Kristin Hunt – författare

This book examines historical and contemporary activist alimentary performance with an eye toward, or perhaps a taste for, what these performance modes can reveal about changing relationships between the senses, truth, justice, and ethical action amid the post-truth era’s destabilization of shared notions of truth. This inquiry emerges in response to an urgent need to understand how multisensory models of knowledge, truth, and justice can be ethically employed to nurture a more just society. Alongside this goal is a drive to understand the ways in which these modes of performance are being co-opted by authoritarians, white supremacists, anti-science activists, and others to shore up injustice, promote misinformation, and anxiously guard existing systems of power and privilege. From white supremacist milk-drinking performances to liberatory uses of culinary performance as pedagogy, Kristin Hunt analyzes both disturbing and inspiring alimentary events to understand how performers, cooks, scholars, artists, and activists can effectively cultivate models of alimentary performance that center plenitude, joy, and justice while pushing back against models rooted in anxiety, diminishment, and cruelty. The text should be of interest for students in performance studies, contemporary theatre, and theatre history as well as courses in food studies and popular culture.

This book examines historical and contemporary activist alimentary performance with an eye toward, or perhaps a taste for, what these performance modes can reveal about changing relationships between the senses, truth, justice, and ethical action amid the post-truth era’s destabilization of shared notions of truth. This inquiry emerges in response to an urgent need to understand how multisensory models of knowledge, truth, and justice can be ethically employed to nurture a more just society. Alongside this goal is a drive to understand the ways in which these modes of performance are being co-opted by authoritarians, white supremacists, anti-science activists, and others to shore up injustice, promote misinformation, and anxiously guard existing systems of power and privilege. From white supremacist milk-drinking performances to liberatory uses of culinary performance as pedagogy, Kristin Hunt analyzes both disturbing and inspiring alimentary events to understand how performers, cooks, scholars, artists, and activists can effectively cultivate models of alimentary performance that center plenitude, joy, and justice while pushing back against models rooted in anxiety, diminishment, and cruelty. The text should be of interest for students in performance studies, contemporary theatre, and theatre history as well as courses in food studies and popular culture.

At the intersection of performance studies and food studies, this pioneering collection explores food as more than just a subject of study—it’s a medium of artistic expression, communication, and embodied knowledge. Drawing from a decade of collaborative work through the American Society for Theatre Research working group (2014–2023), this volume brings together diverse voices examining how food shapes and reflects our understanding of identity, culture, and sustainability in an increasingly complex world.The collection stands out for its innovative approach to "thinking with food," moving beyond traditional academic analysis to engage with food as an active participant in performance and meaning‑making. Contributors explore how food practices inform our relationships with place, community, and environment, while addressing urgent questions about global foodways and survival. Through a combination of scholarly research and artistic exploration, these essays reveal how food serves as both a lens for understanding contemporary challenges and a tool for imagining new possibilities in performance, sustainability, and cultural exchange. This interdisciplinary work offers vital insights for scholars, artists, and practitioners interested in the intersection of performance, food studies, cultural theory, and environmental sustainability, providing fresh perspectives on how food‑based knowledge and practice can inform our response to global challenges.

A pea soda. An apple balloon. A cotton candy picnic. A magical mole. These are just a handful of examples of mimetic cuisine, a diverse set of culinary practices in which chefs and artists treat food as a means of representation. As theatricalised fine dining and the use of food in theatrical situations both grow in popularity, Alimentary Performances traces the origins and implications of food as a mimetic medium, used to imitate, represent, and assume a role in both theatrical and broader performance situations. Kristin Hunt's rich and wide-ranging account of food's growing representational stakes asks:What culinary approaches to mimesis can tell us about enduring philosophical debates around knowledge and authenticityHow the dramaturgy of food within theatres connects with the developing role of theatrical cuisine in restaurant settingsWays in which these turns toward culinary mimeticism engender new histories, advance new epistemologies, and enable new modes of multisensory spectatorship and participation.This is an essential study for anyone interested in the intersections between food, theatre, and performance, from fine dining to fan culture and celebrity chefs to the drama of the cookbook.

A pea soda. An apple balloon. A cotton candy picnic. A magical mole. These are just a handful of examples of mimetic cuisine, a diverse set of culinary practices in which chefs and artists treat food as a means of representation. As theatricalised fine dining and the use of food in theatrical situations both grow in popularity, Alimentary Performances traces the origins and implications of food as a mimetic medium, used to imitate, represent, and assume a role in both theatrical and broader performance situations. Kristin Hunt's rich and wide-ranging account of food's growing representational stakes asks:What culinary approaches to mimesis can tell us about enduring philosophical debates around knowledge and authenticityHow the dramaturgy of food within theatres connects with the developing role of theatrical cuisine in restaurant settingsWays in which these turns toward culinary mimeticism engender new histories, advance new epistemologies, and enable new modes of multisensory spectatorship and participation.This is an essential study for anyone interested in the intersections between food, theatre, and performance, from fine dining to fan culture and celebrity chefs to the drama of the cookbook.

Drama and Education provides a practical, comprehensive guide to drama as a tool for teaching and learning. It is among the first practical drama and performance textbooks that address brain-based, neuroscientific research, making the argument that creativity is necessary in our lives, that embodied learning is natural and essential, and that contextual learning helps us find our place in society in relationship to other peoples and cultures. As well as a historical and theoretical overview of the field, it provides rationale and techniques for several specific methodologies: linear drama, process-oriented drama, drama for social justice, and performance art.Each approach is supplemented with sample lesson plans, activities, ideas for differentiation, and extensive bibliographies. The topics are discussed from five key angles:• Historical and theoretical foundations• Curricular applications• Practical toolkits for a range of classrooms and learning environments• Different strategies for lesson plans• Extension options for longer workshops.Alongside these core methods, the integration of other innovative forms—from performance art to Theatre of the Oppressed—into drama-based learning is explored, as well as the pragmatic concerns such as assessment, planning, and advocacy for arts learning and arts education partnerships. Drama and Education is the comprehensive textbook for teachers and students on Applied Theatre and Theatre and Education courses.

Drama and Education provides a practical, comprehensive guide to drama as a tool for teaching and learning. It is among the first practical drama and performance textbooks that address brain-based, neuroscientific research, making the argument that creativity is necessary in our lives, that embodied learning is natural and essential, and that contextual learning helps us find our place in society in relationship to other peoples and cultures. As well as a historical and theoretical overview of the field, it provides rationale and techniques for several specific methodologies: linear drama, process-oriented drama, drama for social justice, and performance art.Each approach is supplemented with sample lesson plans, activities, ideas for differentiation, and extensive bibliographies. The topics are discussed from five key angles:• Historical and theoretical foundations• Curricular applications• Practical toolkits for a range of classrooms and learning environments• Different strategies for lesson plans• Extension options for longer workshops.Alongside these core methods, the integration of other innovative forms—from performance art to Theatre of the Oppressed—into drama-based learning is explored, as well as the pragmatic concerns such as assessment, planning, and advocacy for arts learning and arts education partnerships. Drama and Education is the comprehensive textbook for teachers and students on Applied Theatre and Theatre and Education courses.