College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
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The Nutrition and Food Sciences department has always offered courses that emphasize hands-on experiences in making meals, a legacy of the long-standing Home Economics curriculum. Over the past decade, faculty and graduate students have combined research and teaching in order to update this curriculum to address modern practices. This led to centering the lab courses around the concept of food agency or empowering people to make meaningful choices about what and how they eat.

At the same time, a growing awareness of the connections between climate change and food systems began to shape conversations. These discussions were influenced by global frameworks such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the growing commitment to a concept of sustainable diets. Both faculty and students became increasingly interested in how food practices could respond to environmental challenges and began seeking a more integrated, hands-on approach.

This is when the Climate Kitchen began to take shape, emerging through the efforts of a broad community of faculty, graduate students, and partners. Amy Trubek, along with her (then graduate students) Sarra Talib and Amy Finley, as well as Cynthia Belliveau, former Dean of Continuing and Distance Education, played key roles in advancing the idea of a working kitchen lab. It was during this period that the term “Climate Kitchen,” coined by Sarra Talib, came to define this evolving work and the concept took on a clearer, more cohesive, and concrete form.

From this, the Climate Kitchen emerged as a distinct initiative and today it serves as a hub for experimentation and collaboration. Through teaching, research, and community engagement, the Climate Kitchen explores how culinary practice can support climate resilience, reduce environmental impacts, and reimagine the future of food.

The Climate Kitchen is a place to figure out what to do next, with emphasis on anticipating the future. And to do so while keeping in mind there must be more opportunities for mitigating climate change and promoting individual and planetary health. 

A kitchen is more than a room for storing and making food. It is also a place of transformation and collaboration. The Climate Kitchen reimagines the function and purpose of a kitchen to help serve future generations of cooks of all types.

Meet the Core Team

Amy B. Trubek - Director

Dr. Trubek is Professor of Nutrition and Food Sciences. She oversees integrating the design of the Climate Kitchen with research and pedagogical goals around food and climate change.
photo of Caitlin Morgan in the Climate Kitchen

Caitlin Morgan - Associate Director

Caitlin has a Ph.D. in Food Systems, with work focusing on the intersection of environmental and social sustainability. She oversees the long-term research and daily operations of the Climate Kitchen.
photo of Cynthia Belliveau

Cynthia Belliveau - Senior Strategic Advisor

The former Dean of Continuing and Distance Education and Research Faculty Emerita in Nutrition and Food Sciences, Cynthia advises the team on techniques for emergent research and pedagogy to address food and climate change.
Portrait of Sarra Talib

Sarra Talib - Sustainability Tenets Coordinator

Sarra is a transdisciplinary social scientist exploring systems-based approaches to designing waste out of the food system. She advises the team on current innovations in technology, policy and practice.

Climate Kitchen Affiliates

Amy Finley

Amy has a passion for food and an interest in the relationship between cooking and food systems. She works on the ongoing research around the role of cooking and food agency.
Alec Adams headshot

Alec Adams - Assistant Dean of Administration (Grossman School of Business)

Alec is the Assistant Dean of Administration and Finance at the Grossman School of Business. He advises the team on developing relevant kitchen spaces and other operational matters.
Portrait of Melanie Narciso

Melanie Narciso

Melanie is a food and nutrition anthropologist. She is an advocate for reconnecting society with their food particularly through sensorial and embodied ways. She is researching the role of a Climate Kitchen sponsored-course in fostering sustainable food practices.

Advisory Board

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We are grateful for the leadership of our project advisory board, a group of campus leaders at UVM who provide oversight and guidance to the ever-evolving work of the Climate Kitchen.  

Partnerships and Donors

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The Climate Kitchen is generously funded by the Food Systems Research Institute at the University of Vermont.

The success of the Climate Kitchen is based on collaborative relationships and partnerships.  

On campus, we work with 

  • The Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences  

  • The Osher Center for Integrative Health  

  • The Horticulture Farm 

  • UVM Dining 

 

Interested in collaborating with the Climate Kitchen? Reach out to Amy Trubek, atrubek@uvm.edu

 

Interns

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The Climate Kitchen's work benefits greatly from our undergraduate and graduate student interns. 

  • Cora Pohlman, Engineering undergrad (Spring ’24) — Foodcycler use and results
  • Andrea Rebimbas, NFS undergrad (Summer ’24 Hopp Award, Fall ’24) — Summer Institute support, testing food safety of FoodCycler for up cycling scraps
  • Brian Griffith, FS graduate student through FS Synergy Grant (Fall ’24) — Recipe development and collaboration with UVM dining on first collaborative Waterman meal
  • Jonas Camera, FS undergrad (Spring ’25) — Recipe testing/design
  • Maggie Nebzydoski, NFS undergrad (Fall ’25) — Recipe testing
  • Lily George, NFS undergrad (Fall ’25) — Recipe testing
  • Ava Andlauer, NFS undergrad (Spring ’26) — Recipe testing/design and nutrition analysis
  • Eva Rook, FS undergrad (Spring ’26) — Recipe testing/design 
  • Hailey Sanphy, RSENR graduate student (Spring '26) — Food scrap valorization 
  • Lydia Wright, NFS undergrad (Summer ’26) — Summer Institute report 

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