Embark on a delicious journey from farmer’s field to school classroom that celebrates how one country has re-imagined school lunch and food education. At the heart of Japan’s 2005 Food Education Law are the incredible people whose daily work nourishes the next generation’s relationship to food, the earth, and one another. Join documentary filmmaker Alexis Agliano Sanborn for the public premiere of this film. After the screening, Alexis will be joined in conversation with Yoriko Okamoto and Susan McCormac of JapanCultureNYC. Opening remarks will be given by Jennifer L. Pomeranz, Assistant Professor of Public Health Policy and Management at NYU.
Reception with sake courtesy of SOTO and bites courtesy of Bessou and Kokoro Care Packages to follow.
ALEXIS AGLIANO SANBORN
Alexis Agliano Sanborn is an independent researcher, food advocate, nature enthusiast, and an award-winning artist. With over twenty years’ experience studying Japanese culture, she directed/produced Nourishing Japan, a documentary short which explores food education and the Japanese school lunch system. Alexis also maintains the website Food Educational International which monitors developments of food education from around the world. Alexis previously served as NYC Program Coordinator of the Wa-Shokuiku Project, an after-school culinary exchange program inspired and informed by the educational philosophy, flavors, and foods of Japan. She received her Bachelor’s degree in East Asian Studies and Japanese from UC Santa Barbara (2008), a Master's in Regional Studies of East Asia from Harvard University (2013) and a Masters of Public Administration from New York University Wagner Graduate School of Public Service (2020). She lives in Washington Heights, New York City.
SUSAN MIYAGI MCCORMAC
With a white American father and an Okinawan mother, Susan Miyagi McCormac gave little regard to her Japanese heritage while growing up in a small town in North Carolina. She began studying Japanese at the age of thirty, finding it one of the most difficult and most fascinating things she’s ever done. Now completely obsessed with Japan, Susan visits the country as often as she can and tries to find the language and culture wherever she goes. She is the founder of JapanCultureNYC, a website that highlights all things Japanese in New York City and is the co-producer and co-host of The Big Root, a podcast about "everywhere Japaneseness." Follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at @japanculturenyc.
YORIKO OKAMOTO
Yoriko Okamoto is an M.A. candidate at New York University’s Food Studies Department. Her research interests include international food trends in New York City, gender and equality in the restaurant and food industry, and sustainability issues related to food waste. In addition to her academic activities, Yoriko has served as research support for Nourishing Japan, a documentary short about food education and school lunch in Japan. Yoriko is passionate about cross-cultural exchange through food and has hosted cooking classes, volunteered with organizations such as Wa-Shokuiku Project, and also worked with companies to help market Japanese food products for Japanese and non-Japanese people.
JENNIFER L. POMERANZ
Professor Jennifer Pomeranz is a public health lawyer who researches policy and legal options to address the food environment, obesity, products that cause public harm, and social injustice that lead to health disparities.
Prior to joining the NYU faculty, Professor Pomeranz was an Assistant Professor at the School of Public Health at Temple University and in the Center for Obesity Research and Education at Temple. She was previously the Director of Legal Initiatives at the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University. She has also authored numerous peer-reviewed and law review journal articles and a book, Food Law for Public Health, published by Oxford University Press in 2016.
Professor Pomeranz leads the Public Health Policy Research Lab and regularly teaches Public Health Law and Food Policy for Public Health.
