference at the University of Leicester on 6-7 June. This was the New Directions in Drinking Studies conference that I mentioned in a previous post and that I have been organising with my Drinking Studies Network co-ordinator hat […]
Our Impact So Far
On Saturday, May 16th, we held a fascinating whole-day event at the National Library of Wales, where our collaborators shared their views and experiences on the different drink and food products we are investigating and discussed what factors and processes are involved into making them authentic. As expected, we had a great participation from Welsh craft […]
We want to hear your view! Collaborators’ Workshop, 16 May 2015
This exciting, interactive whole-day event will give you the opportunity to share your views and experiences about authenticity and pulque / acarajé / flaounes / Welsh cider. It will also be an opportunity to visit the picturesque Aberstwyth and the internationally acclaimed National Library of Wales. When? Saturday, 16 May 2015 (10.00-16.00) Where? National Library […]
“London Cider”- an inauthentic compound?
Whilst researching at the National Library of Wales I came across this book from 1842 (1819): “A practical treatise on breeding, rearing, and fattening all kinds of domestic poultry, pheasants, pigeons, and rabbits” by John Lawrence who was around from 1753 until 1839. At the back of the volume there was a quite in-depth section […]
A tax on authentic cider?
A new tax on cider, or more properly, the end of a tax exemption for small cider producers is currently being demanded by the European Union, at the same time as a PDO designation for Welsh cider is being proposed. It is predicted that the end of the exemption will have a detrimental effect on […]
Alcohol and Authenticity
For some reason I always expect January to be a relatively low intensity month in which some leisurely research and reading can be achieved, but it has never worked out that way. Aside from the usual flurry of marking of last semester’s final assignments and teaching preparation for the coming semester, two projects related to […]
Introducing the Project
Consuming Authenticities is all about how history, as well as different categories of time and temporality, can be mobilised in making particular cultural products seem “authentic” – the “real” thing. The project grew out of a conversation about the workings of authenticity at a workshop designed to develop new projects that related to the AHRC’s […]
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