“The food we consume, sell and produce should follow three key principles of being good, clean and fair,” she said. “My program will examine how those principles apply to food practices and traditions across different cultures.” 

Speredakos earned her bachelor’s degree in health and human biology at Brown, a concentration that “on paper, doesn’t sound like it would tie to food anthropology,” she said. But at Brown, she was encouraged to build connections across disciplines that might not have intersected otherwise.

“There’s so much freedom in the Open Curriculum,” Speredakos said. “It took some effort to really make the degree my own, but there’s no way I would have been able to do that without the systems that Brown has in place.” 

As a first-year student, Speredakos enrolled in a course called the Archaeology and Anthropology of Eating and Drinking, taught by Professor of Archaeology and Modern Greek Studies Yannis Hamilakis. The course’s impact was twofold: It fascinated Speredakos, confirming her interest. But it also nurtured that interest, validating the idea that food can be rigorously studied beyond nutrition, as a cultural force. 

She carried those ideas out of the classroom and into the vineyards. Over two summers, Speredakos worked on an organic farm in Tuscany, learning the demanding work of viticulture, vegetable cultivation and farm-to-table cooking. The next year, she pivoted to the commercial side of the industry, working at an auction house in London, where she studied how rare wines are valued, marketed and collected. 

Speredakos spent her junior year in the United Kingdom as a visiting student at Oxford University, where she studied biology, archaeology and anthropology and was first author on an upcoming research paper on ancient parasitic infections. She also joined the Critical Food Studies Network, a club that convened researchers across varying fields of study for guest lectures, discussion and experiences related to food culture. 

Back at Brown for her senior year, Speredakos said her academic and extracurricular interests came full circle in Let’s Eat, Italy! Italian History and Culture through Food, a course led by Professor of Italian Studies Massimo Riva. The course covered the Slow Food movement and the history of food and drink in Italian culture, going back centuries. 

“I was applying to my Fulbright as I took that class, and it gave me so much information to work with,” she said. “It got me really excited about the potential of participating in the program.” 

As a Fulbright scholar, Speredakos is particularly interested in investigating how climate change and over-tourism are reshaping historic wine-producing regions and what steps can be taken to preserve both environmental and cultural heritage. She’s also excited by the prospect of studying at an entire university — rather than a single course or department — dedicated to what she loves most. 

“Whether it’s food marketing or anthropology or gastronomic science… it will be cool to use food as the lens through which I look at all these different paths I could go down,” Speredakos said. “I’ll have the opportunity to make it my own in a whole new way.” 

Growing up, food was often a way of connecting with family, she noted. Among her favorite dishes is her Italian grandmother’s minestrone soup, a recipe now carried on by her mother. Though she said she’d be hard-pressed to find a soup that could compete with her grandmother’s, Speredakos is looking forward to learning about Italy’s food culture from the local communities who have stewarded it for millennia. 

“I wanted to be in a place where I felt that I could really take the time to engage with the people,” Speredakos said. “I’m excited to integrate and make the most of my experience, in whatever way that means.” 

When her time as a Fulbright scholar ends, Speredakos hopes to continue working at the intersection of food, wine and sustainability. She is interested in gaining additional hands-on experience in vineyards during harvest season, pursuing industry certifications and potentially continuing her studies through graduate work in anthropology or business.

“I want to work in a position where I feel like I’m making change, where I’m preserving these critical areas, where I’m abiding by the Slow Food movement in everything I do,” Speredakos said. “I want to take the education that I received at Brown and my Fulbright and do something good with it.”