Don't expect to find gourmet recipes in "French Beans and Food Scares," a newly-released book by Dartmouth geography professor Susanne Freidberg.
Underneath this catchy title, Freidberg explores the food trade among France, Britain and the countries' former African colonies, as well as the effects of food scares such as Mad Cow Disease upon agricultural business and production in Africa.
Freidberg, who started her research in 1999, traveled to Africa, Britain and France several times to interview those involved in the multiple facets of food production and trade. Her interest in the effects of European food scares upon African food production and trade was piqued when she wrote her doctoral thesis on regional trade in the African nation of Burkina Faso.
The thesis involved interviewing small-time gardeners and market women about how their work had changed over time. In the process, she discovered that Burkina Faso exported luxury green beans to Paris, although the African nation was among the poorest in the world.
Freidberg's discovery regarding the humble origin of the French luxury green bean prompted her to explore Burkina Faso's international food trade. She analyzed how the African country addressed the demands of European consumers for increasingly safe food. "I was interested in how this long distance trade was affected by Europeans who are more and more interested in pesticides, and how Burkina Faso workers were affected by European food fears," Freidberg said.
Freidberg extended her study to include the food trade between Zambia and Great Britain.
According to Freidberg, ties between European countries and their former colonies continue to exist today in the form of food trade.
"What interests me are the cultures of commerce," Freidberg said. "I've been particularly interested in commerce between Africa and Europe because it has been very influenced by colonial history."
Several Dartmouth undergraduates contributed to Freidberg's study, but their research travel was contained to the Baker-Berry library. However, a recent Dartmouth grad took photos for the project in Paris.
Freidberg, in addition to researching, teaches in the geography department. Her courses include the popular freshman seminar, Geography 7, "Food in the New World Order," which takes students on field trips to a dairy farm, fast food restaurants and supermarkets. Students also read "Fast Food Nation," which is very critical of the fast food industry, conduct anthropological fieldwork on their trips to various fast food chains and discuss how their impressions meet with what they read in "Fast Food Nation."
Jason Lau '05, took the seminar with Freidberg as a freshman, and his experience helps explain the popularity of the course.
"Her research showed me that the discipline of geography combined all of my interests -- politics, current events, culture, etc -- and probably was what convinced me to be a geography major," he said.