Defining 'afters'

Dear Ian (et al!),
As a literary scholar, I have been intrigued by the idea of following foods and telling stories with them, as well as by the question of how we research, write and disseminate findings.
So here are my initial contributions to this dialogue:
I agree that production and consumption issues are important, but let’s not forget about the symbolic values of food (and thank you, Ian, for bringing people together who usually would not have the chance to exchange their ideas!). I guess what I have been thinking about is how food has been used to define people and cultures – and how this is changing with globalization. Could this be one form of ‘afters’?
Another form of ‘afters’ that I feel warrants more thought and discussion is the following: What are we left with after eating, especially after “eating the other”? (Nourishment? Shit?) How do we digest what we have eaten? Sorry for bringing up the scatological, but that was my fist definition of ‘afters’….
More later, and thanks again for raising these interesting issues!

Heike Henderson