The Oxford Symposium on Food on Cookery continues to be the premier English conference on this topic, gathering academics, professional writers and amateurs from Britain, the USA, Australia and many other countries to discuss contributions on a single agreed topic. Symposiasts considered food as an area of control and resistance in totalitarian societies; struggles between activists, corporations and bureaucracies over food labels; the use of food and cookery to explore the past and the exotic; the sounds of eating and selling food; and, as Brillat-Savarin predicted, the role of food in constructing and communicating aspects of individual and collective identity. This year marked the first Symposium under the leadership of Bee Wilson, the new Chair, and Ursula Heinzelmann, the new Director. We also celebrated many years of leadership from Elisabeth Luard and the inimitable Paul Levy. Also deserving a mention is the editing of these papers by Mark McWilliams.