An Interview with Lucy Dunn
What is/was the focus of your interests in Food Studies? If you completed an internship, where was it and what did it entail?
Throughout my years in the Food studies program I have been able to be in very different classes, I was able to expand my knowledge of food and find my interests along the way. I specifically interested in the communications around food. How food is targeted at certain audiences, how food is marketed, how the nutritional value of a product can be masked behind a fun and interesting label. One of the biggest questions in the food world today is how we have so much food and enough to feed everyone in the world and yet there are millions of people hungry? This whole question really drove me to the internship I had this summer, It was with Rethink Food NYC. Rethink is a Non-profit organization in Brooklyn, New York that takes unused food restaurants and corporate offices and makes it into new nutritional meals that we can then donate to homeless shelters, food banks, etc.
What did/do you enjoy most about your experience with the Food Studies program?
I think what I enjoyed most about my experience with the Food Studies program is that my classes are very different. My classes have taught me so much about food that I never really knew or thought of. Another thing that I have enjoyed is that every one of my professors and advisors have been extremely helpful and supportive of decisions I have made, classes I have decided to take, and internship that I have accepted.
How did your Food Studies classes experiences/degree/internship prepare you to work in the broad field of Food Studies?
With this Food Studies degree I believe that my professors and everyone in this program have prepared me to join in conversations. Understand a wide range of things that are present in the food world and be able to join in on a conversation and give opinions and suggestions. Many topics in the food world are debatable, like many things, but having broad knowledge in so many aspects of the food world has prepared for a job in the field of Food Studies.
What’s next for you or what are you up to now?
I am going to finish my last year at Syracuse, graduate with a degree in Food Studies and a minor in Public Communications and hopefully be leaving Syracuse with a job and enough skills and confidence to make a difference in my field.
Any words of wisdom to those entering the program?
When I started this program I had so little knowledge on what classes I was even taking, but that is okay. You have options in this program to really pinpoint the classes that you personally are interested in, and they are so willing to have you minor or double major in any kind of field you are interested in. Overall, just have an open mind about everything, some classes may not be your favorite and some you may love but you are always going to learn something, always going to get something out of each course.