Dr. Fabio Parasecoli, who will be coming to OWU in November as a part of the Sagan National Colloquium, has been writing a column for the Huffington Post for several months now. In this most recent installment, he ponders the area of food studies, and the kinds of questions that food-focused faculty are commonly asked. This column resonates strongly with me because I have certainly experienced some of the same! -CF
“So, do you cook?” Until a few years ago I often found myself trying to respond constructively to this question, which was the usual segue from my admission to teaching Food Studies. Other assorted reactions included: “So, does chocolate really affect a woman’s mood?”; “So, do you always shop at Whole Foods?”; and my favorite “So, what is the best Italian restaurant in New York?” — as if researching food was an obvious extension of my Italian ethnic background, a perfect fit thanks to genes selected by centuries of Mediterranean diet. The “so” that often preceded these questions seemed to point to some sort of fundamental connection, an inevitable link between Food Studies and the realm of the enjoyable and the inconsequential.
Read the rest HERE