ciao —

I’m Vivian, a young twenty-something currently living in a silly little town called Bra. I have a bachelor’s degree in magazine journalism from Syracuse University, and I’m currently pursuing a master’s degree in gastronomy: world food cultures and mobility at the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Italy. I’m currently researching to complete a thesis on a synthesis of food pedagogy and outdoor education as a means to achieve ecological public health and food sovereignty.

By chance, and very fortuantely, I was born and raised in Texas, and am lucky enough to miss it while I’m here in Italy. I wasn’t too sure I’d be staying here after my master’s, but I recently visited Sicily, and boy, is it calling my name.

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I’m not sure what exactly I would call myself, but I like to write about things that fascinate me, and I’m fascinated by most things in life. My current fasination revolves around when, where, why, and how we interact with and eat our non-human neighbors — in other words, ecology and ethnogastronomy. Perhaps, in my free time, I might call myself a poet and photographer.

My interests include umami, fermentation, mixing drinks for other people, and learning anything about everything and everything about anything. I love to dream and muse, giggle and wonder, ogle and sit with the world and listen and see her. Often, I think of collections I could collect if I was actually good at collecting things — a mental collection of collections, if you will.

This here is a collection of my collected works. I hope, soon, there will be more to come.

Upstate Unearthed

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