Not being a morning person, I usually will go to great lengths to avoid waking up before 8am. However, I could not pass up the opportunity to see the inner workings of Middlebury’s Ross dining hall. Dining hall culture, especially at a school as small as Middlebury, is an integral part of student experience, and I was curious to see how the dining hall operated.
When my alarm went off at 5:45am I briefly regretted my decision, but this was quickly replaced with feelings of excitement and curiosity. As I walked into Ross, I immediately noticed it was being cleaned by a crew of several women. It appeared as though they had been working for a while. I realized that I had never even thought about who cleaned the space where I eat every single day. This probably remains a hidden space of work to many students, yet it impacts their daily living.
After Chris, the head chef of Ross, gave us a tour of the facility, we each paired off with a worker. I had the pleasure of working with Dave, making omelets and deep frying potatoes. At first I was very nervous about making conversation and felt uncomfortably aware of our differences. However, Dave was incredibly easy to talk to and conversation came naturally. We quickly bonded over our shared love of Nordic skiing and hiking.
Although my conversation with Dave ran the gamut from growing up in Vermont to our plans for Thanksgiving, it did tend to gravitate back towards his experience as a worker in the dining hall. Before coming to work for Middlebury four years ago, Dave worked in dining halls at Saint Michael’s College and Champlain College. He said that although Middlebury’s food is not perfect, it tends to be much fresher and more nutritious. Dave has a friend who works at the dining hall at Sterling College, a very small college in rural Vermont. Sterling College has only 100 students and farm work and producing food arean integral part of its curriculum. This led us to discuss the role of scale in dining systems, and reminded me of our class discussion about the Jackson article. We talked about the monetary realities and difficulty of creating change across large scales.
While touring the workspace, Chris noted the tightly spaced pathways and said that the work room often became quite crowded. Dave and I were working off in a side area. Even with just two of us in a small nook, I often found myself quickly side stepping to avoid colliding with the hot pans Dave was carrying. I was reminded of “Abolish Restaurants”. In my experience, the tight space did not cause much trouble, but I could see how conflict could easily arise in such conditions.
My morning in Ross was incredibly informative and rewarding. It certainly made me rethink my relationship with the workers and the space I interact with every single day.

I have neither given nor received any unauthorized aid on this assignment.

Gilbert, Elizabeth. Stern Men. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000. Print.

Elizabeth Gilbert’s 2000 novel Stern Men focuses on the life of Ruth Thomas, a young girl from a remote island off the coast of Maine. The lobster fishing industry dominates nearly every aspect of life on the island. Throughout the story, Ruth’s connection to the wealthy and powerful Ellis family is revealed. The Ellis Granite Company once ruled Fort Niles Island where Ruth lives, and at the time of the novel the family maintains a summer estate on the island. The Ellis family adopted Ruth’s grandmother Jane to serve as a playmate and servant to Vera Ellis. Jane and Ruth’s mother Mary both lived lives of servitude to the Ellis family. Ruth is similarly influenced by the Ellis family, who pays for her education at a private boarding school in Delaware and controls her fate in many ways. The novel focuses primarily on the summer after Ruth graduates from high school, but includes many historical flashbacks. As Ruth decides what to do with her life after graduation, she finds her own voice and power. Ultimately she unites Fort Niles and their rival island Courne Haven in an economic cooperative.

Stern Men is a highly entertaining novel that is pleasurable to read. However, it can be more fully appreciated when examined through a geographical lens. Geographic notions of space and place, in addition to inside and outside meaning, are particularly relevant to Stern Men and its themes.

Ruth’s life on Fort Niles and her connections to the lobster industry are brimming with inside meaning. Inside meaning is defined as the “daily life conditions of consumption” (Mintz 20). Ruth’s familial ties and friendships, in addition to her childhood memories, create inside meaning. Her experiences and relationships on Fort Niles give her a unique perspective and opinion of the island. Those who create inside meaning are “imparting significance to their own acts and the acts of those around them” (Mintz 20). Ruth’s steadfast determination to remain on Fort Niles is a reflection of the inside meaning she has created:

It was Ruth Thomas’s firm position that she belonged nowhere but on Fort Niles Island…It was important to Ruth in principle that she feel happy on Fort Niles, although, for the most part, she was pretty bored there…More than anything, Ruth’s passion for Fort Niles was an expression of protest. It was her resistance against those who would send her away, supposedly for her own good. (Gilbert 43)

The Ellis family, particularly its patriarch Lanford Ellis, insists on Ruth being educated away at boarding school in Delaware. While Ruth does not necessarily miss Fort Niles while at school, she does resent her loss of personal autonomy. Thus, her loyalty to Fort Niles is a demonstration of “imparting significance” to her actions. Ruth uses inside meaning to resist the Ellis family in many ways.

