Professor Christel O Lane
Formerly College Lecturer in Sociology, Emeritus Professor of Economic Sociology
SpecialisationSociology
Research interestsProfessor Lane’s research interests are in cultural sociology, combined with an approach from economic sociology. After her comparison of Michelin-starred restaurants in Britain and Germany, her interest in the cultural aspects of fine dining and high-end cuisine has resulted in a new, but related research project. Her current research, undertaken with an American colleague, investigates culinary flows from the global periphery to two cities in the global centre. The research, based on interviews with high-end chefs and representatives of renown culinary intermediaries, examines global counterflows of culinary expertise and the transformations in high-end cuisine connected with them. The research focuses on chefs as the agents of culinary change, as well as on the effects of such change on the culinary fields of both their host cities and their home countries. To explain why such counterflows have become more prevalent in recent decades, an analysis is undertaken of the recently globally expanded operations of two prominent intermediaries.
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