Presenter(s): Ashley Kim − Biology, Environmental Science
Faculty Mentor(s): Barbara Mossberg
Oral Session 3O
Research Area: Humanities
Food sustains all human life. It allows the human body to function in its most basic form, but can also bring joy with the right combination of ingredients. In Dr. Barbara Mossberg’s “Helpful Banana Bread”, she explores the role of nature in food through cooking, but also the role of humans in the food cycle of nature itself. By allowing the audience to share her recipes, experiences in the kitchen, and memories of nature, she gives readers new insight to the seemingly simple acts of cooking and eating. All life on Earth works together to maintain the complex environment that sustains human life itself. Bringing the experiences in this book to an audience in a non-traditional format (in this case, food) will help them share in the moments that the author came to her realizations about the relationship of nature and food. In turn, the audience has the opportunity to come to these realizations themselves. Since the author describes her memories of eating and cooking in such vivid detail, just reading these experiences make the audience feel as if they were experiencing it themselves. Physically being able to taste and smell the same foods she enjoys in the same manner she suggests elevates the audience’s experience of the book and the world around them. This translation is much more immersive than solely reading traditional literature because it allows the audience to have the experiences as the author, allowing them to understand the human role and impact on nature through food.