Are We What We Eat? An Interdisciplinary Look at Food, Culture, and Health
The Kendon Smith Lecture Series is an endowed annual lecture series that brings international experts to UNCG to discuss a topic related to mind and behavior that is of general interest to both the academic community and the public. The lectures are hosted by the Department of Psychology at UNCG.
This fall, Dr. DeJesus is organizing a lecture series with a theme that reflects much of the work we do in our lab: Examining how we think about food across the lifespan and from multiple disciplinary perspectives. We are thrilled to be putting on this event this fall on October 21-22. This event will be a bit different from previous events due to COVID-19, but the event will be live-streamed so that community members can participate! You can watch the talks on our lab's YouTube channel and Facebook page.
Have questions for our speakers? Submit them before the event on our Google Form, this will give your question the best chance of being selected!
Stay tuned here for more information about the event, as well as a curated syllabus designed to enhance your experience of the event!
If you are a parent and would like to participate in studies on children's eating behavior related to this series, check out our Online Studies page or sign up here: uncg.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eJW6EjjjwhJ0vSR. We'll follow-up to let you know if your child is the right age for any projects, or if we have any studies for parents!
This fall, Dr. DeJesus is organizing a lecture series with a theme that reflects much of the work we do in our lab: Examining how we think about food across the lifespan and from multiple disciplinary perspectives. We are thrilled to be putting on this event this fall on October 21-22. This event will be a bit different from previous events due to COVID-19, but the event will be live-streamed so that community members can participate! You can watch the talks on our lab's YouTube channel and Facebook page.
Have questions for our speakers? Submit them before the event on our Google Form, this will give your question the best chance of being selected!
Stay tuned here for more information about the event, as well as a curated syllabus designed to enhance your experience of the event!
If you are a parent and would like to participate in studies on children's eating behavior related to this series, check out our Online Studies page or sign up here: uncg.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eJW6EjjjwhJ0vSR. We'll follow-up to let you know if your child is the right age for any projects, or if we have any studies for parents!
Invited Speakers
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Thursday, October 21
1:30pm: Series opening remarks 1:45-3:00pm: Dr. Julie Mennella, "We Eat What We Like: Insights from the Beginning" 3:15pm-4:30pm: Dr. Cynthia Stifter, "What the Child Brings to the Table: The Role of Temperament in Parent Feeding, Child Eating and Child Weight Status" Friday, October 22 9:00-10:15am: Dr. Julian Agyeman, "Food Justice, Food Apartheid and Urban Planning" 10:30-11:45am: Dr. Kelly Brownell, "Strategic Science: Harnessing Science to Create Social and Policy Impact" Times are listed in Eastern Daylight Time 
Dr. Julie A. Mennella obtained a Ph.D. from the Department of Behavioral Sciences at The University of Chicago in Chicago, IL. She conducted postdoctoral studies and then joined the faculty at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, PA in 1990 where she is now a Member.
She is the author or co-author of numerous peer-reviewed research manuscripts and an internationally recognized speaker on the development of the flavor senses and its implications for health and nutritional programming. She was recently recognized by the Association for Chemoreception Sciences with the Max Mozell Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Chemical Senses. Her research programs have been funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health since 1990. 
Dr. Cynthia A. Stifter (Ph.D., University of Maryland) is Professor Emeritus of Human Development at the Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Stifter’s expertise is in temperament and its impact on behavioral and physical health. She recently extended her research in a study, funded by NIDDK, relating temperament and parenting to rapid weight gain in infancy and childhood obesity.
Dr. Stifter has authored numerous publications on infant, toddler, and preschool development including the emergence of emotion self-regulation, the effect of emotion regulation on behavioral control, the psychobiology of temperament, and the role of temperament in parent feeding and child eating behaviors. She is an American Psychological Science’s Fellow, served on several NIH panels and was associate editor of Child Development. |
Dr. Julian Agyeman, Ph.D. FRSA FRGS, is a Professor of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts University. He is the originator of the increasingly influential concept of just sustainabilities, the intentional integration of social justice and environmental sustainability. He centers his research on critical explorations of the complex and embedded relations between humans and the urban environment, whether mediated by governments or social movement organizations, and their effects on public policy and planning processes and outcomes, particularly in relation to notions of justice and equity.
He is the author or editor of 12 books, including The Immigrant Food Nexus, Cultivating Food Justice: Race, Class and Sustainability, and Sharing Cities: A Case for Truly Smart and Sustainable Cities, one of Nature’s Top 20 Books of 2015. In 2018, he was awarded the Athena City Accolade by KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, for his “outstanding contribution to the field of social justice and ecological sustainability, environmental policy and planning“. 
Dr. Kelly Brownell is Robert L. Flowers Professor of Public Policy, Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience, and Director of the World Food Policy Center at Duke University. From 2013-2018 he served as Dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke.
In 2006, Brownell was elected the National Academy of Medicine and was named by Time Magazine as one of “The World’s 100 Most Influential People” in its special Time 100 issue featuring those “whose power, talent or moral example is transforming the world.” He has received numerous awards and honors for his work, including the American Psychological Association's Lifetime Achievement Award and Distinguished Scientific Award for the Applications of Psychology, the Graduate Mentoring Award from Yale, the James McKeen Cattell Award from the NY Academy of Sciences, the Distinguished Alumni Award from Purdue University, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from Rutgers University. Dr. Brownell has published 15 books and more than 350 scientific articles and chapters. He has served as President of several national organizations and has advised the White House, members of congress, governors, state attorneys general, world health and nutrition organizations, and media leaders on issues of nutrition, obesity, and public policy. |
Talk Archives
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Thursday, October 21: Julie Mennella and Cynthia Stifter
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Friday, October 22: Julian Agyeman and Kelly Brownell
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KSL Fall 2021 Syllabus
Readings
Alkon, A. H., & Agyeman, J. (Eds.). (2011). Cultivating food justice: Race, class, and sustainability. MIT Press. [link]
Barnhill, A., Palmer, A., Weston, C. M., Brownell, K. D., Clancy, K., Economos, C. D., ... & Bennett, W. L. (2018). Grappling with complex food systems to reduce obesity: a US public health challenge. Public Health Reports, 133(1_suppl), 44S-53S. [link]
Brownell, K. D., & Roberto, C. A. (2015). Strategic science with policy impact. The Lancet, 9986(385), 2445-2446. [link]
Giacalone, S., & Agyeman, J. (2020). The Immigrant-Food Nexus: Borders, Labor, and Identity in North America. MIT Press.
