Food Rhetorics at #4C2026
- Kelli R. Gill
- 11 minutes ago
- 3 min read
As many rhetoric and composition scholars head to #4C26 next month, here’s a round-up of food-related research being presented this year. If you are presenting on food-related work and would like to add your own presentation to this list, please contact me at kellirgill[at]gmail.com.
If you would like your food-related presentation or resources shared on this site for those who will not be attending Cs in person, please contact Kelli. A conference recap with notes will be posted here post-Cs.
Workshops:
Feminist Workshop: Food as Intersectional Feminist Work, Resistance, Hope, and Community (All Day)
Wednesday, Mar 04, 2026 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM EST
Location: Atrium Ballroom D, Huntington Convention Center
Room Level: Atrium Floor 1
Session Code 2: W.2
Workshop Leaders: Jaclyn Fiscus-Cannaday, Consuelo Salas, Abby Dubisar (Co-Facilitator), Kelli R. Gill (Co-Facilitator)
Presenters: Aurora Matzke, Karen Tellez-Chaires, Jennifer Cognard Black, Melissa Goldthwaite, Dianna Winslow, Eileen Schell, Pritisha Shrestha, Ashley Beardsley, Jennifer Lin LeMesurier, Steven Alvarez, Cristina Hanganu-Breshch, Ronisha Browdy, Jainab Banu, Emilliya Mailyan, Nabila Hijazi
Description: The feminist workshop constellates intersectional feminist approaches to food pedagogy, research, and community partnerships. The workshop will be organized into three segments. The first will be a series of speakers. The second will be a Q&A panel. The third will be a roundtable discussion where all speakers join participants to workshop their works in progress.
Presentations & Panels:
Food Studies in Rhetoric and Writing: Taking Stock of Our Next Steps
Thursday, Mar 05, 2026 3:15 PM - 4:30 PM EST
Location: Room 203, Huntington Convention Center
Room Level: Atrium Floor 2
Session Code 2: D.6
Presenters: Eileen Schell, Abby Dubisar, Veronica House, Cori Brewster, Callie Kostelich
Description: This roundtable will take stock of scholarship and teaching in food rhetoric and writing and its connection to interdisciplinary food studies. Participants explore how engaging in food-related teaching, scholarship, and activism is particularly important in our kairotic and chaotic national and global moment of food insecurity, climate change, and threats of tariffs.
Assembling STEM and Multimodal Composition: Strategies for Juxtaposing Narrative, Foodoir, and Travel Writing in the Technical Writing Classroom
Friday, Mar 06, 2026 2:00 PM - 3:15 PM EST
Location: Room 7, Huntington Convention Center
Room Level: Concourse Level C3
Session Code 2: I.20
Speakers: Amelia Herb, Risa Gorelick, Elizabeth Martin, and Nathaniel T. Murray
Description: Explore innovative approaches to engage STEM students in writing and various types of multimodal production, using narratives and UX concepts to enhance communication skills and reveal student identity formation within technical writing classrooms.
Food for Thoughts (and Essays): Creative Nonfiction Standing Group Annual Business Meeting
Friday, Mar 06, 2026 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM EST
Location: Room 22, Huntington Convention Center
Room Level: Exhibit Hall Level C2
Session Code 2: FSIG.12
Presenter: Melissa Goldthwaite & Caucus Chairs Jenny Spinner and Heather Fester
Description: Come chat about strategies for writing and teaching creative nonfiction related to food. Our featured discussion leader will be Melissa Goldthwaite, who frequently teaches food writing as a professor of English, writing, and journalism at Saint Joseph's University. Goldthwaite is also the editor of numerous collections, including Good Eats: 32 Writers on Eating Ethically (2024).
Coming to the Table: Engaging Food Rhetorics in Composition and Professional Writing
Saturday, Mar 07, 2026 9:30 AM - 10:45 AM EST
Location: Atrium Ballroom D, Huntington Convention Center
Room Level: Atrium Floor 1
Session Code 2: K.3
Presenters: Jody Shipka, Kelli R. Gill, Zachary Beare, Ashley Beardsley, Melissa Stone, Erica Leigh
Description: This participatory roundtable brings together scholars in the field to reflect on the possibilities of engaging with food rhetorics, a growing area of research for scholars across multiple disciplines. While our primary focus is on food, the session will also be relevant to those interested in material rhetorics, pedagogical innovation, research methodologies, and issues of access and privilege.
Transforming FYW Curricula through Food and Writing: Community and Conversations
Saturday, Mar 07, 2026 1:15 PM - 1:45 PM EST
Location: Room 21, Huntington Convention Center
Room Level: Exhibit Hall Level C2
Session Code 2: MB.14
Speaker: Su Yin Khor
Description: This presentation shows how a writing program transformed from grammar-based pedagogies to transdisciplinary genre-based first-year writing courses to align with students’ diverse academic interests, such as food systems and social issues, in order to meet their needs in a transdisciplinary curriculum. These changes also served to create space for student identities, agency, and linguistic practices.
