Fulbright/Casten Family Foundation Award at the University of Gastronomic Sciences

This Fulbright award provides two opportunities for U.S. citizens to attend the Master in World Food Studies at the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo, Italy. The Master's program provides an advanced introduction to the world's food cultures and systems with an emphasis on issues of food efficiency and food sovereignty. The program intends to train students to become holistic gastronomes who can understand and critically reflect upon food culture and history; food anthropology and ecology; and sensory and aesthetic features linked to local food production, gastronomies, and their attached sociabilities. The aim is to provide students with the means to become professionals who will be cultural mediators in food production, distribution, marketing/communication, as well as in the educational and food culture and systems. The program uses the case of Italian food culture and system and the gastronomies of the world to enlighten global issues related to culture, efficiency, and food justice inspired by the fundamental principles of the Slow Food International movement (Good, Clean, and Fair). The Master's includes a full program of practical training including study trips and internships, with 10 months of class lectures, workshops, and three field trips in Italy, Europe, and outside Europe, and an approximately 14-week internship or final research project to be pursued in Italy. The program is conducted in English and runs for 13 months from October 2026 to November 2027.