The Intersection of Food, Culture, and Community

Maryann Tebben

Professor of Language and Literature – French

On her work as the head of The Center for Food Studies…

We are an institution whose first priority is to educate and inform our students, our campus community, and the community around us.

As an institution of higher education in the region, we see our role as a connecting point between students and local organizations (in the form of internships, for example), as a resource to encourage and promote new courses by faculty, public talks that will be open to the community, and a space for events and workshops that are collaborations between community groups.

It is prime time for food in the Berkshires and for the culture as a whole

Center for Food studies

Apple Tasting at The Center for Food Studies, October 2014.

Attendees enjoyed fresh cider and were invited to try the cider press.

I’ve noticed just in the last few years here at the college that we have much savvier students in terms of eaters and academics. Many are doing internships on local farms or related to food, we have several alums that own farms in California and Vermont. They are literally hungry for this kind of knowledge.

There’s growing interest in food around the country and especially in our local community, where new farm-to-table cafés and family farms are sprouting up every day. Our students are interested in what they eat and where their food comes from, not because of food preference but for the impact that food has on the world. And with the Center for Food Studies, we are cultivating that interest.

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