Mallory Cerkleski (she/her) is a doctoral candidate in History at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, Italy. She holds an M.A. in Food Innovation and Management from the University of Gastronomic Sciences and dual B.A. degrees in Sustainable Food Systems and Political Science from Guilford College. Her doctoral project consists of a comparative history of the lived experiences of communist food systems in Cuba and Kerala using oral history and archival methodologies. 

Mallory's research on food justice and sovereignty has been published in the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development and the Journal of Gastronomic Sciences. She also authored the essay “Resolver and Rebusque: The State of Cuban Land and Food Sovereignty” in the book Food Sovereignty and Land Grabbing. She is a board member of the Research Network for Postsocialist Cultural Studies (SOYUZ) and the Graduate Association for Food Studies and leads the “Culinary Chronicles” project, which explores cultural heritage through oral histories using food as a tool and lens. 

Her extensive fieldwork includes projects in Cuba, India, Malawi, and the U.S., and she has presented her research at various international conferences. Mallory documents her findings and thoughts on Instagram at @savoringtheages.