Conferences

Food and Hospital eventFood and Hospitals: an historical perspective Brussels, Belgium, 26-27 April 2013. Hosted by the University of Birmingham's Brussels Office and the Free University of Brussels (VUB), Sponsored by the Society For Social History of Medicine

While contemporary grumblings about hospital food have become the quintessential hospital complaint, it is undeniable that a clean, warm bed, rest and the provision of food and drink, rather than medicines and therapies have always greatly increased hospital patients’ chances of recovery. Indeed diet has from the time of Galen been a central part of medical therapy. However, even if central to the day-to-day routine of hospitals, workhouses and asylums, food and drink continue to be overlooked in historical accounts of hospitalisation. This conference aims to foreground the role of food and drink in health care institutions in the past.

The Advisory Board of the INHH, as organisers of this conference, wish to invite proposals for 25-30 minute papers on any aspect and era relating to the history of food, drink and institutional medicine. Abstracts should be between 200-300 words in length and will be received until 30 April 2012. A programme, featuring an address by Professor Peter Scholliers (VUB, Belgium), will be advertised in June 2012.