insightOut. Journal on Gender & Sexuality in STEM Collections and Cultures / 1 (2023) Feminist and... [16

DOI 10.60531/INSIGHTOUT.2023.1.2.| GERBER, KÜHNLENZ: DE-CONSTRUCTING FOOD_ INSIGHTOUT 1(2023) 15 Gender is not questioning what is usually taken for granted. self-evident either; rather, it is constructed. But what is a deconstruction approach all about? In the humanities, the term was first coined by Jacques Derrida. In the search Like food, it is a sociofor complex and fluid, i.e. nonstable, levels of meanings in the cultural phenomenon that is determined historically, culturally area of food and nutrition, his approach is productive when it is a matter of taking a look at allegedly clearly defined and fixed practices, habits and identities in their“made state”. Food and nutrition therefore become visiand discursively. ble and discussable as situated, context-dependent and variable practices. The articles in this issue look at how(collective) idenWhat is going on with the food on our plates? A few tities are constructed and negotiated; how inclusions years ago, it became a trend in restaurants and kit- and exclusions(where we eat and when, how, what, chens to separate ingredients and re-arrange them why and with whom) come about; and how food bein a new way. Ideally, the new interpretation would comes a(discursively) contested field. give rise to completely new flavours and change the way we perceive familiar dishes. It seems that de- Gender is not self-evident either; rather, it is consconstruction does not stop at our food and, para- tructed. Like food, it is a socio-cultural phenomenon doxically, it comprises a constructive and formative that is determined historically, culturally and discurelement. More than a year after the Feminist and Queer Perspectives on Food workshop(5 and 6 May 2022) at the Technisches Museum Wien, the first Journal on Gender and Sexuality in STEM Collections and Cultures has now been published. Drafting its introductory remarks is an opportunity for us not only to summarise the contributions, but also to reflect on the insights gained from the presentations and discussions. The common theme running through the articles is“constructing and deconstructing”, in the sense of Fig. 1: Opening of the workshop in the ceremonial hall of the Technisches Museum Wien