Note: A memo dated January 28, 2005 was sent to AAA officers and staff by current SAFN President Miriam Chaiken outlining a number of decisions about the reorganization and future plans of SAFN made during an Executive Board Meeting held via teleconference on January 24, 2005.

1) Accomplishments for Period November 23, 2003 - December 19, 2004

Membership

SAFN membership increased 7% over past year from 210 members as of September 2003 to 225 members as of October 2004. The primary increase has been due to a greater number of student members. We hope that this is a good sign for the future of our section. It is unclear at this point how AnthroSource will affect our membership numbers in the future, although it is probably safe to assume that most people are not SAFN members solely for the purpose of receiving the journal Nutritional Anthropology. In January 2005 the Executive Board voted to increase the membership dues for our section (see the end of the "Financial Balances" section below).

Financial Balances

SAFN continues at present to be fiscally sound. As of October 2004 our net assets were approximately $12,400. Expenditures set aside for development, promotion, and meeting-related expenditures (including the Wilson Award) were not used in 2004. With the substantial increase in costs for publishing through UC Press additional funds had to be approved by the Executive Board to produce the combined 2003 issue of Nutritional Anthropology (NA). Given that expenses for the combined 2004 issue of NA will not be spent until 2005, in addition to the cost of producing a 2005 issue, we expect to have a significant spending deficit for 2005 that will require taping into our net assets (see a more complete discussion on the Executive Board's decision regarding UC Press publication and AnthroSource in the "Communications" section below).

During a SAFN Executive Board teleconference held in January 2005 it was decided to have an increase in the Regular membership dues from $18.00 to $30.00 and the Student membership dues from $10.00 to $20.00. We have not had an increase in our dues since 1991.

Meeting Activities

We had a wonderful assortment of SAFN-sponsored sessions and events planned for this year's original November AAA meetings venue in San Francisco. Unfortunately, with the move to Atlanta many of them had to be cancelled. Our two invited and three sponsored scheduled sessions, and events included: Culture, Dietary Change, and Food Security in Populations in Transition; Applied Behavioral Ecology of Young Child Feeding; Food Tourism - Identity: Social Change and Dietary Colonialism in the Process of 'Doing Research' ; Restaurants; The Biocultural Evolution of Cuisine, co-sponsored with the Biological Anthropology Section; SAFN Distinguished Lecture by Solomon H. Katz, and reception, co-sponsored with the Culture & Agriculture section; The Christine Wilson Student Paper Award Presentation, and The SAFN Executive Board and General Business meetings.

It is important to note that these sessions and events continue to reflect an enormous diversity of approaches to the study of food and nutrition, a hallmark of our section. In the end two well-attended sessions on "Food Tourism" and "Restaurants" were held along with our Executive Board and General Business meetings. Cancelled sessions have the opportunity to conduct virtual meetings through AnthroCommons and to resubmit their proposals for the 2005 meetings in Washington, DC.

At our General Business meeting it was announced that Christine N. Newkirk (UCONN) was the winner of the 2004 Christine Wilson Graduate Student Award for her paper titled: "Social Patterning of Intercultural Diversity in Food Knowledge in Southern Brazil." Our congratulations go out to her on this honor. The Wilson Awards are given for outstanding undergraduate and graduate research papers on a topic that combines perspectives on nutrition, food and anthropology. We continue to encourage submissions from both graduate and undergraduate students for the awards. Papers are due September 15, 2005.

Due to a lack of a quorum at both the Executive Board and General Business meetings in Atlanta no issues were voted on, but extensive discussions took place regarding the future of our session. A quorum was obtained via a teleconference held with Executive Board members in January 2005.

Communications

Under the editorship of Kristen Borré two combined annual editions for 2003 and 2004 were prepared of our peer-reviewed publication Nutritional Anthropology (NA), which includes articles, research reports, book reviews, member news, etc. The 2003 issue was published and the 2004 issue will be published in early 2005. Janet Chrzan's editorship of the SAFN column in Anthropology News (AN) provided information about our section and other related information throughout the year in nine issues of AN.

By February 2005 SAFN's webpages on the AAA site should be completely updated. Members are being encouraged to check them periodically as a source of news, useful links, and contact information. With the support of Thoric Cederstrom and Laura Cramer of Counterpart International SAFN now has a listserve. The list is not currently archived or monitored.

