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French Colloque “French and American Perspectives on Food and Health”
This summit was held the 5th of December and brought together French and American experts and researchers from different academic disciplines as well as professional chefs, and government officials for a transatlantic perspective on this most elemental, though hardly simple, activity every human being must perform: feeding ourselves. It was inspired by an innovative three-year research collaboration, begun in 2009, between the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and École des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS). The program, 21st Century Cuisine, Nutrition and Genetics in France and the U.S., is supported by the French Embassy through the Partner University Fund (PUF), a public-private partnership between the Government of France and individual American donors.
This research program between UCLA and EHESS will be presented by Hannah Landecker, Ph.D., Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and the UCLA Center for Society and Genetics.
This transatlantic collaboration creates an innovative forum in which social scientists, chefs and biomedical professionals can work in tandem to understand how our nutritive strategies connect to body functionality, including longevity, aging, strength, intellectual capacities and the prevention of pathologies. With help from the Partner University Fund, these specialists are able to share knowledge and work together to advance our understanding of these subjects.
Our relationship with food is extremely complex. When it is in balance, eating nourishes us and provides balance and strength to life and the basis for good health. When it is out of sync, it can kill. The factors that influence what we consume and under what circumstances are intricately connected. They include culture, psychology, economics, education, metabolism, legislation, genetics, taste, geography and motivation. Unraveling this mystery requires specialists in many disciplines working in concert if the obesity pandemic is to be stemmed.
Video : French and American Perspectives on Food and Health
programme of the colloque: French and American Perspectives on Food and Health