Associate Professor Chikako Hashimoto, Faculty of International Studies Gives Presentation on “Conviviality in Grimod de La Reynière and Brillat-Savarin: The Table as a Place of Harmony or Order?” at “Grimod, Brillat & Nous”

Chikako Hashimoto, Associate Professor in the Faculty of International Studies, gave a presentation in French on “Conviviality in Grimod de La Reynière and Brillat-Savarin: The Table as a Place of Harmony or Order?” at the international conference “Grimod, Brillat & Nous,” held in Lyon, France, on October 2–3, 2026.

Organized to mark the bicentenary of the publication of Brillat-Savarin’s The Physiology of Taste, the conference reexamined the ideas and writings of Grimod de La Reynière and Brillat-Savarin, two key figures in the emergence of modern gastronomy, and explored their contemporary significance. Associate Professor Hashimoto’s book, La Naissance du gourmand (2019), was also one of the inspirations for the conference. It brought together [Number of Researchers] researchers from at least three countries, including France, the United States, and Japan, for presentations and discussions.

Participants included Jean-Claude Bonnet, whose longstanding research spans French literature and food culture, and food historians Florent Quellier and Julia Csergo, alongside researchers from various countries specializing in literature, history, intellectual history, and food studies. Presentations and discussions were conducted in French and English and livestreamed, making the research accessible to audiences beyond those attending in person.

Associate Professor Hashimoto’s presentation compared the two authors’ ideals of dining together, examining the relationship between convivial pleasure and harmony and the rules and selection of guests that sustained them. The question-and-answer session prompted lively exchanges with several specialists on the similarities and differences between the two thinkers and the relationship between harmony and order at the table. The conference provided an opportunity to share her research on French food culture from the perspective of intellectual history with an international audience, deepen her analysis through interdisciplinary discussion, and establish connections for future scholarly exchange.