Kayla Osborne
Volunteer State Community College is hosting a Zoom meeting to discuss the history of American cuisine.
“One area in which Americans have lived up to the “melting pot” idea is with our food. In this talk, we’ll examine how imperialism, slavery, immigration, technology, politics and popular culture have shaped a uniquely American cuisine,” according to the Vol State event page.
Melanie Cochran, Assistant Professor of History, will be leading the zoom meeting.
“With this talk, I hope to just give people an overview of America’s food history. It is an interesting story, in my opinion. Our food history is such a great representation of a melding of the various cultures that make America unique. I feel like if we learn to accept people of other cultures the way more fully, we’ve always appreciated their food, we can work towards a better America for everyone,” said Cochran
Cochran, herself, owns a restaurant in Nashville, Tennessee.
“Owning a restaurant was not always a goal for me, but it was not influenced by my job as a history professor. My husband and I opened our restaurant several years before I started teaching. We are passionate about eating in ways that respect our environment and animals, so we wanted to open a restaurant where people can eat in those ways. I felt like it was a little contribution we could make to move our society towards a more conscious and less cruel and destructive way of eating. My favorite part of owning a restaurant is getting to know so many people in our community. Eating has always been something that brings people together and it is really nice to see people come together in our restaurant,” said Cochran.
Cochran is hoping to schedule more zoom meetings regarding food culture in the future.
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