Organising Committee Profiles
Anke Klitzing
Dr Anke Klitzing (she/her) lectures on food and culture, literature and media (Gastronomy and Food Studies) at the Technological University Dublin. She holds a PhD in Literature, Food Studies and Irish Studies from TU Dublin, a Postgraduate Certificate in University Learning and Teaching (TU Dublin), an MA in Food Culture and Communication from the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Italy and a BA (Hons) in English Literature and Sociology from UCD (Ireland). Besides academic publications, she has written on food, literature and society for Irish, German and Italian publications. Anke serves on the organising committee of the Dublin Gastronomy Symposium and the Food and Drink as… conference series; as editor-in-chief of the literary food magazine Stirring Words, editor of the Journal of Franco-Irish Studies, production editor of the European Journal of Food, Drink, and Society. She is on the board of the TU Dublin Centre for Irish Studies and member of the Association for Franco-Irish Studies. Her monograph Reading Food in Literature, Film and Other Imaginative Texts: Gastrocriticism will be published with Routledge in 2026.
Brian Murphy
Dr Brian J. Murphy lectures in the School of Tourism and Hospitality Management at the Technological University Dublin. He has broad gastronomic research interests but is currently focused on the role that place, story and heritage play in food and drink product engagement. He is keen to encourage and develop transdisciplinary links across a range of disparate research areas. A founding committee member of the Dublin Gastronomy Symposium, Brian has published and presented widely on various research topics including the role of “place and story” in contemporary drink culture and on how food and drink locations communicate and engage with different audiences.
Diarmuid Cawley
Diarmuid Cawley lectures at TU Dublin. He holds an MA in Anthropology of Food from SOAS in the University of London and a BA in Culinary Arts from TU Dublin. A former chef and sommelier, he lectures on all things food and wine related. Other areas of interest have included the language used in the global movement of food and wine; Gender and sexism in wine culture; Food security in conflict zones; Food heritage, terroir, and PDOs; Food in science fiction; and the influence of nutrition and time on contemporary food consumption. His ongoing PhD research focuses on the History of Wine Writing in Ireland, 1958 – 2008. He also writes and publishes poetry and other bits and pieces.
Dorothy Cashman
Dorothy Cashman is an independent researcher whose research interests include the history of the recipe in Ireland, and the configuration of national identity as it intersects with Irish food history. Following her undergraduate degree in English and Philosophy at UCD, she worked for Aer Lingus in Flight Services as cabin crew for thirty years before attending TU Dublin, where she first completed an MSc in Culinary Innovation and Food Product Development, later being awarded a doctorate in 2016 for her research on Irish culinary manuscripts. Dorothy is the co-editor with Máirtín Mac con Iomaire of the award-winning publication Irish Food History: A Companion.
Eamon Maher
Eamon Maher is a lecturer in the School of Tourism and Hospitality Management and Joint Principal Investigator (with Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire) of the Centre for Irish Studies in TU Dublin. He founded and acted as Director of the National Centre for Franco-Irish Studies (NCFIS) from 2005-2025, and served as President of its offshoot, AFIS (Association of Franco-Irish Studies), from 2005-2020.
His most recent monograph, which is forthcoming in 2026, is titled The Prophetic Voice: Jean Sulivan’s Ongoing Relevance in France and Ireland.
Eamon is General Editor of the highly successful Irish Studies series, Reimagining Ireland, and Studies in Franco-Irish Relations, both with Peter Lang Oxford. He has edited and co-edited numerous books in these series and is a regular contributor to The Irish Times.
Elaine Mahon
Dr Elaine Mahon is a lecturer in the School of Culinary Arts and Food Technology and a founding member of the TU Dublin Centre for Irish Studies. She has a wide range of research interests within gastronomy, particularly in menus, diplomacy, food history, culture and identity. A regular media contributor, she also has a strong interest in education. She is the School’s Learning, Teaching & Assessment Affiliate and in 2025, was nominated for the TU Dublin Excellence in Research Supervision Award. Elaine is a trustee of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery where she coordinates the Young Chefs programme. She serves on the organising committees of the Dublin Gastronomy Symposium and the ‘Food and Drink As…’ conference series. Before taking up her academic role, she worked as a chef for ten years, and, in a previous career, held posts at the European Commission in Brussels and Spain. She is a board member of the Association of Franco-Irish Studies and co-editor of the Journal of Franco-Irish Studies. She became a member of Les Dames d'Escoffier in 2023, and in 2025 was invited to join the Advisory Board of the Food Studies Research Network. She is currently preparing the monograph based on her PhD research, The Minister Requests the Pleasure: Establishing Protocols for Irish State Hospitality, 1922-1963, for publication with Peter Lang. For more see here.
John D. Mulcahy
JDr John D Mulcahy is an independent gastronomy tourism researcher, activist, advisor, academic and consumer who draws on a diverse skillset from his experience in industry, public service, and academia. Originally qualified as a hotel manager, John focused on the operational facets of the international hospitality industry for twenty years. Then John utilized that experience and knowledge for two more decades as a senior public servant with Fáilte Ireland, where he founded the Irish Food Champions. Subsequently, John gained a PhD in 2020 based on his food tourism work in Ireland, received the World Food Travel Association Lifetime Achievement Award, and advocates for a wider understanding of the role of food ‘in’ tourism. He is currently compiling a compendium focusing on the food and beverages of the island of Ireland, aiming to publish it as a book. More at LinkedIn and Orcid.
Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire
Dr Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire is a senior lecturer in the School of Culinary Arts and Food Technology at Technological University Dublin, co-founder and chair of the biennial Dublin Gastronomy Symposium and a former trustee of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery. He is chair of the Masters in Gastronomy and Food Studies in TU Dublin, the first such programme in Ireland. He is co-editor with Eamon Maher of ‘Tickling the Palate’: Gastronomy in Irish Literature and Culture (Peter Lang: 2014), and with Rhona Richman Kenneally on ‘The Food Issue’ of The Canadian Journal of Irish Studies (2018), and in 2021, Máirtín guest edited a special issue of Folk Life on Irish food ways. In 2018, he presented an eight-part television series for TG4 called ‘Blasta’ celebrating Ireland’s food heritage. Along with Michelle Share and Dorothy Cashman, he co-edits the European Journal of Food Drink and Society. He is co-editor with Dorothy of Irish Food History: A Companion (Royal Irish Academy; EUt+ Academic Press, 2024) which was awarded the best culinary history book in the world for 2024. In 2025, he was awarded his second PhD for a thesis titled ‘Championing Food Studies within the Field of Irish Studies: An Serendipitous Autoethnographic Journey’.
Mathieu Belledent
Mathieu Belledent is full-time PhD student at the Technological University Dublin where he was awarded a research scholarship from the School of Culinary Arts and Food Technology. He has an MA in Gastronomy and Food Studies from TU Dublin and also holds an undergraduate diploma in Restaurant and Hotel Management. Mathieu is currently a board member of the Centre for Irish Studies in TU Dublin. He has over two decades of practical experience within the food industry as a professional chef. As a French native he has a keen interest in the food history from the southern regions of France; in particular, traditional Provençal cuisine. His PhD research investigates the influence of Provençal cuisine on French haute cuisine, based on a structured reading of Escoffier’s Le Guide Culinaire (1903).