David Szanto is a researcher, artist, and teacher, taking an experimental approach to gastronomy through design, ecology, and performance. He aims to better understand the systemic, interactive relationships among humans, food, and the processes that make our gastronomic worlds. Ultimately, he would like us to stop treating our food as an object, please.
Past work includes: Ecstasies of Influence, an improvisational-ecological un-concert; À la recherche du temps gagné, a words-and-images meditation on food, memory, and death; the Eco-Gastronomy Project, an international knowledge exchange initiative; The ‘Main’ Dish, A Tranche of Berlin, and Dissertation Dinner, meal performances about foodscapes; Displace (Mediations of Sensation), an immersive multi-sensory performance-installation; The Gastronome in You and Where Où Firma, performances dealing with fermentation, belonging, and humanity; and Orchestrer la perte/Perpetual Demotion, a Prix Numix–winning food-and-robotics installation developed in collaboration with Simon Laroche.
David has taught at George Brown College, l'Université d'Ottawa, William Angliss Institute, Quest University Canada, Concordia University, the University of Gastronomic Sciences, and l’Université du Québec à Montréal. He served as Vice President of the Canadian Association for Food Studies for four years and is currently co-Editor-in-Chief of its peer-reviewed journal, Canadian Food Studies/La Revue canadienne des études sur l’alimentation. David is a regular columnist for the magazine, Montréal en Santé, and is host-producer of the food-focused podcast, Making a Meal of It.
In March 2015, David completed his PhD with
a dissertation titled Performing Gastronomy: An Ecosophic Engagement with the Liveliness of Food.
Poke around in the fridge for more details, or view David's portfolio for the quicker version.