Journal Editorial Board
Ran Mei
Co-Editor, New York University
Ran Mei is a doctoral student in food studies at New York University (NYU) who is interested in the spatial politics of food. Reading the built environment as the physical manifestation and shaper of social relations that are deeply entangled with the politics of race, ethnicity, gender and class, her research explores the social and cultural construction of architecture and infrastructural landscapes of food distribution, consumption, and waste management. Before joining NYU in 2023, she worked as an architectural and urban designer in Boston, Tokyo and Wuhan on projects including Time Out Market (Boston), Moynihan Train Station Food Hall (NYC) and Volpe Redevelopment at MIT Kendall Square (Cambridge). She graduated with a B.Arch. from Syracuse University, and an MA in design studies with distinction from Harvard Graduate School of Design.
Carla Silva
Co-Editor, City University of New York
Carla Silva (she/her) is a PhD Social Welfare candidate at the Graduate Center of City University of New York. Carla is a multi-level social worker with extensive experience developing social service infrastructure within marginalized and materially disadvantaged communities she is a member of and an ally to. Her practice experience focuses on the praxis of change work, social justice, and equity with issues impacting sexual orientation, gender identity, race, and class. Carla aspires to conduct research that will advance equitable food policy through direct practice and social action. Her doctoral research focuses on activating social work’s imagination to deepen the profession’s praxis of food justice.
Mallory Cerkleski
Co-Editor, Scuola Normale Superiore
Mallory Cerkleski (she/her) is a doctoral candidate in History at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, Italy. She holds an M.A. in Food Innovation and Management from the University of Gastronomic Sciences and dual B.A. degrees in Sustainable Food Systems and Political Science from Guilford College. Her doctoral project consists of a comparative history of the lived experiences of communist food systems in Cuba and Kerala using oral history and archival methodologies.
Mallory’s research on food justice and sovereignty has been published in various journals. She also authored the essay “Resolver and Rebusque: The State of Cuban Land and Food Sovereignty” in the book Food Sovereignty and Land Grabbing. She is a board member of the Graduate Association for Food Studies and leads the “Culinary Chronicles” project, which explores cultural heritage through oral histories using food as a tool and lens.
Her extensive fieldwork includes projects in Cuba, India, Malawi, and the U.S., and she has presented her research at various international conferences. Mallory documents her findings and thoughts on Instagram at @savoringtheages and savoringtheages.owlstown.net/.
Surabhi Supekar
Co-Editor, Boston University
Surabhi Supekar (she/her) is a graduate student in the Gastronomy program at Boston University. After working as a project management professional in the healthcare industry for over a decade, she decided to pursue her life-long interest in food studies. As a transplant to the US from India, her interests lie at the intersection of food as a means of identity for people and their geography and how food memory plays a role in establishing and creating these identities.
Stacey Baran
Co-Editor, University of California, Davis
Stacey Anh Baran is a Literature PhD candidate at the University of California, Davis. Her research primarily focuses on film, horror, and food/agricultural studies. Stacey’s dissertation explores how the iconography of maize in American horror cinema reveals historical anxieties around regionality, race, and consumption in the national consciousness. She has been published in Horror Studies, Quarterly Review of Film & Video, and an edited collection titled Youth Horror Television and the Question of Fear (2024).
Philine Schiller
Co-Editor, University of Augsburg
Philine Schiller is a doctoral student at the University of Augsburg, where she is part of the research group “Off the Menu – Appetites, Culture and Environment” led by Dr. L. Sasha Gora. Her research investigates how ecological and culinary shifts intersect and how food writing reflects these shifts in our cultural and gastronomic sensibilities. Specifically, she examines the gastronomic history of the oyster in North America in conjunction with notions of culinary extinction and the ethics of (eating) endangered foods. She holds a M.Ed. in English and Spanish from the University of Heidelberg, Germany.
Association Board
Rikki Brown, President
University of California, Santa Cruz
Rikki Brown is a doctoral candidate in Cultural Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is currently conducting dissertation fieldwork in the winemaking regions in the country of Georgia (Sakartvelo). Her research brings together food studies, political economy, and political ecology by examining wine through the geopolitical lens of occupation. Rikki is currently a Fulbright-Hays fellow and her research has been supported by Title VIII grants, the American Research Institute of the South Caucasus, and the National Science Foundation. She has a MA in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago and a BA in Russian Studies from Grand Valley State University. She also has over twelve years of experience in the restaurant industry and has obtained her introductory sommelier certification. Rikki occasionally pops bottles on Instagram at @reekee.cim.
