Education:

PhD (Human Nutrition), School of Dietetics and Human Nutrition, McGill University, Montreal, Canada

At the Centre for Indigenous Peoples’ Nutrition and Environment

MSc (Ethnobotany), Department of Anthropology, University of Kent at Canterbury, England

BSc (Biology), University of Guelph, Guelph, Canada

Research Interests:

Broadly, my research examines the social, cultural and environmental drivers of human nutrition, diet and food security. Much of my recent research examines the role of forests and wild foods in food security and nutrition of rural and Indigenous communities, primarily in Africa. My work contributes broadly to our understandings of the sustainability of food systems and diets around the world. At Penn State I hold a joint appointment in the Department of Geography and the African Studies Program, with a courtesy appointment in the Department of Anthropology. My dedication to policy-relevant transdisciplinary research, my capacity for synthesis and innovation across disciplines and my commitment to shared learning and respect for all people and communities I work with are the themes that tie together my research, teaching and service.

Much of my recent research has focused on how forests, landscape diversity and land use change contribute to human diet and nutrition. Most recently I have been examining how climate change, land use change, market access and policy change impact the food systems and diets of rural and Indigenous peoples around the world (Tanzania, Indonesia, Alaska).

I am interested in how the concept of healthy food environments, which has been widely explored in urban and higher income country settings, can be applied in rural African settings to understand dietary choice. In addition to availability, cost and accessibility, I am also interested in how social, cultural and political aspects of food environments shape dietary choice.

I uses both quantitative and qualitative methods, including participatory and community-engaged methods. I draw on multiple theoretical frameworks, including social-ecological systems, political ecology and food studies approaches to examine socio-cultural factors that mediate peoples’ relationship with and use of their environments to meet their food and dietary needs.

Much of my work is aimed at informing and improving food, nutrition and land use policy to support healthy diets and justice for rural and Indigenous communities. I have worked extensively with international agencies and policy fora, including the High-Level Panel of Experts to UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS, 2015-2017), FAO and CGIAR organizations (including Alliance for CIAT-Bioversity, CIFOR-ICRAF, The World Vegetable Center), UN Form on Forests (2017 and 2019), IUFRO (2013-2015) and IPCC (AR 6, 2022). I hold a PhD in Human Nutrition from McGill University, Canada and MSc in Ethnobiology from the Department of Anthropology, University of Kent, Canterbury, England.

• Biodiversity and Human Nutrition

• Diet, dietary patterns and dietary diversity

• Culture of Food and Nutrition / Anthropology of Food and Nutrition

• Food Environments and Food systems

• Ethnobotany, Ethnobiology and Wild Foods

• Agrobiodiversity, Forests, Landscapes, and Conservation for Food Security and Nutrition

• Ecosystems and Landscape level Approaches to Human and Ecosystem Health

• Biocultural Diversity and Adaptive role of Cultural Diversity

• Mediating role of knowledge in peoples’ utilization of natural resources for sustainable livelihoods and transmission of such knowledge

About me personally:

I am a settler Canadian. I grew up on Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee land covered by the Johnson-Butler Purchase and Williams Treaties; land that is now part of the Rouge Park in Canada. Some of my ancestors were recent immigrants from Britain, others were British Loyalists who moved to Canada in exchange for land that the Crown had acquired through the Crawford Purchases (an agreement with some Mississauga leaders that traded vast tracts of land (much of which was traditionally Algonquin land) in exchange for goods such as blankets, clothing, guns, and ammunition). 

I have spent much of my life living and working in other countries (Morocco, Indonesia, Tanzania, Kenya, England). I am married to a Moroccan and we have two kids. I love to be outside, to forage and cook and am enjoying learning what and where to forage in our current home in central Pennsylvania.