Although many of Fort Niles Island’s residents live in isolation and change is slow to come to the island, it is nonetheless affected by the greater world. Life on the island is also laden with outside meaning, which refers to the “environing economic, social, and political (even military) conditions” (Mintz 20). For much of the novel, Gilbert only makes passing references to the outside world. Much of the novel’s action is focused on Fort Niles itself and the neighboring island of Courne Haven. However, near the end of the novel, Gilbert introduces some outside context. Pastor Wishnell, who travels along the coast of Maine providing religious services to remote communities, speaks to Ruth about the harsh realities of Fort Niles’ place in the region, if not the world:

“Fort Niles is slow to act; your island is the last to embrace any change. Most of the men on Fort Niles still make their own traps, because, without reason, they’re suspicious of the wire ones…All over Maine, the lobstermen are starting to consider fiberglass boats…How long will it be before fiberglass comes to Fort Niles?” (Gilbert 229).

Suddenly, life and attitudes on Fort Niles are embedded in outside meaning. They are influenced by modernization and the necessity of keeping up with change. The global forces of change threaten economic prosperity in the small community. This conjures up ideas of scale, and as Jackson mentions, the connection between scales (Jackson 200). Rather than viewing Fort Niles in isolation, geographers will appreciate Gilbert’s expression of connections between the small island and larger forces of change.

Stern Men can also be examined through the geographic principles of space and place. As explored by Jackson, place can be defined as humanized space (199), or space infused with meaning. Ruth’s gender, familial history, and personal experiences all shape her ideas of space and place.

Females on Fort Niles are generally expected to live their lives as housewives and support their husbands’ careers as lobstermen. Fishing boats are a male space, while the home is a definitively female space. However, Ruth defies these traditional gender norms. Not only does Ruth achieve an education, she aspires to work in the lobster fishing industry and bring about change. Ruth’s mother is absent for much of her life, so her father does take on some traditionally female roles within the home, showing another departure from expected gender roles. However, from the beginning, Ruth’s relationship with her father is tense as a result of her gender: “He’d been expecting a boy, but he was polite enough to conceal his disappointment when he came home from fishing and met his little girl” (Gilbert 210). Ruth’s father does feel a fondness towards his daughter, but the relationship is not particularly warm or caring. The relationship with her father influences Ruth’s perception of home. Their family home does not hold many special or happy memories for Ruth. She tends to view her home as a place of boredom and discontent. In many ways, Ruth’s house with her father is more of a space than a place.

Ruth’s familial history of unpaid domestic labor is also closely linked to space and place. Ruth’s mother and grandmother both live in servitude to the wealthy Ellis family. According to Cox, “the labour of domestic workers facilitates conspicuous consumption by employers and helps them to maintain and enhance their social status” (Cox 824). Although this quote refers to paid domestic labor, it still holds true to the situation of Jane and Mary Thomas. The use of domestic labor helps the Ellis family, particularly Vera Ellis, maintain a certain lifestyle and power status. Ruth loathes the way her mother and grandmother are treated by the Ellis family. In the middle of the novel, Ruth goes to visit her mother in Concord, where she is living with Vera Ellis. She does not enjoy the visit: “Ruth was doing time in Concord. Getting it over with. Trying to stay sane. Because if she’d reacted to everything that galled her, she’d have been in a constant state of disgust and rage” (Gilbert 151). To Ruth, the place of the Ellis family home and Concord is infused with anger and resentment. Place does not necessarily come with positive associations. Ruth creates a sense of place in the Concord home through entirely negative emotions.

