ONLINE EVENT

“Food security is essential for a nation’s security. Throughout history, we have seen conflict disrupt food supplies and, even more troubling, turn food into a weapon of war.” - Megan Konar & Michael J Puma, The New York Times

Considered one the world’s bread baskets, Ukraine along with Russia accounts for 29 percent of global exports of wheat, along with 19 percent of global corn and 80 percent of global sunflower oil exports, according to the New York Times. The conflict in the Black Sea Region has battered an already weakened global food supply, with reverberations felt most acutely in the nation’s poorest regions.

Join us online as an international panel of academics, researchers, and chef activists discuss how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has caused a crisis of inflated food prices, global inequity, and hunger, and how chefs in New York are organizing to support their communities abroad.

This program is free but registration is required in order to receive the zoom link.

BRIAN KUNS

Brian Kuns is an associate senior lecturer in the Department of Urban and Rural Development at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. With a PhD in Human Geography, Brian researches agrarian change in Europe. His PhD research concerned post-communist agrarian change in Ukraine, studying both large agri-corporations and small-scale, household farms. While he continues to monitor and study developments with respect to agrarian change in Eastern Europe, he is also currently working on projects dealing with labor relations and structural change in Swedish and Nordic agriculture.

OLESIA LEW

Olesia Lew is the Chef at Veselka, New York’s iconic Ukrainian restaurant, where she created their education program and continues to teach master classes in Varenyky/Pierogi making. With her degree in Cultural Anthropology, she has written about the importance of food to cultural identity, particularly among Ukrainians and the diaspora. She is an active member in the New York’s large and vibrant Ukrainian community.

DIANA MINCYTE

Diana Mincyte is an associate professor of sociology at the City University of New York-City Tech. Her research focuses on environmental dimensions of food systems both in and outside of the Baltic states. She published over 30 articles and book chapters, co-authored a book, and co-edited eight special issues and volumes. Her research was supported by fellowships at the Rachel Carson Center at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, Germany; the Agrarian Studies Program at Yale University; and European and Mediterranean Studies at New York University; and was a visiting fellow in European Studies at Harvard University.

FABIO PARESCOLI

Fabio Parasecoli is a Professor of Food Studies in the Nutrition and Food Studies Department at New York University. His research explores the cultural politics of food, particularly in media, design, and heritage. Recent books include Feasting Our Eyes: Food, Film, and Cultural Citizenship in the US (2016, co-authored with Laura Lindenfeld), Knowing Where It Comes From: Labeling Traditional Foods to Compete in a Global Market (2017), Food (2019), and Global Brooklyn: Designing Food Experiences in World Cities (2021, coedited with Mateusz Halawa. His new book, Gastronativism: Food, Identity, Politics will be published by Columbia University Press in June 2022.

MICHAEL PUMA

Dr. Puma is currently Director of the Center for Climate Systems Research, part of Columbia University’s Earth Institute, and co-located with the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. The center has over 30 scientists and staff working closely with NASA on earth science and climate impacts research. Dr. Puma’s research is focused on global food security, hydroclimatology, and human migration. He is especially interested in understanding the sensitivity of complex, socioeconomic systems to non-predictable extremes including megadroughts, volcanic eruptions, wars, and trade restrictions.

PIERRE THIAM

Pierre Thiam is a chef, author, and social activist best known for bringing West African cuisine to the global fine dining world. He is the Executive Chef of the award-winning restaurant Nok by Alara in Lagos, Nigeria and the Signature Chef of the five-star Pullman Hotel in Dakar, Senegal. He is also the executive chef and co-owner of Teranga, a fast-casual food chain from New York City. His foods company Yolélé advocates for smallholder farmers in the Sahel by opening new markets for crops grown in Africa; its signature product, Yolélé Fonio, is found in Whole Foods, Amazon, Target, Thrive Market, and other retailers across America.