The first installment of the Food For Thought series looks at ethnic food systems in Southeast America.
With the mission of educating and engaging in the study of food and society on campus, Ohio University’s Food Studies Theme is hosting the first in a series of speakers discussing food.
As part of the Food For Thought speaker series, Kristen Gremillion, an associate professor of anthropology at Ohio State University, will speak on the topic of “Multiethnic Communities and the Evolution of Southern Cuisine” in the Friends of the Library Room, Alden 319, at 5 p.m. Tuesday.
“We bring people in to inform and make people aware of what you can do with food and some of the new research,” said Theresa Moran, assistant professor at OU in the Food Studies Theme.
This is the second year for the lecture series. Last year’s lecture included topics like food prices in West Africa.
Gremillion is an anthropologist with a focus on paleoethnobotany — the study of plants used in ancient times which is an area of study that OU doesn’t have.
She is also the author of the book “Ancestral Appetites: Food in Prehistory,” which looks at prehistoric people and their relationship with food. The book is available on Amazon starting at $22.50 for paperback.
Moran said Gremillion’s speech will focus on food systems after 1492 of ethnic groups including communities of Native Americans, free and enslaved Africans and Creoles of European descent, and how they interact.
While the speech is on a specific topic, Moran thinks that it could be relevant to anyone.
“Everybody loves food!” Moran said. “(The lectures) help us understand how food choices are made and how food has evolved and what it means to be a culture.”
Refreshments will be served after the speech and Moran encourages attendees to stay and engage in more conversations about food.
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