Media Kit

One Sentence Bio

A professor who researches media, food, bodies, and health at The University of Tulsa, Emily Contois is the author of Diners, Dudes, and Diets: How Gender and Power Collide in Food Media and Culture and co-editor of Food Instagram: Identity, Influence, and Negotiation.

Short Bio

Emily Contois researches media within consumer culture, focusing on how identities are formed at the vital intersection of food, the body, and ideas about health. She is the author of Diners, Dudes, and Diets: How Gender and Power Collide in Food Media and Culture (University of North Carolina Press, 2020) and co-editor of Food Instagram: Identity, Influence, and Negotiation (University of Illinois Press, 2022). A richly interdisciplinary scholar, her academic work has been published in Advertising & Society Quarterly, American Studies, Feminist Media Studies, Gastronomica, and Fat Studies, among others. She has also written for NBC News, Jezebel, and Nursing Clio; been interviewed on podcasts, such as CNN Margins of Error, The Sporkful, Gastropod, and Good Food; and appeared on CBS This Morning and Ugly Delicious on Netflix. She is Associate Professor of Media Studies at the University of Tulsa, where she also serves as Faculty in Residence. She holds a PhD and an MA in American Studies from Brown University, an MLA in Gastronomy from Boston University, and an MPH focused in Public Health Nutrition from the University of California, Berkeley.

Full Bio

Dr. Emily Contois researches media within consumer culture, focusing on how identities are formed at the vital intersection of food, the body, and ideas about health. An Associate Professor of Media Studies at The University of Tulsa, she’s the author of Diners, Dudes & Diets: How Gender and Power Collide in Food Media and Culture (University of North Carolina Press, 2020) and co-editor of Food Instagram: Identity, Influence, and Negotiation (University of Illinois Press, 2022). A richly interdisciplinary scholar, her academic work has been published in Advertising & Society Quarterly, American Studies, Feminist Media Studies, Gastronomica, and Fat Studies, among others.

A public expert on a wide variety of topics, she’s written about the politics of meat for NBC News, trophy kitchens for Jezebel, and millennial male body image for Culture Study. She’s also been on podcasts like Gastropod, The Sporkful, Extra Spicy, BBC Food Chain, and Food Psych, and appeared on CBS This Morning, BBC Ideas, and Ugly Delicious on Netflix. An enthusiastic thought partner with journalists, her media mentions range from The New York Times, The Washington Post and Wall Street Journal to Slate, Vox, Salon, Vogue, and Elle to Bon Appetit and Eater.

As a professor, Dr. Contois teaches critical media studies courses that examine advertising, popular culture, persuasion, health communication, and food media, as well as Introduction to Media Studies, a research-based Senior Project, and Introduction to Women’s and Gender Studies. She is also the University of Tulsa’s Faculty in Residence. Along with her husband and dog, she lives in community with primarily first year college students, building a bridge between the classroom and residential student life so to transform and enhance the university experience.

She holds a PhD and an MA in American Studies from Brown University, an MLA in Gastronomy from Boston University, and an MPH focused in Public Health Nutrition from the University of California, Berkeley.