Meanings of Maple: An Ethnography of Sugaring (Food and Foodways)

In Meanings of Maple , Michael A. Lange provides a cultural analysis of maple syrup making, known in Vermont as sugaring, to illustrate how maple syrup as both process and product is an aspect of cultural identity. Readers will go deep into a Vermont sugar bush and its web of plastic tubes, mainline valves, and collection tanks. They will visit sugarhouses crammed with gas evaporators and reverse-osmosis machines. And they will witness encounters between sugar makers and the tourists eager to invest Vermont with mythological fantasies of rural simplicity. So much more than a commodity study, Meanings of Maple frames a new approach for evaluating the broader implications of iconic foodways, and it will animate conversations in food studies for years to come.

In Meanings of Maple, Michael A. Lange provides a cultural analysis of maple syrup making, known in Vermont as sugaring, to illustrate how maple syrup as both process and product is an aspect of cultural identity.Readers will go deep into a Vermont sugar bush and its web of plastic tubes, mainline valves, and collection tanks. They will visit sugarhouses crammed with gas evaporators and reverse-osmosis machines. And they will witness encounters between sugar makers and the tourists eager to invest Vermont with mythological fantasies of rural simplicity.So much more than a commodity study, Meanings of Maple frames a new approach for evaluating the broader implications of iconic foodways, and it will animate conversations in food studies for years to come.

Provides a cultural analysis of maple syrup making, known in Vermont as sugaring, to illustrate how maple syrup as both process and product is an aspect of cultural identity. Readers will go deep into a Vermont sugar bush and its web of plastic tubes, mainline valves, and collection tanks. They will visit sugarhouses crammed with gas evaporators and reverse-osmosis machines. And they will witness encounters between sugar makers and the tourists eager to invest Vermont with mythological fantasies of rural simplicity. More than a commodity study, Lange frames a new approach for evaluating the broader implications of iconic foodways. --From publisher description In Meanings Of Maple, Michael A. Lange Provides A Cultural Analysis Of Maple Syrup Making And Its Relationship To Vermont Identity.--back Cover. The Economic Meaning Of Maple -- The Culinary Meaning Of Maple -- The Geographic Meaning Of Maple -- The Ecological Meaning Of Maple -- The Agricultural Meaning Of Maple -- The Heritage Meaning Of Maple -- Epilogue: Identity. Michael A. Lange. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 181-190) And Index.