Food and Memory: Practices, Narratives, and Afterlives of the Past

International Conference: “Food and Memory: Practices, Narratives, and Afterlives of the Past”
University of Gastronomic Sciences, Pollenzo | 17–18 September 2026

How do we remember through food? And what can cooking, eating, flavours, hunger, and conviviality tell us about the ways in which the past continues to inhabit the present?

On 17 and 18 September 2026, the University of Gastronomic Sciences will host the international conference Food and Memory: Practices, Narratives, and Afterlives of the Past, bringing together scholars from different disciplines and leading universities (Yale, Sorbonne, Durham, Duke, Coimbra, and California) to explore food as a privileged site of memory.

Programme

Day 1 – Thursday, September 17

8:30 – Registration (Aula Magna)
9:00 – Welcome address by President and Rector Prof. Nicola Perullo and conference organizers Prof. Gabriele Proglio and Dr. Claudia Sbuttoni (Aula Magna)

9:30–11:00 – Panel 1 (Aula Magna)
11:15–12:15 – Keynote speaker: Alessandro Portelli (Aula Magna)
12:30–13:30 – Lunch (Tavole Accademiche)

13:45–15:15 – Panel 2 (Aula Magna)
15:30–17:00 – Panel 3 (Aula Magna)

Day 2 – Friday, September 18

9:00–10:30 – Panel 4 (Aula Magna) and Panel 5 (Aula 9)

10:45–11:45 – Keynote speaker: Marianne Hirsch (Aula Magna)

12:00–13:00 – Lunch (Tavole Accademiche)

13:15–14:45 – Panel 6 (Aula Magna) and Panel 7 (Aula 9)
15:00 – Closing remarks (Aula Magna)