Umbra Sponsors Guest Lecture on Terroir
Sponsored by the Umbra Institute, University of Texas: San Antonio Professor Kolleen Guy presented “Eating Landscape,” a talk about the intersection of typical products and marketing, in the frescoed hall of the Uguccione Ranieri di Sorbello Foundation on Wednesday evening.
The public lecture dealt with the marketing technique of terroir, a French word that follows the idea that foods’ tastes have an intimate connection with their place of origin. Guy described and questioned the European laws that spring from this idea and protect traditional foods and products from being produced in other countries. She noted better-known products, such as Italy’s Parmesan cheese produced only in the Parma region or France’s sparkling wine produced only in the Champagne region; however, Guy focused on the products that had not made the cut.
Umbra Institute Food Studies Program coordinator Zachary Nowak organized Guy’s guest lecture, the first of the semester. Attended by many of Nowak’s students, the event was a success, he said.
“Kolleen’s lecture reinforced themes we’ve talked about in the classroom,” Nowak said. “Terroir is a hot topic both for the local food movement and for marketing typical products outside of where they are well-known.”
Umbra’s next guest lecture will be “Green Eating for a Healthy Future” with the Florentine professor Nick Daikin Elliott. The lecture will be at 5 p.m. April 17 in Umbra’s Via Bartolo classroom 3, with an aperitivo to follow.