Fall 2016 Pépin Lecture Series in Food Studies and Gastronomy
The following programs are part of the Pépin Lecture Series in Food Studies and Gastronomy and are free and open to the public. To register, please call 617-353-9852 or visit www.bu.edu/foodandwine.
In the Matter of Food: Jewish Peddling in the New World, with Hasia Diner
Monday, September 26, 6:00 p.m. | Meets at 725 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 224.
The age of the great Jewish migration saw millions of European, Ottoman, and North African Jews leave their old homes to make new ones in new lands. Scores of men took their first steps in unfamiliar places as peddlers, selling house-to-house in non-Jewish communities. As they slept in 
these new customers’ homes, it was largely through food that they negotiated their Jewish commitments and engagements with those unfamiliar with their culture. Learn more in this lecture from Hasia Diner, who is a New York University professor of Hebrew and Judaic studies and history; Paul S. and Sylvia Steinberg Professor of American Jewish History; and director of the Goldstein-Goren Center for American Jewish History.
Photo Credit: Peddler with cart, c. 1896. Photograph by Elizabeth Austen. Library of Congress.
The French Chef in America: Julia Child, with Alex Prud’homme
Sunday, October 16, 11:00 am. | Meets at 808 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 117.
The enchanting story of Julia Child’s years as TV personality and beloved cookbook author–a sequel in spirit to My Life in France–by her great-nephew. Julia Child is synonymous with French cooking, but her legacy runs much deeper. Now, her great-nephew and My Life in France coauthor vividly recounts the myriad ways in which she profoundly shaped how we eat today. He shows us Child in the aftermath of the publication of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, suddenly finding herself America’s first lady of French food and under considerable pressure to embrace her new mantle. We see her dealing with difficult colleagues and the challenges of fame, 
ultimately using her newfound celebrity to create what would become a totally new type of food television. Every bit as entertaining, inspiring, and delectable as My Life in France, The French Chef in America uncovers Julia Child beyond her “French chef” persona and reveals her second act to have been as groundbreaking and adventurous as her first.
Photo Credit: Prud’homme, A. 2016, The French Chef in America, Alfred A. Knopf & Pantheon, New York.
Changing Foodways in Maputo Mozambique, with Lilly Havstad
Tuesday, October 18, 6:00 p.m. | Meets at 725 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 313.
Photo Credit: FUNGAI TICHAWANGANA, http://www.bu.edu/research/articles/mozambique/
Join Lilly Havstad, a doctoral candidate in the Department of History at Boston University, for stories and reflections based on her doctoral research into changing foodways and the emergence of an African middle class in Maputo, the capital city of Mozambique. She will discuss how changing urban foodways have been enmeshed and emergent in the process of urbanization over time, how foodways center the lives of women as primary cooks and caretakers in Mozambican society, and how the lens of food reveals the cultural and social dynamics of urban class formation.
The Gaza Kitchen: A Palestinian Culinary Journey, with Laila El-Haddad and Maggie Schmitt and introduction by Nancy Harmon Jenkins
Tuesday, November 15, 6:00 p.m. | Meets at 725 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 224.
Photo Credit: www.gazakitchen.com
Laila El-Haddad and Maggie Schmitt will describe the process by which they developed and conducted field research for their innovative ethnographic cookbook, The Gaza Kitchen: A Palestinian Culinary Journey. Focusing on the little-known but distinctive cuisine of Palestine’s Gaza region, their book showcases over 140 never-before transcribed recipes of home cooks (mainly women), as well as the vital narratives of Gazan farmers, merchants, and food security experts. This interdisciplinary project—embraced by culinary figures such as Anthony Bourdain, Claudia Roden, and Yotam Ottolenghi—addresses food sovereignty and sustainability issues facing the Palestinian people.