The mutual forging of culture and convention

J. Murdoch and M. Miele (2004) Culinary networks and cultural connections: a conventions perspective, in A. Amin and N. Thrift (eds) The Cultural Economy Reader, 231--247. In globalisation, a network connecting heterogeneous entities not only connect them in different locations, but also give them certain mobility. Thus, from certain perspective, ``condense'' space and time. Such socio-economic network comprise spatially locatable elements. Together these elements reflect phenomena and ideas in the form of network. As such network coexists with relatively stable cultural formations, on the one hand it standardise cultures, on the other it has to diversify to adapt cultures. In fact, cultural norms and heterogeneous networks mutually forge and consolidate each other. A comparison in food industry is used to illustrate this interaction between cultural norms and networks. It is shown that in food commodity chain, not only consumer conventions and producer conventions, but also ``intermediate'' actors' conventions, form the network and thus culture. McDonald's and Italy's Slow Food Movement respectively illustrated two modes of networks. McDonald's is the product of modern industrial life, thus the food production and consumption become industrialised in the network of M's and its customers; many things of M's are standardised globally, but it also has to make changes according to the local culture and people's perception of the brand. Slow Food Movement goes further to address heterogeneity, as it do not bring Italy food to Brazil, but help local food become recognised by people home and abroad and prosper locally. This two constitute an interesting pair. While M's convention is transformed according to local culture, Slow Food is trying to bring back the enjoyment of local food to the culture. They are like two complimentary phases in the network-culture interactions. The M's emphasise economic food, while the other stresses on cultural and environmental food. Both increase heterogeneity in the global network.