Loh, P., & Agyeman, J. (2019). Urban food sharing and the emerging Boston food solidarity economy. Geoforum, 99, 213-222. [link]
Mennella, J. A., Jagnow, C. P., & Beauchamp, G. K. (2001). Prenatal and postnatal flavor learning by human infants. Pediatrics, 107(6), e88-e88. [link]
Nix, R. L., Francis, L. A., Feinberg, M. E., Gill, S., Jones, D. E., Hostetler, M. L., & Stifter, C. A. (2021). Improving toddlers’ healthy eating habits and self-regulation: A randomized controlled trial. Pediatrics, 147(1). [link]
Puhl, R., & Brownell, K. D. (2001). Bias, discrimination, and obesity. Obesity Research, 9(12), 788-805. [link]
Spill, M. K., Johns, K., Callahan, E. H., Shapiro, M. J., Wong, Y. P., Benjamin-Neelon, S. E., ... & Casavale, K. O. (2019). Repeated exposure to food and food acceptability in infants and toddlers: a systematic review. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 109(Supplement_1), 978S-989S. [link]
Stifter, C. A., Anzman-Frasca, S., Birch, L. L., & Voegtline, K. (2011). Parent use of food to soothe infant/toddler distress and child weight status. An exploratory study. Appetite, 57(3), 693-699. [link]
Stifter, C. A., & Moding, K. J. (2019). Temperament in obesity-related research: Concepts, challenges, and considerations for future research. Appetite, 141, 104308. [link]
Ventura, A. K., & Mennella, J. A. (2011). Innate and learned preferences for sweet taste during childhood. Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition & Metabolic Care, 14(4), 379-384. [link]
Check out our Research page for food-related research from our lab!
Barnhill, A., Palmer, A., Weston, C. M., Brownell, K. D., Clancy, K., Economos, C. D., ... & Bennett, W. L. (2018). Grappling with complex food systems to reduce obesity: a US public health challenge. Public Health Reports, 133(1_suppl), 44S-53S. [link]
Brownell, K. D., & Roberto, C. A. (2015). Strategic science with policy impact. The Lancet, 9986(385), 2445-2446. [link]
Giacalone, S., & Agyeman, J. (2020). The Immigrant-Food Nexus: Borders, Labor, and Identity in North America. MIT Press.
Loh, P., & Agyeman, J. (2019). Urban food sharing and the emerging Boston food solidarity economy. Geoforum, 99, 213-222. [link]
Mennella, J. A., Jagnow, C. P., & Beauchamp, G. K. (2001). Prenatal and postnatal flavor learning by human infants. Pediatrics, 107(6), e88-e88. [link]
Nix, R. L., Francis, L. A., Feinberg, M. E., Gill, S., Jones, D. E., Hostetler, M. L., & Stifter, C. A. (2021). Improving toddlers’ healthy eating habits and self-regulation: A randomized controlled trial. Pediatrics, 147(1). [link]
Puhl, R., & Brownell, K. D. (2001). Bias, discrimination, and obesity. Obesity Research, 9(12), 788-805. [link]
Spill, M. K., Johns, K., Callahan, E. H., Shapiro, M. J., Wong, Y. P., Benjamin-Neelon, S. E., ... & Casavale, K. O. (2019). Repeated exposure to food and food acceptability in infants and toddlers: a systematic review. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 109(Supplement_1), 978S-989S. [link]
Stifter, C. A., Anzman-Frasca, S., Birch, L. L., & Voegtline, K. (2011). Parent use of food to soothe infant/toddler distress and child weight status. An exploratory study. Appetite, 57(3), 693-699. [link]
Stifter, C. A., & Moding, K. J. (2019). Temperament in obesity-related research: Concepts, challenges, and considerations for future research. Appetite, 141, 104308. [link]
Ventura, A. K., & Mennella, J. A. (2011). Innate and learned preferences for sweet taste during childhood. Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition & Metabolic Care, 14(4), 379-384. [link]
Check out our Research page for food-related research from our lab!
Additional content: Videos, podcasts, and books (may contain explicit language)
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Recipe Club, with Dave Chang and Chris Ying
A great episode to start: Rice (many food cultures discussed!) |
Home Cooking, with Samin Nosrat and Hrishikesh Hirway
A great episode to start: Old Bay Leaves, New Bae Arrives (quick lunch ideas!) |
Maintenance Phase, with Michael Hobbes and Aubrey Gordon
A great episode to start: Snackwell's Cookies (if you grew up in the '90s; Dr. DeJesus still remembers their chocolate banana yogurt) |
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Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
A poignant memoir that is as much about food as it is about identity, family, and grief [book] [New Yorker article] |
Hunger by Roxane Gay
A bracing and thought-provoking memoir about body image, weight stigma, and healing from trauma [book] |
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High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Shaped America (Netflix)
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Taste the Nation with Padma Lakshmi (Hulu)
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No Passport Required with Marcus Samuelsson (PBS)
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The Next Thing You Eat with David Chang (Hulu)
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