A new printing of informational brochures to reflect the section's new name will be done during 2005 so that they can be handed out at the AAA meetings as well as other related meetings throughout the year (e.g., Association for the Study of Food and Society, Society for Nutrition Education, and the Society for Applied Anthropology). A new promotional display board was put together last year by past-president David Himmelgreen, and is being updated as well to reflect our name change. Members were asked to contact him (dhimmelg@chuma1.cas.usf.edu) to have their news and projects added to the display or to request to have it available to promote SAFN at an event.
2) Future Plans or Activities

The CNA to SAFN Transformation: Restating a 30 Year Tradition

Over the next year we will be celebrating 30 years as an organization. During the spring 2004 elections CNA members approved a ballot question to change our Bylaws to transform our section's name from the "Council on Nutritional Anthropology" (CNA) to the "Society for the Anthropology of Food and Nutrition" (SAFN). This change in no way alters the holistic depth, breath and goals of the section that were fully realized in its founding three decades ago. The transformed name does however state our inclusive approach more clearly to the wider community of anthropologists, academics and advocates who share our common interests.

AnthroSource and the Future of Nutritional Anthropology

Given the intense financial and professional commitment required for our journal Nutritional Anthropology (NA) to be part of AnthroSource, the SAFN Executive Board agreed during a teleconference in January 2005 to 1) opt out of AnthroSource for the near future, 2) place the print publication of NA on hiatus for the next two years, and 3) produce an electronic version of the journal, in lieu of the print format, that will be posted to our web page. During the hiatus SAFN will assess such issues as regular content formatting, an editorial board, specific peer-review guidelines, regular submission deadlines and dated publications, and most importantly the need to restructure the Vice-President/Editor position to make these changes manageable.

Other Future Development Projects

Additional SAFN projects that were discussed at the AAA meetings in Atlanta included a proposed revision of the Nutritional Anthropology Methods Handbook and a third edition of Syllabi for Nutritional Anthropology Courses (SNACIII). All those interested in working on these projects were asked to contact Leslie Sue Lieberman (llieberm@mail.ucf.edu) or SAFN incoming President Miriam Chaiken (Chaiken@iup.edu).
To better assess the future direction of SAFN a members survey will be sent out in the spring of 2005. Questions will cover topics such as the services and developments members want from SAFN and input on the future of NA.

3) Other Items

One of the primary issues that has come up in discussions among SAFN members is the ultimate future of small sections in the wake of the increased cost and potential membership shifts associated with AnthroSource. A primary concern is that our section is paying for a benefit that all AAA members will receive, including those who belong to sections without a publication. One remedy to this perceived disparity may be to have a flat-fee for all AAA members to help defray the financial burden of this change. In the meantime, as discussed above, SAFN has decided to opt out of AnthroSource in the near future and to have an electronic version of Nutritional Anthropology posted on its webpage, in lieu of the print edition.

Another issue of concern is the need for even more links to be made with the media and public policy makers via AAA concerning the applied dimensions of our section members' research on human food and nutrition. The names of a few of our members were submitted to AAA media relations but access to a more extensive database is suggested.

SAFN Officers for Period November 23, 2003 - December 19 , 2004

Barrett Brenton, President (brentonb@stjohns.edu)

Miriam Chaiken, President-Elect (chaiken@iup.edu)

Kristin Borré, Vice-President and Editor of Nutritional Anthropology (borrek@mail.ecu.edu)

Dan Sellen, Secretary-Treasurer (dan.sellen@utoronto.ca)

Janet Chrzan, Contributing Editor to Anthropology News (jdamkrog@sas.upenn.edu)

Andrea Wiley, Chair, Program Committee (wileyas@jmu.edu)

Leslie Carlin, Chair, Nominations Committee (L.E.Carlin@durham.ac.uk)

Mark Jenike, Chair, Curriculum & Research Committee (mark.jenike@lawrence.edu)

Satish Kedia, Chair, Policy & Liaison Committee (skkedia@memphis.edu)

Current 2005 SAFN Officers

Miriam Chaiken, President (chaiken@iup.edu)

Barrett Brenton, Past-President (brentonb@stjohns.edu)

Marquisa LaVelle, Vice-President and Editor of Nutritional Anthropology (mlavelle@uri.edu)

Dan Sellen, Secretary-Treasurer (dan.sellen@utoronto.ca)

Janet Chrzan, Contributing Editor to Anthropology News (jdamkrog@sas.upenn.edu)

Andrea Wiley, Chair, Program Committee (wileyas@jmu.edu)

Leslie Carlin, Chair, Nominations Committee (L.E.Carlin@durham.ac.uk)

Mark Jenike, Chair, Curriculum & Research Committee (mark.jenike@lawrence.edu)

Satish Kedia, Chair, Policy & Liaison Committee (skkedia@memphis.edu)