“But is It Authentic?” Culinary Tourism, Sensory Learning, and Teaching on the Road

Please join the Department of Communication and Culture Colloquium (Triple C) to hear Dr. Dawn Johnston and Lisa Stowe’s talk entitled But is It Authentic: Culinary Tourism, Sensory Learning, and Teaching on the Road. This presentation explores the teaching and learning experience of a University of Calgary short-term travel study program (Food Culture in Spain). A combination of secondary research and primary data collected through in-depth interviews with former program participants, as well as student reflective essays written in the field, shows that the sensory experience with food is an important pedagogical tool. Focusing on questions of intentionality, sensory learning, and the meaning of authenticity, we explore the complications inherent in a formal education program built around culinary tourism. We hope to demonstrate that by the end of the three-week program in Spain, students identify as informed culinary tourists who recognize the complexity of authenticity and understand how sensory experiences can inspire and motivate both a bodily and an intellectual understanding of food and their relationship with it. Dr. Dawn Johnston is a senior instructor in the Department of Communication and Culture. Her research and teaching interests include food culture, critical media studies, and gender and sexuality in popular culture. Lisa Stowe is an instructor in the Department of Communication and Culture, and a doctoral candidate in Adult Learning in the Werklund School of Education at the University of Calgary. Her current research focuses on formal, informal, and transformative learning in study abroad programs. comcul.ucalgary.ca/butisitauthentic ABOUT TRIPLE C – The Triple C Speakers Series is a monthly colloquium hosted by the Department of Communication and Culture presenting new research and special interest topics in the Social Sciences and Humanities to the University of Calgary community. The events are free and followed by a reception.

Location:

Social Sciences Building Rm 217

Speaker:

Dr. Dawn Johnston and Lisa Stowe

More information at http://www.ucalgary.ca/events/calendar/it-authentic-culinary-tourism-sensory-learning-and-teaching-road