News/Events

Johanna Mendelson Forman is a leading voice in the emerging movement of social gastronomy. She visited WDI and the University of Michigan in March to discuss how food can promote social good. She also leads the gastrodiplomacy programming for the U.S. State Department-funded project “Livelihoods Innovation through Food Entrepreneurship,” or LIFE project, implemented by a consortium, which includes: Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), IDEMA, The Stimson Center and WDI. The LIFE project aims to develop sustainable livelihoods in the food sector for Syrian refugees, other refugee groups, and their host communities in Turkey. While at WDI, Mendelson Forman, a distinguished fellow at the Stimson Center where she heads the Food Security Program, was interviewed by Kristin Babbie Kelterborn, senior project manager at WDI.