In conclusion, Stern Men is recommended for any geographer interested in examining space and place, in addition to inside and outside meaning. It is enriched by Gilbert’s exploration of gender, familial ties, identity, and power. Although the story is fictional, it humanizes work in the lobster fishing industry and those affected by said work. Ruth Thomas is a dynamic and nuanced character, who ultimately finds her own power in a place that has continually robbed her of freedom. Stern Men is an enlightening novel for all geographers.

I have neither given nor received any unauthorized aid on this assignment.

WORKS CITED:

Cox, R. 2013. “House/Work: Home as Space of Work and Consumption” Geography Compass (7)12: 821-831.

Gilbert, Elizabeth. Stern Men. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000. Print.

Jackson, P. (2006) “Thinking Geographically” Geography 91(3).

Mintz, S. (1996) “Food and its relationship to concepts of power” Tasting Food, Tasting Freedom: Excursions into Eating, Power and the Past. Beacon: Boston.

Seven percent of American women are employed in the restaurant industry, yet they generate 37% of sexual harassment claims to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. To say the least, this statistic is disconcerting. Upon reflection, one is led to consider factors contributing to the glaring issue at hand. Women working in the restaurant industry are up against the same formidable challenges as women in other industries – underrepresentation in leadership, inadequate health care, pressure to balance work and family. However, in many ways, the restaurant industry’s rampant sexual harassment can be traced back to tipping, once merely a cultural practice, but now a legalized form of payment.

In 42 states, tipped employees can legally be paid subminimum wage, which can be as low as $2.13 per hour. This is based on the assumption that the remainder of the employee’s wages will be made up by tips.

Subminimum tipped wage encourages and perpetuates a culture of sexual harassment in the restaurant industry. Tipped workers are dependent on customers for their wages. When a customer is behaving inappropriately – an uncomfortable comment, an unwanted touch – the worker rarely speaks up. Tipped workers are often struggling to make a living and do not want to risk losing a valuable customer. To further complicate the issue, in many restaurants tips are pooled between workers. Fear of losing money for coworkers can also force workers into silence. This dynamic between customer and employee normalizes the treatment of tipped workers as sexual objects.

Once the workplace has become sexualized in this way, it is a slippery slope to inappropriate behavior from coworkers and managers. The tipped worker feels as though sexual harassment is merely a part of the job that they must tolerate. The harassers themselves gain a feeling of immunity, knowing that they can get away with nearly anything. Demeaning comments are assumed to be part of “kitchen talk”, or harmless banter between coworkers. In short, subminimum tipped wage creates a sexualized restaurant culture that is hostile to tipped workers, particularly women, who make up 66% of tipped employees.

In October 2014, the Restaurant Opportunities Center United released a comprehensive report about sexual harassment in the restaurant industry. The results of the study are alarming, yet sadly unsurprising given the aforementioned dynamics of restaurant work. Women working in tipped positions were three times more likely to have managers or supervisors comment on their appearance, usually telling them to dress “sexier”. To both customers and employers, tipped workers are reduced to nothing more than sexual objects.

Women being paid sub-minimum tipped wage are twice as likely to report sexual harassment as those being paid minimum wage. Even more alarming is that this statistic is only based on reported incidents – sexual harassment remains chronically underreported. 70% of tipped workers surveyed said that they fear repercussions from reporting sexual harassment. Time and time again, the idea that sexual harassment is simply “part of the job” prevails.

Although women are disproportionately affected by subminimum wage and its connection to sexual harassment, the issue takes a toll on every worker. In states with subminimum tipped wage, all workers – including men and untipped employees – reported higher instances of sexual harassment. The sexualized work environment created by subminimum wage means that any employee can be subject to harassment.

This issue reaches far beyond the restaurant itself. Many young people’s first work experience is in the restaurant industry. It is there that they will learn workplace norms and their worth as a worker. These ideas will be carried with them into other professions and industries.

In numerous ways, subminimum tipped wage perpetuates injustices against vulnerable workers. It is an unfortunate reflection of societal values and attitudes. The scope and extent of this problem signals that it is time for a change. By raising or eliminating subminimum tipped wage, tipped employees will gain financial security and thus the power to speak up. Restaurants and corporations can improve sexual harassment training and encourage employees to report experiences with harassment. It will take a significant shift in restaurant culture to overcome these issues, but it is not insurmountable. One day, the restaurant industry will be full of employees valued for their skills, dedication, and ambition, rather than their clothing or waistline. It is time to create a workplace that is safe for all workers.