Jieling Yang
Victoria University of Wellington
Jieling Yang (she/her) is a PhD student in Cultural Anthropology at Victoria University of Wellington. She holds an MA degree in Social Anthropology from SOAS, University of London. Her doctoral research focuses on fermented foods in the ethnic minority regions of Southwest China, investigating the heritagization and ongoing reinvention of regional cuisine by exploring local foodways and their authorization and promotion. Through the bubbling of food, she aims to unfold relationships not only between urban and rural areas, and central and peripheral regions, but also between humans and the environment, as well as humans and microorganisms. Prior to pursuing her PhD, she worked in the market research and brand strategy industry, specializing in transforming vivid field stories into business solutions.
Leanne Miranda
Victoria University of Wellington
Leanne Miranda (she/her) is a PhD candidate in History at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand (Te Herenga Waka). She has always held an interest in Society, Culture, and History, and was hoping to assimilate all these subjects into her research work going forward as well. With an added interest in Food and Food History and the importance it plays in shaping culture and society, this was the research area she selected to pursue her doctoral studies in. Her doctoral thesis aims to explore the multifaceted intersections of culture, migration, and culinary practices, shedding light on the diverse experiences of Indian immigrants and their impact on New Zealand’s culinary landscape. Through a blend of oral histories, archival sources, and material culture, she seeks to contribute nuanced insights as to how food serves as a lens into the lived experiences of migrants navigating life in a new country.
Elif Birbiri
York University
Elif Birbiri (she/her) is a doctoral student in Social Anthropology at York University. She holds a BSc degree in Gastronomy and Culinary Arts from Özyeğin University and MA in Sociology from Boğaziçi University in Istanbul. She was trained as a chef and worked in professional kitchens in Turkey, Hungary and Brazil. Later, she discovered the interdisciplinary world of food studies and focused her work on the food cultures at the intersection of geography and history. She worked in scientific research projects, multinational food company, and local food cooperatives which broadened her perspective on the political economy of food. She enjoys cooking for her friends and family and gathering around a table.
Mallory Cerkleski
Scuola Normale Superiore
Mallory Cerkleski (she/her) is a doctoral candidate in History at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, Italy. She holds an M.A. in Food Innovation and Management from the University of Gastronomic Sciences and dual B.A. degrees in Sustainable Food Systems and Political Science from Guilford College. Her doctoral project consists of a comparative history of the lived experiences of communist food systems in Cuba and Kerala using oral history and archival methodologies.
Mallory’s research on food justice and sovereignty has been published in the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development and the Journal of Gastronomic Sciences. She also authored the essay “Resolver and Rebusque: The State of Cuban Land and Food Sovereignty” in the book Food Sovereignty and Land Grabbing. She is a board member of the Research Network for Postsocialist Cultural Studies (SOYUZ) and leads the “Culinary Chronicles” project, which explores cultural heritage through oral histories using food as a tool and lens.
Her extensive fieldwork includes projects in Cuba, India, Malawi, and the U.S., and she has presented her research at various international conferences. Mallory documents her findings and thoughts on Instagram at @savoringtheages.
Palbi SharmaBhargava
University of British Columbia
Palbi (she/her) is a PhD candidate in the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies stream of Global Studies at the University of British Columbia. Her current PhD dissertation research explores the role and influence of BIPOC/diaspora on the wine tourism industry in a comparative case study of the Napa and Okanagan Valleys. Further exploring how this helps to create a destination identity for these places. Palbi is a trained anthropologist and holds an MA from York University in Social Anthropology. She has worked extensively in the Canadian wine industry to understand the impacts and future of wine tourism through an intersectional lens of anthropology, psychology, and marketing. She is passionate and curious about how to disseminate academic knowledge in accessible ways to share with the public and to create an impact in the community. As a food, wine, and tourism enthusiast; you can find her roaming vineyards, eating at her favourite places, or cooking up a storm.
Alejandra Dorado Vinay
Sophia University
Alejandra Dorado Vinay is a doctoral student at Sophia University in Tokyo. She has a master’s degree in Urban Studies and a bachelor’s degree in Politics and Public Administration from El Colegio de México. Her research focuses on the migration of people and foodways, particularly in Mexico and Japan. For her doctoral research, she is exploring the understanding, presentation, and consumption of Mexican food in restaurants in Tokyo, and how these places act as intermediaries that offer various imaginaries of Mexican cuisine. For her master’s research, she worked on a history of Japanese restaurants in Mexico City that narrated the different discourses on authenticity and localization of those restaurants through time, especially those related to rice and soy sauce with pan-fried chili peppers (chiles toreados).
