By Mike Mather
Augusta Halle was spending part of her summer on a research project in the Bahamas when she and a friend decided to explore the entire island of Eleuthera from the seats of battered beach cruisers.
They had no way to carry enough food to keep them pedaling for the full day, so the University of Virginia student found a piece of cardboard, painted “Got Snacks?” on it, and affixed it to her backpack.
“My friend and I, we love biking, and we love eating, so those were like our two loves combined,” Halle, now a second-year student in the McIntire School of Commerce, said. “It was really incredible to see the spectrum of offerings and to have the conversations.”
While some Bahamians offered commercial snacks, others presented native foods connected to their island culture. Halle realized that, in many places, culture and food are inseparable.
“People welcomed us into their homes and wanted us to stay,” she recalled. “It was incredible to get a glimpse of the cultural aspects through food, and how food offers a lens into so many other aspects of life.”
She decided to replicate that research in America – not with a single day of pedaling, but 30 days, from coast to coast.
Source : virginia.edu