Stanford Humanities Center
Hannah Smith-Drelich is a PhD candidate in English literature at Stanford University. Her research explores the intersection of food and literature in early modern England. She received her BA from Williams College, an MA in Food Studies from NYU, and an MA in English from McGill.
SHC Project
Altered Appetites: Food and Metaphor in Early Modern England
Smith-Drelich’s dissertation, “Altered Appetites: Food and Metaphor in Early Modern England,” argues that appetite was a crucial and, in many cases, existential concept in early modern discourse. Her work situates appetite as a metaphoric nexus of early modern experience, drawing from fields that include the history of science and medicine, the study of classical philosophy and its reception in the Renaissance, food history, manuscript and early print recipe traditions, and records of trade, agriculture, and food production.
