The First Annual UNC FOOD CULTURES Student Symposium took place March 24
and 25, 2011 at UNC’s Institute for the Arts and Humanities. UNC’s Department of
English and Comparative Literature, the Department of American Studies, and the
Honors Program at UNC sponsored the symposium. The event began with a keynote
lecture delivered by Molly O’Neill, New York Times columnist and renowned food writer,
followed by a day of presentations from UNC and Duke undergraduates and graduate
students, representing a broad variety of disciplines.
Thursday evening’s lecture, attended by students and faculty as well as community
members, gave us a taste of Molly O’Neill’s fascinating experiences researching her new
book, One Big Table: A Portrait of American Cooking (Simon & Schuster, 2010).
O’Neill’s lecture was illustrated with contemporary and historic images that captured her
culinary journey to every corner of the United States. These images also introduced the
audience to the culturally and ethnically diverse home cooks who shared recipes and oral
histories with O’Neill. After her lecture, O’Neill took questions about industrial
agriculture, vegetarianism, immigration trends, and the profession of food writing.
Friday’s symposium panels included both UNC and Duke undergraduate and graduate
students from the departments of Chemistry, Anthropology, American Studies, Art
History, English and Comparative Literature, Environmental Health Sciences, Folklore,
Global Studies, Nutrition, Public Health, and Religious Studies. Each panel included
three to four ten-minute presentations and a period for questions and discussion. The
faculty committee for the symposium, Marcie Cohen Ferris (AMST, UNC), Inger Brodey
(English-Comparative Lit, UNC), Kelly Alexander (Duke Center for Documentary
Studies), Bernie Herman (AMST, UNC), and Danille Elise Christensen (Visiting Faculty,
AMST, UNC), each served as chair for one of the panels.
The award for best graduate paper was presented to Courtney Lewis, (Anthropology,
UNC) for her paper, “The Great Frybread Uprising,” from her dissertation, "Set Your
Navigation to Authentic: Recursive Impacts of American Indian Small Businesses on the
Qualla Boundary of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians,” directed by Dr. Valerie
Lambert. The undergraduate award was presented to Caitlin Nettleton (Anthropology,
UNC) for her paper, “Edible Women in Atwood and Flaubert,” a paper she developed in
Inger Brodey’s Comparative Literature course “The Feast in Philosophy, Film and
Fiction.”
Three English/Comparative Literature students presented papers: Jessica Martell (PhD
student, English), Austin Cooper (first-year undergraduate, Comparative Literature), and
Corynn Loebs (senior undergraduate, Comparative Literature).
The day closed with a discussion led by Elaine Maisner, Senior Executive Editor at UNC
Press. Chapel Hill Town Council Member and caterer, Penny Rich, catered a delicious
vegetarian lunch.
For more information about UNC Food Cultures, see http://foodcultures.web.unc.edu/,
and area food studies, Triangle University Food Studies
http://sites.duke.edu/womenst194_03_s2010/. Please visit these websites to join listservs
for both organizations.