UNISG

There is so much to write, but less than one week left before we fly home. We'll be trying to catch you up on all that has happened that we haven't had time to write about, but first a little glimpse of the present.

One of the reasons I (Emily) haven't been blogging is that I have been busy teaching and finishing up my other research as well. As part of my fellowship, I proposed to design and teach classes in nutrition and public health to the masters students at the University of Gastronomic Sciences (UNISG). The University was born out of the Slow Food movement and has both undergraduate and graduate programs related to gastronomy:

http://www.unisg.it/welcome_eng.lasso

Neither of the masters programs included any classes related to nutrition or public health, however, and since I have been working on projects that bridge gastronomy and health promotion, I thought I could contribute in this arena.

First, in mid November, I did a 6 hour seminar (over 2 days) at the Pollenzo campus (near Torino) for the Master of Food Culture and Communication program, then a similar seminar over 2 days at the Colorno campus (near Parma) for the other Food and Culture cohort. I had such a good time and felt like I was really in my element. The campus is beautiful, the students are an intelligent, international group, and I had the freedom to teach nutrition exactly how I wanted to: from a gastronomic angle.

The students found the seminars to be a good addition to their program t00 -- they even requested more hours. This experience turned out to be the perfect conclusion for my fellowship, which ended on November 30th.

Out of this work came an invitation to return again to Pollenzo as a visiting professor to teach the other master program, which is called Italian Gastronomy and Tourism. So on Monday I traveled again to Pollenzo and did another 6 seminar. It looks like there also may also be an opportunity to teach again in 2011 and to help integrate nutrition and public health into the core curriculum for the programs. Dita incrociate (fingers crossed).

Food=preventive medicine=health!