International Conference on Food and Health

Introduction

The Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences, the University of Hong Kong is pleased to co-organize with the Asian Society for the History of Medicine its 7th bi-annual conference in Hong Kong. This conference, entitled “Food and Health”, proposes to examine the link between what we consume and our body’s health in the Asian context, with emphasis on its historical process. Given the various medical traditions and their differing theories of disease, nourishment, and wellbeing, how did Asian societies understand the connection between food and health? In particular, the organizing committee has identified three important themes as related to food and health in history: Nutrition and Body, Food as Product/Poison/Cure, and Hunger and Famine, detailed description of which can be found in the page titled Themes”.