Democracy in the Kitchen: John Dewey’s Education through Cooking and Eating

Cynthia Belliveau

As Dean of University of Vermont Division of Continuing Education, Dr. Cynthia Belliveau directs programming for pre-college students, college students, and professional adults both on campus, internationally and online. Dr. Belliveau is a faculty member the College of Medicine and in the Department of Nutrition and Food Science. Her research is in food systems primarily focused on pedagogical applications. She is the Co-Director of the John Dewey Kitchen Institute and teaches undergraduate and graduate students about food systems in the UVM Foods Lab.

Lisa Heldke

Lisa Heldke is professor of philosophy, and gender, women and sexuality studies, at Gustavus Adolphus College. She has been doing philosophy of food for more than thirty years now, beginning with her first published paper, “Recipes for Theory Making.” Her most recent publication is a book, coauthored with Ray Boisvert, entitled Philosophers at Table: On Food and Being Human. She is also the author of Exotic Appetites: Ruminations of a Food Adventurer, and co-editor of several anthologies, including Cooking, Eating, and Thinking: Transformative Philosophies of Food. Her ongoing interest and engagement in the philosophy of John Dewey includes several essays that explore the significance of Dewey’s use of cookery in his philosophy of education. An avid bread baker, she built a mud oven in her back yard.