I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid on this assignment. Laura Harris

Bibliography:

Marcotte, Amanda. “Restaurant Workers Get Low Wages and Lots of Sexual Harassment.” Slate Magazine. 14 Oct. 2014. Web. 30 Oct. 2014.

The Glass Floor: Sexual Harassment in the Restaurant Industry. Restaurant Opportunities Center United. Web.

I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid on this assignment.

Bob Giraldi’s 2000 film Dinner Rush captures a night in the lives of various workers at a Manhattan restaurant. Although the film only focuses on one night in one restaurant, it is filled with notable portrayals of work and workers in the food industry.

The hierarchy between kitchen workers, servers, and owners is evident throughout the film. The owner sits a designated table and has food delivered to him throughout the night, cooked exactly the way he likes it. Employees listen to his every command (except for his son). The waitstaff are dressed professionally and have direct interactions with the customers. They take pride in proper pronunciation of the names of the Italian dishes. The kitchen staff is generally represented as lower class. The main language of communication in the kitchen is Spanish, whereas English or Italian are used in the dining area. Kitchen workers rarely come up to talk to customers, instead staying at their exact spot on the line.

The physical layout of the restaurant is also important in understanding the portrayals of work in Dinner Rush. The kitchen is located beneath the dining area, symbolizing the kitchen staff’s inferiority. The contrast of the ambiance of the kitchen and of the dining area is obvious. The kitchen is loud, hot, and chaotic, as described by Fine on page 82. The light is harsh and unforgiving. By comparison, the dining area is pleasant and comfortable. In once scene the restaurant’s power is briefly shut off. The waitstaff quickly lights candles, transforming the room into a magical dining experience. When power is restored, customers say they prefer the candlelight. However, in the kitchen, the darkness creates even more chaos. The work becomes even more dangerous (it already is very dangerous, as noted by Fine), and the staff rushes to deliver dishes on time. The dichotomy between the kitchen and the dining area is representative of the different kinds of labor present in each space.

Conflict between the workers is present throughout the film. As described in Abolish Restaurants, the space of restaurant can be designed to create conflict among workers (Prole 33). The kitchen in Dinner Rush is perpetually hot, crowded and chaotic. Workers have little personal space, causing many conflicts. The stairway from the kitchen to the dining area is also ripe for conflict, as waitstaff transport hot dishes and rush to please their customers.

Throughout the film, customers are portrayed as difficult and unyielding. Servers generally put up with their attitudes because the business of the restaurant is dependent on them. However, the servers bond over criticizing the customers behind their backs. This is a common trend in restaurant work (Prole 28). In general, the relationship between workers and customers is shown to be antagonistic.

Although Dinner Rush shows moments of compassion and camaraderie between workers, restaurant work is generally depicted as harsh and undesirable. In many ways, this aligns with our recent readings for class. Restaurant work highlights differences between racial and class group, frequently creating conflict.

Works Cited:

Fine, Gary Alan. Kitchens: The Culture of Restaurant Work. Berkeley: U of California, 2009. Print.

Prole. Abolish Restaurants: A Worker’s Critique of the Food Service Industry. Oakland, Ca: PM, 2010. Web.

I have neither given nor received any unauthorized aid on this assignment.  Laura Harris

Ritesh Batra’s 2013 film The Lunchbox focuses on the relationship between Ila, a housewife, and Saajan, an accountant. Every day, Ila prepares a lunch intended to be delivered to her husband through Mumbai’s dabbawala system. The dabbawalas collect lunch boxes from housewives to deliver warm, home cooked meals to husbands at work. However, one day her lunchbox is mistakenly delivered to Saajan. The two begin a correspondence, sharing details about their lives in daily notes. On the surface, the film is a simple story of love and friendship. However, upon closer examination, one finds that it is also rich with geographic themes. The Lunchbox exemplifies the geographic notions of space and place, as well as demonstrating the inside and outside meanings of food for several characters. Ila’s role as a housewife, and in a broader sense as a worker in the food industry, conjures up ideas of gendered space and patriarchal roles.

