Mallory Cerkleski

Biography

Mallory Cerkleski (she/her) is a doctoral candidate in History at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, Italy. She holds an M.A. in Social and Cultural Innovation for Food Systems (with a thesis written in History) from the University of Gastronomic Sciences, and dual B.A. degrees in Sustainable Food Systems and Political Science from Guilford College. Using oral history and archival sources, her doctoral research examines the history of food rationing in Kerala, India, tracing how infrastructures of food provisioning shaped everyday life, political consciousness, and domestic labor throughout the 20th century.

In fall 2024, she taught Italian Food and Wine History as an adjunct professor at the University of Padova, and from February to April 2025 was a visiting scholar at the Center for Development Studies in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. She is currently a visiting scholar at the South Asia Institute, University of Heidelberg. Beyond her research, she serves on the board of the Graduate Association for Food Studies, is co-editor of the Graduate Journal of Food Studies, and organizes and edits the Culinary Chronicles project/book.

Mallory shares her research and reflections on Instagram @savoringtheages and at savoringtheages.owlstown.net.