- Ph.D., Cultural Anthropology, University of Georgia Athens
- M.S., Food and Nutritional Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Stout
- B.S., Nutrition, University of the Philippines
BIO
I’m a serious foodie. I started out as a registered nutritionist- dietitian in the Philippines. But later studied anthropology realizing I needed to know how culture works and leverage this to address nutrition problems. I have always particularly wanted to connect people with food considering the broader society’s disconnect where food comes from and how it gets to our plates.
I would like to help my students (from ages 0 to 100) to experience what is referred to as the “extensive pleasure of eating”. It has always been a question for me how to conserve our food heritage and how to use this biocultural resource to improve food and nutrition security. Thanks to my immersion in ecological anthropology and ethnoecology, I found myself examining food traditions through the landscape they are situated in (as now I think they should be!). This includes the entangled landscapes of memory and the senses— natureculture faculties posited as repositories of knowledge and alternative streams of conservation.
Let me illustrate. I studied the persistence of the Philippine traditional fermented fish product ‘buru’ in the changing agricultural landscape of Candaba, Pampanga. Among the relationships I looked into were the life stories and intersections of the place as a whole, the rice and fish landscape and taste of/for the fermented fish. This helped in revealing changing concepts of deliciousness within the particular group— sensibilities that were beyond gustation. This just made me more interested to study the place of taste in knowledge systems, particularly those pertaining to nutrition, gastronomy and food literacy. My specific research interests are: Placed-based Nutrition and Gastronomy, Food Quality and Taste Preferences, Fermented Food Conservation.
Courses
- NFS 1073: Farm to Table
- NFS 2113: US Food Policy and Politics
- NFS 2114: Human Health in the Food System
- NFS 3250: Food Service Systems
- FS 2930: Food Systems Seminar II
Area(s) of expertise
- Food and Nutrition Anthropology
- Food Heritage Conservation
- Food, Memory and Senses
Bio
I’m a serious foodie. I started out as a registered nutritionist- dietitian in the Philippines. But later studied anthropology realizing I needed to know how culture works and leverage this to address nutrition problems. I have always particularly wanted to connect people with food considering the broader society’s disconnect where food comes from and how it gets to our plates.
I would like to help my students (from ages 0 to 100) to experience what is referred to as the “extensive pleasure of eating”. It has always been a question for me how to conserve our food heritage and how to use this biocultural resource to improve food and nutrition security. Thanks to my immersion in ecological anthropology and ethnoecology, I found myself examining food traditions through the landscape they are situated in (as now I think they should be!). This includes the entangled landscapes of memory and the senses— natureculture faculties posited as repositories of knowledge and alternative streams of conservation.
Let me illustrate. I studied the persistence of the Philippine traditional fermented fish product ‘buru’ in the changing agricultural landscape of Candaba, Pampanga. Among the relationships I looked into were the life stories and intersections of the place as a whole, the rice and fish landscape and taste of/for the fermented fish. This helped in revealing changing concepts of deliciousness within the particular group— sensibilities that were beyond gustation. This just made me more interested to study the place of taste in knowledge systems, particularly those pertaining to nutrition, gastronomy and food literacy. My specific research interests are: Placed-based Nutrition and Gastronomy, Food Quality and Taste Preferences, Fermented Food Conservation.
Courses
- NFS 1073: Farm to Table
- NFS 2113: US Food Policy and Politics
- NFS 2114: Human Health in the Food System
- NFS 3250: Food Service Systems
- FS 2930: Food Systems Seminar II
Areas of Expertise
- Food and Nutrition Anthropology
- Food Heritage Conservation
- Food, Memory and Senses