Perhaps you could say it all began when, deep in the darkness of writing my dissertation, I desperately needed a project to distract me and to remind me of the joys that can come from history and writing. Perhaps it started when I was looking for excuses to have friends over on a more regular basis for dinner parties. In reality, it probably started when I was seven, and I would sit and devour books on the American presidents – more fascinated by what was cooking in the White House kitchens than what was cooking in the cabinet room.

The American Table launched on October 31, 2011 after years of kicking ideas around in my head. It has been my culinary play-pen where I could tease out the interesting nuances of American cookery and food traditions, and their impact on broader society.

First and fore-most, I consider myself a public historian with a focus on history, cultural studies, and performance. I hold a PhD from the University of Minnesota and taught courses in performance theory, public history, and cultural studies at a liberal arts college in Saint Paul. In 2015, I was appointed a curator at the Harry Ransom Center in Austin, Texas – a major international humanities research center, archive, library, and museum. I also serve on the faculty at The University of Texas at Austin.

I’ve lived all over the country. I was born and raised in Southwest Ohio, at the cross-roads of Eastern, Midwestern and Southern cultures. I spent several summers in Central Maine and Eastern Tennessee, lived in Washington D.C. for a brief period of time, called Minneapolis home for over a decade, and now reside in Austin, Texas.