All posts filed under: Academia

Publishing in Food Studies Journals: An Index

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Food studies is an ever-expanding field with an increasing number of discipline specific and related peer-reviewed journals. As you seek out the right “home” for your food studies scholarship, consider this list of peer-reviewed publications, organized alphabetically. Please note that this list was originally compiled in June 2016 and all links were updated in September 2019. The last update was made in June 2021. I endeavor to keep the list up-to-date, adding journals as folks alert me to them, but if you find something amiss, please feel free to comment or send me a note!  Agriculture and Food Security is an open-access journal that addresses global food security with a particular focus on research that may inform more sustainable agriculture and food systems that better address local, regional, national and/or global food and nutritional insecurity. The journal considers contributions across academic disciplines, including agricultural, ecological, environmental, nutritional, and socio-economic sciences, public health, and policy. Agriculture and Human Values is the journal of the Agriculture, Food, and Human Values Society. The journal publishes interdisciplinary research that critically examines the values, relationships, conflicts, and …

‘Graduate School Will Kill You’ and Other 18th Century Health Advice for the Studious

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Before I began my doctoral studies, I worked for five years in the field of worksite wellness, an experience that made me painfully aware of the growing evidence that sedentarism—spending too many hours sitting on one’s glorious behind—has deleterious health effects. Unfortunately, as a striving academic, I often find myself seated squarely on my rear for what sometimes feels like endless amounts of time. While many a modern day inforgraphic can summarize how sitting may be killing us, William Buchan, MD’s domestic medicine manual, Domestic Medicine Or, a Treatise on the Prevention and Cure of Diseases By Regimen and Simple Medicines (1772, second edition) provides period recommendations for the studious, which I found entertaining, enlightening, affirming, and worrisome in equal measure.[1] Many of Buchan’s recommendations ring as true today as they did nearly 250 years ago. Buchan writes: Intense thinking is so destructive to health, that few instances can be produced of studious persons who are strong and healthy, or live to an extremely old age. Hard study always implies a sedentary life; and, when intense thinking is joined to …

How to Write a Statement of Purpose

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When I applied to PhD programs, I didn’t really find the advice I was seeking for how to write a statement of purpose, so I wrote this post in the hope that it might help someone in a similar position.  Folks will tell you that your statement of purpose is the most important part of your PhD application and they’re right. While your transcripts might demonstrate your past academic success and your letters of recommendation can speak volumes, especially if written by significant scholars in your field, no piece of your application package can make more of an impact than your statement. It is your opportunity to clearly and succinctly discuss your past and future research goals in an interesting way. From this document (as well as the rest of your application package), an admissions committee will decide if you are the right “fit” for their program. While you’re determining which programs are the right fit for you, you can simultaneously put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and start the first of many drafts …

4 Steps to Find the Right PhD Program for You, Food Studies or Otherwise

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So, you’ve decided to pursue a PhD. You’ve heard the advice, “If there’s anything else you want to do, seriously, do that instead” and pondered it thoroughly. You’ve searched your soul, talked it over with those important to you in your life, and have confirmed beyond a shadow of a doubt that an academic life is the career that will fulfill you. Congratulations on getting to this point. Now, you have to apply to programs and get accepted, which in this academic and economic climate, isn’t easy. While there’s no magic number for how many programs you ought to apply to, somewhere in the 6 to 12 range works well. You might have already gone through some of these steps, but here is a four-step plan to finding the right PhD program for you and increasing your chance of acceptance—with some special advice thrown in for food studies students. Step 1: Choose the right field of study. For some, this first step will be a no brainer. You might get a PhD in the same …

Graduate Food Studies Programs: A List

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I began keeping this list of graduate food studies program after a fascinating roundtable discussion titled, “Masters Programs in Food Studies, Food Systems, and Food Policy,” at the 2013 joint meeting of the Association for the Study of Food and Society and the Agriculture, Food & Human Values Society at Michigan State University in East Lansing. During this discussion, the directors of seven graduate food programs debated the key issues emerging in graduate food education. They were also asked by a session attendee to summarize each program’s distinguishing features, which I’ve summarized here in the hopes it might prove useful for any students currently weighing their options for graduate study in food. Note: I’ve been keeping this list as current as possible. Last update: January 25, 2019 Boston University, MLA in Gastronomy  Location: Boston, MA Program Director: Megan Elias, Ph.D. Program History: Co-founded in the 1990s by Julia Child & Jacques Pépin Strengths / Specialities: Focus on the liberal arts; can include culinary arts & wine study; online, blended and in-person courses; in large, research university Follow: Twitter (@GastronomyatBU); …