Outreach

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Scott Arboretum of Swarthmore College

In collaboration with the Scott Arboretum, and directed toward undergraduates at Swarthmore College, I created an educational outreach program centering on the theme, “Plants, Food, and Culture” in the fall of 2019. This included ethnobotanical tours of international grocery stores, culinary botany classes, and a capstone dinner about the geographic origins of culturally-significant foods.
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Taste of Life Project

We develop and deliver food-based science outreach events to teach about biodiversity. Our events are always celebratory and interactive, and so far we have engaged participants in such topics as pollinator diversity, evolutionary relationships, biogeography, culinary traditions, and using mindfulness to appreciate sensory diversity in food. With our collaboration now spanning two states (Michigan and Pennsylvania), we hope to develop and share curricula that are adaptable and accessible to a wide range of communities. Read more on our website and in our recently published article.

Slow Food

Slow Food is an international organization that promotes food that is good, clean, and fair. One of our projects, the Ark of Taste, is a living catalog of delicious and distinctive foods in danger of extinction. Through my involvement with my local Slow Food chapter, and as a delegate to Terra Madre, I actively educate communities about heritage foods and work to preserve them. This has included, for example, maintaining an Ark of Taste educational garden, collaborating with undergraduates at the University of Michigan to update Ark of Taste entries, working with an international network of enthusiasts to save the endangered Jesuit Pear, and spreading the word about agrobiodiversity to whoever will listen.