The free Downtown Lecture Series kicks off on October 15th this year, with a focus on food and its connections to culture, health and environment. It’s a whole season of fascinating foodie talks to get you psyched about our favorite topic!

Held every Wednesday through November 12th at the Fox Theater, the talks are presented by UA faculty and cover everything from why some people are eating dirt on purpose to an anthropologist’s perspective on how we define ourselves by our daily food habits.

These events fill up really quick, so try to reserve a seat on their website beforehand. They’ll also be offering overflow seating at the TEP/UniSource building nearby where anyone can watch the talks streaming live.

The line up looks like this:

• “Changing Geographies of Food” with Dr. Diana Liverman, Co-Director of the Institute of the Environment at the UA
• “Tucson: City of Gastronomy, Hub for Food Diversity” with Dr. Gary Nabhan, the W.K. Kellogg Endowed Chair in Sustainable Food Systems based at the UA’s Southwest Center
• “We Eat What We Are” with Dr. Maribel Alvarez, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Associate Research Social Scientist with the UA’s Southwest Center
• “Edible Roman Empire” with Dr. Emma Blake, Associate Professor of Anthropology at the UA
• “Food for Pleasure, Vitality and Health” with Dr. Victoria Maizes, Professor of Medicine, Family Medicine and Public Health at the UA and Executive Director of the Center for Integrative Medicine