Celebration and Challenge: Food in the 21St Century
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Ohio Wesleyan Magazine OWU VOLUME 90 ISSUE NO.1 r SPRING 2013 r FOOD CHAIN Connecting Culture, Community, and Research in the 21st Century The Opposite VOLUME 90 ISSUE NO. 1 r SPRING 2013 of Ordinary www.owualumni.com Ohio Wesleyan Alumni Online Community Editor Pamela Besel Class Notes Editor Andrea Misko Strle ’99 OWUOhio Wesleyan Magazine [email protected] Designer Sara Stuntz FEATURES // Contributing Writers Pam Besel John Shimer ’05 10 People and Food Christopher Fink Andrea Misko Strle ’99 It takes a community such as Ohio Wesleyan’s to raise awareness about food matters here and Gretchen Hirsch Amanda Zechiel ’09 around the world. Contributing Photographers Sara Blake Claire Paniccia ’13 12 Budding Gardeners Meagan Ferns ’13 Taylor Rivkin ’14 Cultivating and collaborating on vegetable gardens grown by children at OWU’s Early Anthony Gardner Mark Schmitter ’12 Childhood Center. Paul Molitor Mike Serbanoiu ’15 14 Back to Basics Interim Director of Marketing and Communication Hundreds of years ago, sustainable agriculture was practiced and prized by people of Cole Hatcher Kosrae island of Micronesia. As Professor Jim Peoples explains, modernization is taking a heavy toll on their lives and lifestyles. Marketing and Communication Office (740) 368-3335 17 Global Environmental Change and Food Production Director of Alumni Relations That’s what Professor Laurie Anderson and her students studied in Brazil, as part of their Brenda DeWitt recent Travel-Learning course. She shares more about her research in this Magazine. Alumni Relations Office Phone: (740) 368-3325 19 Feeding a Hungry World Fax: (740) 368-3328 Professor Mary Howard’s classes on “Health and Illness” and “African Peoples” came to Email: [email protected] life for her students in Tanzania last spring, as they discovered connections among poverty, illness, and malnutrition. 21 Food Security: Politics and Policies Web site: www.owu.edu When politics, war, and climate change affect food production, it is the people who suffer. OWU Magazine: http://magazine.owu.edu The Ohio Wesleyan Magazine (ISSN 0030-1221) 23 Pushing for Progress is published in Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring “I believe that public service is about making government work best for those who are by Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio. Periodicals postage paid at Delaware, Ohio and less fortunate.” During her 17 years in Congress, representing farm families and others in additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send southern Missouri’s eighth Congressional District, Jo Ann Emerson ’72 has done just that. address changes to The Magazine, Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio 43015. General 25 Taking a Bite Out of Hunger University telephone number: (740) 368-2000. Restaurateur Howard Greenstone ’83 is feeding bodies, souls, and spirits every day. Printed on recycled paper Cover photo: Students Jeunesse Jacobs ’16 and Toria Reisman ’16 experience the benefits of cooking with whole foods during one of Professor Chris Fink’s introductory courses that focuses on a concept approach to health literacy. DEPARTMENTS // 2 // LEADER’S LETTER OWU students participating in a recent Travel-Learning course, visited a cheese production facility in Italy. 4 // FROM THE JAYWALK (The cheese is Parmigiano-Reggiano.) “42: The Story of an American Legend” From Hookstown to Taiwan Stand Together, Live Together Cleaning the Pipes of the Klais Organ OWU Welcomes Dan Hitchell 6 // IN WRITING Modernism and the Women’s Popular Romance in Britain, 1885-1925 Observances 8 // GIFTS AND GRATITUDE A Life Well Lived Building Bridges 26 // BISHOP BATTLES Season to Remember When More is Better High Wattage Success 30 // ALUMNI HAPPENINGS Never Say Never Remembering Lolly The Business and Pleasure of Food Calendar of Events Class Notes 48 // THE FINAL WORD The Wonders and Complexities of Food Chris Fink, OWU’s assistant professor of health and human kinetics, explains what food means on campus—and E DITORIAL ADVISORY Pam Besel, Marketing and Communication Roger Ingles, Athletics Board MEMBERS Brenda DeWitt, Alumni Relations Ida Mostofi, Marketing and Communication beyond. Rebecca Eckstein, Admission and Financial Aid Nancy Bihl Rutkowski, Student Involvement Colleen Garland, University Relations Chuck Steinmetz, Provost Cole Hatcher, Marketing and Communication Sara Stuntz, Marketing and Communication r OWU SPRING 2013 1 Leader’s Letter >> Celebration and Challenge: Food in the 21st Century Last fall, as part of the Sagan to live and work. But food is much more society to provide sufficient nutrition for National Colloquium’s consideration than a source of physical nourishment. all people represents one of the greatest of the topic of food, Ohio Wesleyan Every culture has its own practices related failures of our time. The presence of food hosted Professor Anjali Bhatia of to food, reflecting the physical setting and often marks great celebration; the absence Lady Shri Ram (LSR) College in the foods that can be grown