Two faculty members from the University of Iowa’s Department of History started working in the 2023–24 academic year cultivating a campuswide conversation about the role of food in shaping culture, identity, and memory. Their efforts culminated this spring in a day-long symposium that brought together scholars from across the country.

Professor of Instruction Ari Ariel and Assistant Professor Viridiana Hernández Fernández co-led a Food Studies Obermann Working Group, an initiative supported by the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies. Obermann Working Groups provide faculty-led teams with flexible, well-resourced spaces to pursue shared intellectual interests—whether through collaborative research, reading groups, public-facing projects, or event planning. As the Center describes it, the program encourages participants “to explore complex issues at a moment when cross-disciplinary collaboration is crucial to address shifting domains of knowledge in a rapidly changing world.”

The Food Studies Working Group embraced that spirit of collaboration. Its members drew from multiple disciplines to examine how food intersects with culture, politics, sustainability, and community life. Given Iowa’s deep agricultural roots, the group also considered how food systems and environmental concerns shape the state’s identity. This group's work has focused especially on the stories, traditions, and memories that communities attach to food—how recipes, rituals, and shared meals become vessels for understanding who we are.

On April 17, the group hosted a symposium at the University of Iowa dedicated to exploring these themes. The event brought together leading scholars whose work illuminates the cultural and historical dimensions of food. Two distinguished keynote speakers anchored the program:

• David E. Sutton, professor of anthropology at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, whose research investigates the relationship between food, memory, and everyday life. His books include Remembrance of Repasts: An Anthropology of Food and Memory, Secrets from the Greek Kitchen, and Bigger Fish to Fry.
• Yong Chen, professor of history at the University of California, Irvine, an expert on immigration, Chinese American history, and the global history of food. His book Chop Suey, USA traces how Chinese cuisine became woven into American cultural life.

In addition to the keynote talks, the symposium featured two panels showcasing University of Iowa faculty and graduate students whose work engages with food from linguistic, political, historical, and anthropological perspectives. Panelists include:

• David Greenwood-Sánchez, political science
• Andres Restrepo-Sánchez, anthropology (graduate student)
• Greg Valdespino, history
• Asma Ben Romdhane, Arabic
• Sang-Seok Yoon, Korean
• Yumiko Nishi, Japanese
• Yanjie Li, Chinese

The event also included a Q&A session with Jamie Powers, executive pastry chef and owner of DeLuke Cake and Pastries in Iowa City, offering a local perspective on food, craft, and community.

The symposium was organized by the Center for Asian and Pacific Studies along with the Food Studies Group. It was co-sponsored by the Departments of History, Anthropology, International Studies, and Languages, Linguistics, Literatures, and Cultures—a testament to the broad relevance of food studies across the humanities and social sciences.