Presentation on "Food and Culture" in African American Communities - Mount Holyoke College

On Monday, March 7th, I was a part of a panel discussion at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts for their Food Series 2010-2011 talking about my 2006 book "Food Choice and Obesity in Black America: Creating a New Cultural Diet." I joined Dr. Psyche Williams-Forson in this panel discussion. We discussed how food, diet, and culture can address health epidemics such as obesity and diabetes among African Americans. Our panel discussion occurred on Monday evening.

This event was organized in the following format. Dr. James Harold (Director & Organizer of the event) introduced the entire panel of experts: Cristina I. Huebner Torres (Moderator), Dr. Psyche Williams-Forson and myself. All of us gave 10 minute presentations of our research related to Food and Culture. Of course, during my presentation, I had to turn up the energy and present my talk the way that I normally present -- "High Energy and Direct." Then we sat down in front of the auditorium audience of students and fielded questions.

All of the questions were challenging and thought-provoking. It was fun answering their questions because it made me think and express new ways to highlight the significance of culture to our food preferences.

In addition to our panel discussion, Dr. Williams-Forson and I participated in Student Leadership Seminar entitled, "Cultural Intelligence and Resourceful Leadership in African American Communities" earlier in the day and this event was very engaging with a select number of students.

Overall, the entire two days that I spent traveling (driving), presenting and meeting all the staff, faculty and students associated with Mount Holyoke College was a very enjoyable, enlightening, relaxing and intellectually-stimulating event. This was the first time that I had the chance to visit this part of the country and I loved it! I truly appreciated the invitation and the pleasure to get to meet new students and professionals!