in that setting, of food even more powerfully marks the New Delhi, India. Professor Bhatia is a and the role of food in defining the society needs of a hurting and broken world. sociologist whose research focuses on the and its people. Many of the most significant The curriculum at Ohio Wesleyan impact of fast food on the youth culture in occasions in the course of a human life are is designed to create opportunities for India. While she was on campus, she asked marked by the sharing of food, often in students to explore complex global for the opportunity to gather with students ways that are prescribed by the culture and challenges, from the perspective of from OWU who visited LSR last spring and its customs. Religions around the world multiple disciplines, in search of lasting to engage them in assisting her in preparing a have a variety of sacred traditions through solutions. This is essential in the education traditional Indian festival dinner. The group which food offers a way of responding to of the next generation of moral leaders for gathered in our home at 1 p.m. and began the human longing for an experience of the a global society. to work under the direction of Professor divine. When families reunite after periods It is not surprising that food has Bhatia, who guided us until more than six of separation, a meal often serves as the emerged as a topic of interest and hours after preparation began, we sat to a centerpiece of the reunion. The presence importance. Food represents one of sumptuous feast. Along the way, we learned of food marks the passages of human life, the great challenges faced by our world about various elements of traditional Indian the structures of human society, and the while at the same time preserving some cuisine, the variations that exist in different practices of religious faith. To share a meal is of the richest expressions of the human parts of the country, and the relationship to share a life. experience. Food is reflected in our between food and the culture, traditions, At the same time, the absence or literature, our art, our cultures, our and habits of the people and families of scarcity of food presents one of the most customs, and our history. The scarcity India. It was a memorable day through which vexing challenges faced by our world today. of food requires consideration from food provided a host of new insights and The images of hunger and starvation haunt disciplines as varied as public policy, understandings of a culture and its people. us, reflecting the harsh realities of poverty sustainable agriculture, global education, Food is a universal human need. Food and inequity in the allocation of the planet’s public health, economics, and the nourishes the body and gives us strength scarce resources. The inability of our global biological sciences, among others. 2 OWU r SPRING 2013 >> Leader’s Letter Chopping, steaming, and stir-frying their ways to healthy eating, OWU students are analyzing the nutritional content of meals they cook in Professor Chris Fink’s personal health class. In this issue of the OWU Magazine, Saharan Africa. in a global society. As always, I am struck we share stories of campus conversations We also share stories of alumni who by the quality of the work happening on and explorations regarding the topic have devoted significant portions of their campus among faculty and students, and by of food in the 21st century. We reflect lives to the issue of food, from an elected the quality of contributions being made by on a curriculum that includes a course leader whose public service has included alumni across the country and around the connection network devoted to “Food: leadership in fighting hunger, to individuals world in relation to this important global How Production and Consumption who volunteer their time and leadership to issue. To those whose stories are shared Shape Our Bodies, Our Cultures and provide food for those who otherwise are in this edition of the Magazine and to the Our Environment”; a Sagan National hungry, to a creative chef who partners with countless others whose lives are concerned Colloquium titled “Bite! Examining the sustainable agriculture to create an exquisite in one way or another with this great issue, Mutually Transformative Relationship dining experience. We introduce another thank you for exemplifying the longstanding Between People and Food”; and faculty aspect of the Healthy Bishop Initiative, in commitment of Ohio Wesleyan to an and student research across several this case a campus effort to encourage our education for leadership and service. disciplines that explore both the rich students to develop healthy dietary habits cultural traditions and the profound that will strengthen them for a lifetime of global challenges brought about by the leadership for which an Ohio Wesleyan presence and absence of food. You will education prepares them. note that Ohio Wesleyan faculty are Food frames both our greatest Rock Jones engaged in important research related to celebrations and our most significant President of Ohio Wesleyan University food and global climate change, poverty/ challenges.