About Christine & Resources
Discover fab flavors, explore cool places, and savor learning with this funky professor!
About Christine Rai:
Christine Rai is a college professor in the Washington, D.C. area with a passion for food studies and experiential learning. A food nerd, she loves learning more in her kitchen, garden, and travels. Above all, Christine enjoys sharing adventures with her husband and two daughters. She collaborates with area businesses and organizations to design and provide dynamic tours and talks on food, culture, folklore, and more.
Christine is available for speaking, teaching, and leading travel experiences. Fill out the contact form to get in touch.
Hungry for more? Keep reading below.
Taste
One of Christine’s central passions is food: tasting, cooking, and growing. She enjoys cooking vegan and non-vegan dishes inspired by her travels and visits to international groceries. Christine has been working on and off for a few years on developing Sunny Sauce, her own hot sauce made from peppers and herbs grown in her garden.
An early incarnation of Christine’s potager, planted with herbs, vegetables, flowers, and fruit.
Travel
Christine’s love for travel was sparked at an early age by family travels across the US in a motorhome and her older brother’s entrancing tales of travel to Hong Kong. She enjoys traveling domestically with her family while seeking authentic experiences. In 2016 Christine traveled to Rome, Italy for a study abroad leader training and to France for a short term study abroad experience with a group of 15 from her college. She is currently planning a food and culture themed trip to Italy in January 2020 that will pair with a cultural competency course.
At a cafe with study abroad students in the Marais neighborhood of Paris
Teach
Teaching is a key part of Christine’s identity; she has been an educator for 20 years and has taught preschool, middle school, high school, college, professional development, and modeling. She utilizes a student-centered, active learning model, guided by principles of Universal Design. Christine infuses experiential learning opportunities in all her classes, including service learning, field trips, and cooking demonstrations. She currently is an English faculty member at Frederick Community College.
Christine’s food-themed English 101 class on a field trip to Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture in NY.
Media
Read more about what Christine’s been up to:
“Crisafulli’s Hosts ‘Book Tasting’ to Explore French Cheeses”
“A Living History: Lavender Then and Now Tells a Tantalizing Tale”
Recap: 6th Annual Omid Foundation Gala in Washington, DC
“FCC Group Donates Nearly 900 Items to Rescue Mission”
“FCC Class Pairs Literature and Film with Experiential Learning”
Awards & Honors
Thanks so much for the support and recognition <blushes>:
*Meatless Monday official blogger, 2018
*Graduating class commencement presenter, Frederick Community College, 2017
*Dr. Carol Eaton Innovation Award, Frederick Community College, 2016
*Outstanding Part Time Faculty Award, Montgomery College, 2014
*S.O.S. Creativity and Innovation Award, Montgomery College, 2012
Collaboration
Businesses and organizations I have had the pleasure of working with:
*Alliance Francaise de Frederick
*Institute for Learning in Retirement at Frederick Community College
*Montgomery County Recreation’s Senior Outdoor Adventures in Recreation
Publications
Check out my published work:
Contributor, Atlas Obscura/Gastro Obscura.
Memberships
Montgomery Countryside Alliance
Resources
An evolving list to expand your knowledge.
(Image: gfycat)
Want to learn more about the issues and topics in my blog? Explore the categories below.
Begin here: The Fundamentals
Good and Cheap: Eat Well on $4 a Day, Leanne Brown
Brown’s cookbook focuses on healthy and easy recipes that fit the SNAP (AKA food stamps) daily budget. Also available online as a free PDF. Click here to purchase Good and Cheap: Eat Well on $4/Day
This documentary claims that the obesity crisis is mainly caused by processed foods and a common ingredient in them: sugar. Click here to purchase Fed Up
This documentary shows how the people who grow and harvest much of our food are marginalized and deserve so much more. Click here to purchase Food Chains
“A Guerilla Gardener in South Central LA”
This TED Talk outlines Ron Finley’s vision for a thriving community through food gardening.
The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, Michael Pollan
This book traces the origins of 4 types of modern American meals, and in the process schools us on the industrial food system. Click here to purchase The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
This documentary highlights the pervasiveness of food insecurity in the United States and offers concrete solutions for addressing it. Click here to purchase A Place at the Table
Salt, Sugar, Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us, Michael Moss
This book reveals the diabolical engineering of processed foods and why we can’t stop eating them. Click here to purchase Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us
“Teach Every Child About Food”
This award-winning TED Talk makes Chef Jamie Oliver’s case for bringing nutrition and cooking education to schools and communities.
Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food, Dan Barber
This book envisions what we should be eating in the future in a fascinating global journey. Click here to purchase The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food
Taste: Food, Food Studies, & Agriculture
This 4 part Netflix documentary series traces methods of cooking food and how cooking makes us human. Also available in book form. Click here to purchase the book Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation
Gastronomica: The Journal of Critical Food Studies
Interdisciplinary journal about all things food. Click here to purchase a one year subscription to Gastronomica
International organization dedicated to preserving and savoring traditional foods, ingredients, and their preparations. Click here to purchase Slow Food Nation: Why our Food Should be Good, Clean, and Fair
The Good Food Revolution: Growing Healthy Food, People, and Communities
Will Allen’s inspiring story of building an urban farm in Minneapolis to bring jobs, fresh food, and hope to a community in need. Click here to purchase The Good Food Revolution: Growing Healthy Food, People, and Communities
Check out my YouTube channel for food videos, including originals by me like Jacques Pepin’s visit to the Smithsonian in 2017. Please like and subscribe while you’re there.
Travel: Savoring our World
Travel as Political Act, Rick Steves
This book empowers us to be more than a mere tourist when traveling. Click here to purchase Travel as a Political Act (Rick Steves)
This guidebook series has always been my go-to for affordable and authentic travel to a range of destinations. You can also check out their fun compendiums for inspiration. Click here to purchase Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2018
Check out my YouTube channel for original travel content by moi, including all sorts of frolicking in France, Italy, and more. Please like and subscribe while you’re there.
Teach: Let’s Learn
Paulo Friere was a Brazilian educator who believed that education should be a tool of transformation for learners and our world. Click here to purchase Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 30th Anniversary Edition
Gastronomy Master’s Program at Boston University
This program of study was founded by Julia Child and Jacques Pepin.
United Nations University for Peace
Institution devoted to peace and justice studies.
Music video featuring a Dead Prez member that is part of a anti-obesity curriculum.
bell hooks
Radical educator sounds off in the humanist tradition of Friere, daring to teach in a way that honors students and the transformative process of learning. Click here to purchase Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom (Paperback) – Common
Check out my YouTube channel playlists for my favorite videos to use in teaching and for professional development. Please like and subscribe while you’re there.
(Image: Daily Mirror)