{2} What even is vermouth, you ask? Aromatized and fortified wine. That means: wine, pure spirit (usually brandy), botanical flavors (plants, steeped like tea to impart flavor), + sometimes sweetener. Popular in 🇺🇸 in 🍸 + in Europe as an aperitif (@rebekahpeppler) #foodstudies20 pic.twitter.com/nDqza73tHJ

— Ariana Gunderson (@ArianaGunderson) July 25, 2020

{4} I argue that vermouth can tell stories. Made of alcohol + sweetener (preservatives) vermouth extends the ephemeral: 🌺’s sweetness, fresh 🍋. These are captured, bottled + become transportable & transferable. A maker may harness this to articulate a narrative. #foodstudies20

— Ariana Gunderson (@ArianaGunderson) July 25, 2020

{6} What kinds of stories can dwell in vermouth?
– Terroir (the taste of a place)
– Archival (a sensory snapshot of the moment)
– Memoir
– Fiction (read or written)
– Persuasive (inspiring action)
– History (see @h_spiegelman for ice cream examples!)
+ more! #foodstudies20

— Ariana Gunderson (@ArianaGunderson) July 25, 2020

{8} Terroir is the taste of a place, from the 🇫🇷🍷 belief that land imparts flavor. I made a vermouth with my friend Sam using only 🍇🌿🌺 from his family’s farm, both crops + ‘weeds’ from the margins to bottle the sense of this place + question land ‘productivity’ #foodstudies20 pic.twitter.com/T90WRsHJlK

— Ariana Gunderson (@ArianaGunderson) July 25, 2020

{10} I wrote a recipe for ‘Quarantine Vermouth,’ an archival vermouth made with ingredients you have already or that are characteristic of your life rn: https://t.co/QuwzvcDOv9

And some folks have made it! Here’s what they thought: #foodstudies20

— Ariana Gunderson (@ArianaGunderson) July 25, 2020

{12} “For my vermouth, I used ingredients I had on hand during quarantine. Cinnamon stick, anise, and lavender were prominent, plus Campari for bitterness — ingredients I was baking with and enjoying in other contexts, too.” @Jaredography #foodstudies20 pic.twitter.com/qfTpQwWLCY

— Ariana Gunderson (@ArianaGunderson) July 25, 2020

{14} @h_spiegelman is a master of curating flavors to tell a story – most often in a frozen genre. In her ice cream concept ‘A Sweet History’ https://t.co/MAhERSa6dC she crafts ice cream flavors to tell stories about people and places of the past. Her vermouth: #foodstudies20 pic.twitter.com/grTOURBaof

— Ariana Gunderson (@ArianaGunderson) July 25, 2020

{16} You may be asking: why does this matter? Isn’t alcohol just about having a good/irresponsible time?
I don’t believe that scholarship has to be ‘boring’ to be important or intellectually engaging. Vermouth can be fun AND spark something deeper in our bodymind #foodstudies20

— Ariana Gunderson (@ArianaGunderson) July 25, 2020

{18} If we are lucky enough to share our vermouth stories with others, we invite our liquid interlocutor into our own sensorial world. Rarely can one embody the sensory experience of another person – does this get us closer?

Can you taste my story in this bottle? #foodstudies20 pic.twitter.com/SeVKuU0BmH

— Ariana Gunderson (@ArianaGunderson) July 25, 2020

{20} Thank you so much for following along. Please let me know if you make vermouth! I’m eager to answer your questions, and appreciate any feedback or critique. #foodstudies20
(all photos by me)

I'll leave you with this visual reading list:
{End} pic.twitter.com/72qWaBPspk

— Ariana Gunderson (@ArianaGunderson) July 25, 2020