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Ratatouille sos still 2
2024

Cornell Cinema Ithaca, NY

with

Hetvi Doshi

Doctoral candidate, Cornell University

Ratatouille— Food nostalgia and the "Ratatouille" moment

Cornell doctoral candidate Hetvi Doshi uses the film Ratatouille as a jumping off point for exploring the scientific connection of food, nostalgia, and sensory autobiographical memory. Her research is centered around what she describes as "the Ratatouille Moment,” recalling the moment in the film when the food critic has an experience of food-related nostalgia that transports him back to his childhood.

The event begins with an interactive presentation on nostalgia that will include student researchers Walker Strauss, Halle Jakubowicz, and Ivy Kimberly Jiang, who lead an activity for audience members. Next, Hetvi Doshi shares research on why we feel nostalgia for foods from her perspective as an affective computational neuroscientist. Presentations also highlight the work of the Affect and Cognition Lab (ACLAB) at Cornell, its community engagement focus, and the details of the study the research team is currently working on.

Cornell Cinema Ithaca, NY

Film Synopsis

A rat and a 5-star gourmet restaurant come together for the ultimate fish-out-of-water tale.

    In Pixar Animation Studios' RATATOUILLE, a rat named Remy dreams of becoming a great chef despite his family's wishes and the obvious problem of being a rat in a decidedly rodent-phobic profession. When fate places Remy in the city of Paris, he finds himself ideally situated beneath a restaurant made famous by his culinary hero, Auguste Gusteau. Despite the apparent dangers of being an unwanted visitor in the kitchen at one of Paris' most exclusive restaurants, Remy forms an unlikely partnership with Linguini, the garbage boy, who inadvertently discovers Remy's amazing talents. They strike a deal, ultimately setting into motion a hilarious and exciting chain of extraordinary events that turns the culinary world of Paris upside down.

    Photo credit: Buena Vista

    About the Speaker

    Hetvi Doshi is a doctoral candidate at Cornell University who researches food-related nostalgia and its influence on homeostatic mechanisms as part of the Affect and Cognition Lab (ACLAB) at Cornell. Using behavioral studies, fMRI neuroimaging, and machine learning, Doshi’s research explores how the brain evaluates images of food on different dimensions as well as the role of hunger and metabolism in this evaluation. In her Community Nostalgia Initiative (CNI), Doshi aims to communicate the findings of her research to the broader Ithaca community. Previous CNI events include an art exhibition at the Big Red Barn showcasing art from the Cornell Community centered around the theme of food nostalgia.