Srijita Biswas
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Bhopal
Srijita Biswas is a PhD Research Scholar and Teaching Assistant in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Bhopal (IISER Bhopal). She had her MA from Banaras Hindu University in English Literature. Currently, she is working on the gastronomic evolution of Calcutta for her doctoral project. Her research interests lie at the intersection of food, city space and literature. She has co-authored “Binge Watching, Binge Eating: Popularity of K-Dramas and the Emergent Korean Cuisine in India” in the Journal of Comparative Literature and Aesthetics (JCLA) and has edited a short feature essay series on children’s food culture for the Critical Childhood and Youth Studies Collective (CCYSC). She has presented her work at the ASFS (Association for the Study of Food and Society) annual meeting, and the Indian Famine Network sponsored by the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Apart from research, she enjoys cooking, exploring food trails and creative writing.
Natasha Bernstein Bunzl
New York University
Natasha Bernstein Bunzl is a PhD student in Food Studies at NYU Steinhardt where she is focusing on food systems, particularly food access and distribution. Her research looks at the experience of migrating people as they shape and are shaped by the food systems of their former and new homes. She uses qualitative and mixed methods and is informed by community-engaged geography. She holds an MA in Anthropology of Food from SOAS and a BA in Comparative Literature and Italian from Cornell University. Previously, she has published work on restaurants and culinary performances of nationalism in Gastronomica.
Former Board & Editorial Members
Isabelle Bishop, Co-editor, 2023-2024
Mohini Mehta, Co-editor, 2021-2024
GJ Sevillano, Co-editor, 2023-2024
Stephanie Borkowsky, President, 2022-2024; Vice President, 2021-2022
Morgan Jenatton, Board Member, 2022-2024
Eugénie Clément, Board Member, 2023-2024
Dana Ferrante, Co-editor, 2022-2023
Shirin Daly, Board Member, 2021-2023
Ariana Gunderson, Board Member, 2022-2023; Co-President 2021-2022; Treasurer, 2017-2018
Eden Kinkaid, Co-editor, 2021-2022
Carlynn Crosby, Co-President, 2021-2022; Conference Coordinator, 2020-2021
Kaitlin Rizzari, Scholarly Communications Coordinator, 2021-2022
Bailee Blankemeier, Outreach and Programming Coordinator, 2021-2022
Gwyneth Manser, Conference Coordinator, 2021-2022
Jess Fagin, Co-editor, 2018-2022
Cormac Cleary, Co-editor, 2018-2022
Maria Carabello, Co-editor, 2018-2022
Maya Hey, Co-editor, 2018-2021
Katharine Hysmith, Co-editor, 2019-2020, Conference Coordinator, 2017-2018
Jessica Carbone, Co-President, 2019-2021
Erica Zurawski, Co-President, 2019-2021
Molly Mann, Treasurer, 2019-2021
James Edward Malin, Library Services Liaison and Scholarly Communications Coordinator, 2019-2021
Alanna K. Higgins, Programming and Outreach Coordinator, 2019-2021
Archish Kashikar, Social Media Manager, 2020-2021
Catherine Peters, Co-Editor, 2019; Editor-in-Chief, 2018-2019; Managing Editor, 2017-2018; Associate Editor, 2016-2017
Anastasia Day, President, 2017-2018
Gretchen Sneegas, Vice President, 2017-2018
Claire Bunschoten, Associate Editor & Communications Editor, 2017-2018; On-Site Conference Coordinator, 2017-2018
Emma McDonell, Managing Editor, 2016-2018
Sally Baho, Managing Copy Editor, 2016-2018
Edwige Crucifix, Book Reviews Editor, 2016-2018
Emily Contois, Editor-in-Chief, 2016-2017; Managing Editor & Communications Editor, 2015-2016
Brad Jones, President, 2016-2017
Tommy Le, Conference Coordinator, 2016-2017
Jake Eaton, Secretary, 2016-2017
Carla Cevasco, Editor-in-Chief, 2014-2016
Clara Hanson, Book Reviews Editor, 2014-2016
Zachary Nowak, President, 2014-2015
Faculty Board
Information about our current and previous faculty board can be found on the faculty board page.
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