Dr. Dafne Chanaz Presents "The Pizza Connection" Lecture

Dr. Dafne Chanaz

On Monday, September 29, the JCU Department of Modern Languages and Literature welcomed Dr. Dafne Chanaz for a lecture on what she refers to as the “Pizza Connection:” How environment, economy, culture and health relate through food.

Professor Isabella Clough Marinaro, chair of the Modern Languages and Literature department, moderated the event.

Dr. Dafne Chanaz is a food researcher, activist, journalist, and cook. She also teaches occasionally as an adjunct at the University of Washington. The Casa del Cibo (The House of Food) is a projected founded by Dr. Chanaz in order to spread gastronomical culture in a domestic setting. Through the project, Chanaz teaches urban farming and the sustainable production of everyday items, including homemade soap. Chanaz is also the author of Fare in Casa Cosmetici Naturali – an instructional book on homemade cosmetics.

Professor Chanaz’s lecture focused on the crucial role, history, and evolution of food in relation to human culture. She emphasized the importance of sustainable agricultural methods and how farming needs to occur on a local, rather than a global scale.

The lecture concluded with a Q&A session, generously accompanied by fresh delivery of pizza from one of Rome’s most praised pizzerias, Il Forno at Campo de’ Fiori.

Learn more about the Department of Modern Languages and Literature at John Cabot University.