Gigi Berardi to talk food, farming Tuesday at Village Books

Gigi Berardi, a professor of environmental studies at Western Washington University, will raise provocative ideas about food and farms during a WWU Connections talk at Village Books in Bellingham on Feb. 8. Berardi's talk, titled "Resilient Farms & Nourishing Foods," will take place at noon.

The title of Berardi's presentation is taken from her blog on foods and food politics. In her talk, Berardi will offer some provocative ideas on the decline of kitchen literacy, the rise of the Trader Joe's Nation, the wisdom of Nourishing Traditions and the power of Slow Food's mantra of Good-Clean-Fair. Books discussed include Ann Vileisis' "Kitchen Literacy," colleague Carlo Petrini's "Slow Food Nation" and Sandor Katz's "The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved."

Berardi teaches food and farm courses, as well as geography. Since coming to Western, she has continued her research and writing in food studies and the arts and has received teaching and diversity honors. For three years, she served as the interim director of the Institute for Global and Community Resilience (now known as the Resilience Institute), where she currently leads the Farm Resilience Project. Gigi offers summer study tours in Washington state and Europe in biodynamic farming and nourishing food traditions.