According to one defintion, gastronomy is the relationship between food and culture, while culture may be considered as the sum of all human behavior and the objects (both concrete and abstract) that our behavior creates. Writing, technology, art, philosophy—all these are aspects of culture, and are means to record what we think and feel and sense. Importantly, they are also records of the time in which they are created, and document a historical perspective as much as the achievement itself.

One UNISG student (whose article does not appear in this newsletter) set out to explore literature and food through the essays that M.F.K. Fisher wrote at the start of her writing career in Dijon. Wandering the dusty streets of the former Burgundian food capital, the student found no trace of Fisher's reality, none of the flavors or smells, no sense of history brought forward, no echo of the market ladies' square-heeled shoes. The lovely limpid prose of The Gastronomical Me was a bridge that abruptly stopped midway from past into present.

So although one significant element of culture is absent in this fourth issue of the new UNISG newsletter, we do explore three others: architecture, fashion, and music. The student contributors write with passion and perceptiveness, each recording a moment in time and food. Whether their writing remains relevant in 75 years is yet to be seen; for now we hope you enjoy these thoughtful and thought-provoking pieces.

— David Szanto, editor

P.S. This issue of the newsletter also marks the first in which we respond to reader comments. We were excited to receive two emails in reaction to our last issue—keep them coming!