The physical space of the kitchen holds greater personal meaning for Ila. As defined by Jackson, space is a physical location, while place has more personal connection (Jackson 2006). Throughout the film, the home kitchen serves as a place for Ila to contemplate her life and choices. While preparing food, she reflects on her marriage, her family, and her hopes for the future. The kitchen is where Ila fosters many of her closest personal relationships. She shouts out the window to the woman living above, referred to as “Aunty”. Aunty advises Ila in her relationships with her husband and Saajan, while the two women provide companionship to each other in their often isolated roles as housewives. For Ila, her relationship with Saajan primarily occurs in the kitchen. She prepares his food, writes him notes, and reads the responses in the kitchen. Thus, the kitchen is simultaneously a contemplative and social space for Ila.

In the beginning of the film, Saajan’s office was an impersonal, generic space. He was disconnected from his coworkers and everything else around him. His daily life was governed by monotony. However, as he begins receiving home cooked food every day and his relationship with Ila grows, his lunch spot becomes a familiar place, grounded by interpersonal connection. Suddenly, his workplace holds greater significance. The Lunchbox depicts food has having the power to humanize space and saturate it with meaning.

Food, especially that prepared in the home, inherently contains meaning. The food Ila cooks has both inside and outside meaning, as defined by Mintz. Inside meaning is created by individuals “imparting significance to their own acts and the acts of those around them” (Mintz 23). At one point, Ila prepares a lunch for Saajan using an old family recipe. Here, she demonstrates a kind of inside meaning. Certain dishes evoke strong memories and emotions. For Ila, food holds the power to recapture her husband’s affection, or to win the affection of Saajan. Her cooking is infused with her desired to be loved and valued.  The food from Ila serves as one of Saajan’s only communications with other people. To him, food contains the inside meaning of human connection, which he has difficulty finding in other areas of life.

Ila’s food is also imbued with outside meaning, defined by Mintz as the larger cultural conditions of consumption (Mintz 20). The patriarchal forces rooted in Indian society influence Ila’s role as a mother and wife. Every day, it is assumed that Ila will prepare food for her family, just as every other woman must prepare food for her family. The mere existence of the dabbawala system is evidence of the measures taken to cater to men. This small, but notable, industry takes its livelihood from the notion that men deserve a warm, personally delivered meal every day. The food prepared by Ila, and other wives, comes to represent the expectations of Indian patriarchy. Through her food, Ila seeks the approval and affection of her husband. Saajan is a widower, meaning that he has no wife to prepare his food. Therefore, he is forced to order his lunch from a restaurant and eat prepackaged dinners. The loss of Saajan’s wife is more overtly present in his food consumption habits than in any other facet of his life. The worth of a woman is shown to be directly linked to her role in the kitchen and home.

The Lunchbox also presents the home kitchen as a gendered space. Men are never present in the kitchen at any point during the film. The kitchen is a feminine space, where women fulfill their societally prescribed roles. However, the feminine space of the kitchen also creates a sense of comfort and familiarity not felt in other, male dominated spaces. In this way, Ila feels free to ponder her life and ambitions in the kitchen. Her conversations with Aunty occur in the kitchen, where they find companionship in each other. However, the overarching sense of duty to hegemonic masculinity is overtly present in the kitchen. While in the kitchen, Ila and other women are catering to the needs of others and providing service to males.

By looking at gender roles, one is also led to consider Ila’s role as a worker.  In considering the female domestic worker within the larger framework of work in the food industry, one can better appreciate Ila’s role in perpetuating labor dynamics. Her fruitless attempts to regain her husband’s affection mimic many workers’ experiences of marginalization and under-appreciation.

The Lunchbox is a wonderfully entertaining film that should be of interest to any food geographer. Its subtle exploration of space and place, as well as inside and outside meaning, is invaluable in understanding the nuances of interpersonal relationships and gender in the home kitchen. These geographic concepts are also useful in comprehending the role of home kitchens and housewives within the larger context of work and workers in the food industry.

Works Cited:

Jackson, P. (2006) “Thinking Geographically” Geography 91(3).

Mintz, S. (1996) “Food and its relationship to concepts of power” Tasting Food, Tasting Freedom: Excursions into Eating, Power and the Past. Beacon: Boston.

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