Video
In a selection of talks and interviews, Fabio Parasecoli discusses on camera his research in food studies, food history, and food design, as well his work as a food writer.
Food: A Systemic Approach
Knowing where our food comes from is important to us as consumers and as citizens, allowing to make more careful choices. During this lecture I gave in Warsaw, Poland, I explore different conceptualizations of the global food system, together with the structures, flows, and stakeholders that compose it.
.
Food and Film
In this talk I gave for the Sagan National Colloquium at Ohio Wesleyan University I explore the presence and meaning of food in film.
.
Design in Global Brooklyn
What do the fashionable food hot spots of Cape Town, Mumbai, Copenhagen, Rio de Janeiro, and Tel Aviv have in common? Despite all their differences, consumers in each major city are drawn to a similar atmosphere: rough wooden tables in postindustrial interiors lit by edison bulbs. There, they enjoy single-origin coffee, kombucha, and artisanal bread. This is ‘Global Brooklyn,’ a new transnational aesthetic regime of urban consumption. I discuss it in this short talk at the World Food Design Day 2021, organized by Fork.
.
Italy in the Global Food System
On the occasion of the presentation of my book Food (MIT, 2019) at the NYU Casa Italiana Zerilli Marimò I examine how Italy and its culinary culture have become part of the global food system, and what that means for the future.
.
Al Dente: A History of Food in Italy
Listen to this short chat with author Michele Scicolone about the history of food in Italy.
.
Rice in Italian Food Culture
In this video (in English, with Polish subtitles), I explain the recipe for risotto and make it together with Jarek Walczyk, president of the Polish Chef Club, The video is introduced by Toruń University professor and food historian Jarosław Dumanowski. I also discuss how rice became part of Italian food traditions, with influences from the Arabs and the Spaniards.
.
Italian Food Cultures and the Environment
In this video, shot at the University of Minnesota in September 23, 2015, I speak about food culture in Italy and its relationship with the environment in conversation with Dan Philippon, Associate Professor of English and co-convener of the IAS Environmental Humanities Collaborative.
.
Gnocchi and the Columbian Exchange
In this video (in English, with Polish subtitles), I give the recipes of gnocchi and make it together with Jarek Walczyk, president of the Polish Chef Club, The video is introduced by Toruń University professor and food historian Jarosław Dumanowski. I also discuss how that dish is a symbol for the Columbian Exchange and of how new products from the New World, such as potatoes and tomatoes, became part of Italian food traditions.
Mediterranean Diet, Intangible Heritage and Sustainable Tourism
Can the traditions and and the food productions connected with the Mediterranean Diet – from agriculture to fisheries – be activated to establish sustainable forms of tourism? I discussed the topic in New York, on January 15, 2019, during the Italian Mediterranean Style: One-day symposium at the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute.
Food Forward: A Geometry conversation
In an ongoing effort to stay current on today’s food landscape, Geometry sat down with me, to discuss the attitudes and behaviors that are shaping our eating and grocery shopping habits. Here are 5 key insights that came out of that conversation.
City Food: Street Food in Warsaw
In this video (you can see an update on the research project and Mateusz Halawa (Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences) are conducting in Poland. Here I share some observations on street food in Polish cities, as part of the international research project City Food.
Click here to see the video
Infinite Appetite: Food in The Simpsons, South Park, and Family Guy
Food satire in US TV comedy shows, animated sitcoms such as South Park, and Internet videos provides an outlet to reflect on social and cultural problems, including racism. It also offers a rather benign critique of the vices of the average American. After all, the...
Beyond Tapas: Catalan Cuisine as Food Heritage
The culture of tapas is well known around the world, and very popular in Barcelona, the city with most tourists in Spain. But Catalan cuisine has much more to offer in terms of food heritage, as Xavier Medina, UNESCO Chair on Food, Culture and Development at the...
Food Traditions, Culture, and Politics
When it takes place within conservative cultural frameworks and political propaganda, the rediscovery of food traditions can bolster moral values and patriarchal social structures based on the ideological myth of a time that knew neither disruptions nor crises – maybe...
Why Do We Care about Food Heritage?
Boqueria, Santa Caterina market, tapas, experimental cuisine… So many reason to be in Barcelona if you are interested in food. In the past couple of decades, the capital of the autonomous region of Catalonia has turned into a major hub for culinary experimentation but...
Heavenly Meals: Food in Amazon’s Good Omens
What do angels eat? And can food be a good reason for having a body, rather than being spirituals entities dancing on the head of a pin? These existential questions run through Good Omens, the adaptation of the1990 novel co-written by Neil Gaiman (who also wrote the...
Cooking with Others, Learning with our Bodies
I am not a chef. I am just a moderately proficient homecook (you can check what I cook on my Instagram account @fparasecoli) I have not been to culinary school (although maybe... at some point...). I have never gone through any kind of formal process to learn about...
Polish Cuisine on Display in Warsaw
Interest in Polish cuisine is growing fast, and it has started putting itself on display. In mid-May, 50 of the most visible Polish chef got together for the Taste Masters event, which we previously announced on Gambero Rosso. Organized by Justyna Adamczyk, director...
From the Kitchen to the Page and Back
I originally published this article on the Huffington Post back in 2016. It was the beginning of an adventure that took me to unexpected experiences: cooking on a wood stove from the 1940s; writing an essay for a book on food, memory, and imagination; and contributing as an expert advisor to the Victoria and Albert Museum exhibition Food: Bigger than the Plate. To be continued…