Le Biancane geothermal park.Photo: Yvone De Zeeuw Food Studies features the voices of volunteer student bloggers from a variety of different food- and agriculture-related programs at universities around the world. You can explore the full series here. Pipelines carry steam directly to consumers from the power plant.Vapor escapes through mountains of white rocks. Steam billows out of a huge cauldron in the distance. The smell of sulfur stings my nose, and the ground i s hot to the touch. It's easy to imagine I'm on another planet, or in some science fiction novel. But where I am is Tuscany, the …

Mangalica pigs in Hungary. Food Studies features the voices of volunteer student bloggers from a variety of different food- and agriculture-related programs at universities around the world. You can explore the full series here. Over the past few months I've visited food producers, large and small, all over Europe. I've been behind the scenes on a rice plantation, a coffee roastery, an apple farm, an artisan dairy, a buffalo butcher, and at least a dozen wineries. I've tasted some delicious food, but what makes these visits so special is getting to hear how and why the operation exists. In other …

Aroma training.Photo: Isabelle Pinzauti Food Studies features the voices of 11 volunteer student bloggers from a variety of different food- and agriculture-related programs at universities around the world. You can explore the full series here. Wine tasting gets a bad rap. We all know the classic stereotype of the arrogant wine snob swirling and sniffing his glass. Roald Dahl captures it perfectly with the voice of Richard Pratt in his short story Taste: "A prudent wine," he would say, "rather diffident and evasive, but quite prudent." Or, "A good-humored wine, benevolent and cheerful -- slightly obscene, perhaps, but none the …

Sense of smell class.Photo: Yvonne de Zeeuw Food Studies features the voices of 11 volunteer student bloggers from a variety of different food- and agriculture-related programs at universities around the world. You can explore the full series here. I haven't been hungry in months. I can barely even remember what it feels like. This is because in May I began a masters program at the University of Gastronomic Sciences (UNISG) in Northern Italy. Since then, I've done little except think, read, write, and talk about food. But mostly I've been eating. UNISG, located in the region of Piemonte, is also …