I was in my mother’s coastal Maine cabin- decorated with fine art plucked from the B&B inn from my childhood- lounging on the sofa, slightly overheated from the influenza bug I caught during a food-based research trip to Seoul, Korea. Without much else to do but ride out the illness, I cracked open Best American Food Writing, 2018, and scanned the Forward…
Ruth Reichl begins with a beautifully succinct introduction outlining both the current state and future of food writing in America. First, she defends the discipline itself by elaborating the importance of the subject matter in society against pushback from academics. She finishes the introduction,
“I hope that no university will ever again sneer at a food-focused thesis.” -Ruth Reichl
My blood was boiling.
Just a few months earlier, I was sitting in the office of a tenured professor of Italian literature at Northwestern University, being yelled at for my positionality in regards to a proposed research project in Korea as a continuation of last summer’s research into the company Eataly as a global intermediary for Italian food culture and small producers.
-“..food studies is a shallow discipline through which to view a culture!” she implored. I sat back quietly and let her words wash over me. I was stunned. Firstly, that a professor would deny a student’s academic interest in subject material, and secondly, that one would classify gastronomy in society at large as “shallow”.
At that time, I proposed to continue my Eataly project in Korea. I had also recently applied for a Fulbright to attend the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Bra, Italy, where project had begun the previous summer. During that research, I learned that as a company with ties to the Slow Food Movement grew beyond it’s Italian roots, Eataly stood at the precipice of implications at the intersection of Italian nationalism and globalization, and Eataly’s global expansion led me to want to study the network in another cultural context. I chose Seoul as the next destination based on some interview data and connections that I had made during the summer.
Yet, I needed a tenured professor to be an advisor to secure $1500 of funding from the Undergraduate Research Office at Northwestern. I had a working project, interview subjects, but had no real advisor to bounce ideas off of. In addition to the project itself, I also needed the independent research class that would be bourne out of the project in order to graduate with an Italian minor (transfer student drawbacks). I thought this project would be a perfect fit for my academic path towards a career. I sought out this professor in the Italian department, but was disappointed by the lack of interest.
Her lack of support for the material and insults in relation to my positionality as an American seeking to study Italian food as a seemingly “low brow” and academically shallow pursuit left me angry and helpless, yet with more grit than ever to prove the validity of this discpline in academia and beyond.
This experience led to my not recieving funding for the Seoul segment of the project. Yet, my grit prevailed. Two weeks after the meeting with this professor, I won $2000 in a voice competition in Chicago. The next day, I bought my ticket to Seoul and confirmed my interview logistics.
I was going to Korea, and I had visions of a future filled with Fulbright winnings and success as a researcher, catalyst for small producers to enter into larger markets, and potential future business owner. I was a going to be a global researcher in the US, Asia, and Europe!! I had visions that my research and future successes would prove this professor wrong.
What I didn’t know during my influenza-sparked binge reading of Best American Food Writing, 2018 is that life doesn’t always play out as planned.
Four months later, events would shift. I was a semi-finalist for the Fulbright to attend the University of Gastronomic Sciences with a food-focused proposed project, but lost to a woman interested in providing access for immigrants in the food start-up scene. Although my project was validated through the US Fulbright committee, my ego faltered when I didn’t win.
I was disheartened given my path: I had recently dropped the Italian minor and didn’t have the opportunity to access more funding for the project as a soon-to-be graduate. Right before my final quarter at Northwestern, I decided to enroll in a graduate-level globalization seminar in the anthro department. I continued to engulf my self in the subject matter, but lost my steam as my life in the music school became more demanding…
Now, I sit in a La Colombe coffeeshop in Lincoln Park, Chicago, pondering the next steps in my career and life. My passions for the intersection of food, research and globalization sparks within me a desire to re-apply for the Fulbright. I want more than anything to have the opporutnity to attend the University of Gastronomic Sciences and become a member of the world of those with enough curiosity, passion, and grit to ignore the voices that say food studies is shallow.
Until then, this blog will become a mini market research platform where I will research various topics in food and society.
With the words of M.F.K Fischer, “First we eat, then we do everything else.”
Cheers.