[Hybrid] BU and Queers at the Table

Sponsored by the BU Food Studies Programs; BU LGBTQIA+ Center for Faculty & Staff; Institute for Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies of McGill University; and Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada

Join the co-editors, Alex D. Ketchum and Megan J. Elias and anthology contributors Jennifer Park, Danielle Rousseau, Jo Michael Rezes for a discussion of Queers at the Table and the importance of acknowledging queer food. This anthology was developed out of the first Queer Food Conference (QFC) held at Boston University (BU) in Spring 2024. Queer food will be served, and books will be available for purchase.

Queers at the Table is an anthology of essays, comics, and recipes that reveals the dynamic and transformative relationship between queerness and food. Food has long played an important role in queer culture. Lesbian- and queer women-run feminist restaurants, cafes, and coffeehouses have been safe spaces for queer and trans folk where gender norms can be challenged and where female authority is legitimized. During the AIDS epidemic, gay men and their allies centered food as an expression of collective care for those who needed it most. And queer and trans folk have asserted themselves in a restaurant culture largely controlled by white cisgender men.

Queers at the Table celebrates the various intersections between queers and food. In its essays, comics, and recipes, the book shows how this shared culture fosters connections, defies norms, honors legacies, and creates community.