Welcoming the “Off The Menu” Research Group

L. Sasha Gora, a cul­tural histo­rian and writ­er, has been a capti­vating force in the “Green Hour.” Her re­search on In­dige­nous res­tau­rants in Can­ada, lead­ing to the up­com­ing book “Cul­inary Claims,” earned her the 2021 Ba­varian Amer­ican Academy Dis­serta­tion Award. As the leader of the “Off the Menu” Jun­ior re­search group at the Uni­versi­ty of Augsburg, she ex­plores culi­nary envi­ron­men­tal hu­mani­ties.

Gora’s en­gag­ing writ­ing, fea­tured in out­lets like Gas­tro­nomi­ca and VICE, co­vers topics from wild game poli­tics to femi­nism and potato chips. A sought-after speaker, she has pre­sent­ed at re­nowned insti­tu­tions worldwide. Gora is not only shap­ing dis­course but also ac­tively con­trib­uting to the aca­demic com­muni­ty, serv­ing on the boards of the Asso­cia­tion for the Study of Food And Socie­ty and the Edito­rial Col­lec­tive of Ca­nadi­an Food Stud­ies. With humor and in­sight, L. Sasha Gora con­tinues to make waves in the inter­sec­tion of food, cul­ture, and the envi­ron­ment.

Follow­ing the Dis­cussion, the mem­bers of the IDK "Um(Welt)Denken" were eager­ly antic­ipat­ing the intro­duc­tion of the “Off the Menu” Jun­ior Re­search Group, led L. Sasha Gora, and were thrilled to meet the much-antici­pated mem­bers, in­clud­ing Ph.D. stu­dents Pe­nelope Vo­linia and Philine Schil­ler. From dis­cussions about the food indus­try to ex­plor­ing indig­enous prac­tices and even delv­ing into the world of oys­ters, the initial con­tact with the team ex­ceed­ed ex­pecta­tions. Their di­verse per­spec­tives on food make them a fan­tastic addi­tion, and the IDK eager­ly is look­ing for­ward to hear­ing more from this highly prom­ising re­search group.

Text: Lucia Medici, Felix Burzler