About
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Professor of American Studies and Food Science &Technology
University of California, Davis Following several years of working as a cook in San Fransisco, I became a scholar of food studies in the mid 1990s, first as a returning student at the University of California, Berkeley (BA American Studies) and then as a PhD student at Brown University (American Studies). At Davis since 2005, I work at the intersection of two very different fields, departments, and worlds: American Studies and Food Science &Technology. My research focuses on where ideas about "good" and "bad" food come from and the cultural role they play, the political stakes of dietary discourse, and the politics of knowledge and expertise in the food system. My work is both interdisciplinary (I employ multiple methodologies to answer research questions) and multidisciplinary (I collaborate and communicate across disciplinary boundaries). I do a lot of "translational interdisciplinarity," which entails making my research, which is grounded in the humanities and social sciences, legible and meaningful for colleagues in the sciences as well those working in, or working to transform, the food system . |
Recent Projects include...
- Real Food, Real Facts: Processed Food and the Politics of Knowledge, an open access book about the role that science and scientific authority play in the relationship between the food industry and the public
- A series of co-authored articles about alternative protein that emerged from the UC AFTeR Project
- Thinking Food @ The Intersections, a 2024-2025 Mellon Sawyer Seminar on food, justice and the humanities.
- A co-authored manifesto about social science - STEM collaborations in food, agriculture and beyond
- Click to learn more about my articles, projects, teaching, media appearances, and Eating Right in America