Meet Dr. Joseph Campisi: Conversations on food and Florence

By Alice Adams

Dr. Campisi is a returning visitor to the Marist Italy campus. Back in Poughkeepsie, he is an Assistant Professor in Marist’s Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies. He joined the faculty in 2002, and joined the tenured faculty in 2005. He first taught in the FFE program in the fall 2015 semester, and has returned several times, at times bringing his children and his wife, also a Marist faculty member. This year, he is teaching Writing for College, an introductory course for first-year students intended to teach writing at the collegiate level.

The son of Italian-Canadian immigrants, Dr. Campisi has memories of summers in Sicily and a long history with the language, food, and culture. I spoke with him about his course design and the Italian way of life.

How would you describe your mission as an educator?

I don’t see my mission doctrinally. And what I mean by that is that my mission as a teacher is not to get students to believe a certain thing or to think a certain way. I’m interested, say, in the methods of thinking. My mission is to get students to learn how to think properly, how to think critically, how to think independently, so whatever they’re confronted with, they’ll have the logical skill set.

In terms of content, it’s to get students interested and enthusiastic about my field… I do have majors that I teach, but a lot of my students are just doing the class for core credit. So how do I get these students interested in philosophy, not that they’re going to major in it, but just interested in the discipline? I just want them to be interested in approaching new things.

What’s the design of this year’s Writing for College course?

I do it as a food writing class. The main thing in writing for college is to help students get prepared to learn how to write a college-level research paper. That’s the core of the class. But I work in the philosophy of food, so the research paper is going to be food-related, something related either to the history of food or psychology or economics, whatever the case may be. And the readings are food-related. The aesthetics of food, or the history of food in Italy. Apart from the research paper, they write blogs. Once a week, I’ll give them a prompt. They’ll have the research paper on one side, and then we’ll do funner stuff. And this way too, they can get in the city a little bit.

What is your advice for students who are adjusting to their first year of college and life in a new city?

One of the things you have to learn is to be able to manage yourself in terms of time. Students need to take ownership of their education, being able to have the willpower to get their work and assignments done. In Florence it’s way more difficult, because the Poughkeepsie campus is kind of a bubble, but you’re trying to take ownership of your education in a place that offers you opportunities to learn, and also completely distracts you as well. For the students here, it’s knowing when you have to get work done… but also being able to take advantage of the museums, the street life, and all that.

What’s your advice for being able to take in Italian culture?

Learning Italian makes things way better. If you’re in the historic center of Florence, they all speak English, whatever. But as soon as you leave, the English capacity goes way down, and then the interactions are going to be much more superficial, because you can’t speak Italian and they don’t speak English. I think having some language facility, really, really, really helps.

What would be your recommendations to explore food within the Tuscan tradition?

There’s the Bistecca Fiorentina, the steak Florentine. You may want to try getting steak Florentine at some point. There’s the lampredotto, meals made from intestines. If you eat meat, try those. There are traditional Tuscan desserts. There’s this thing called schiacciata con l’uva; it’s these focaccia breads and it has these little, tiny grapes on them. It’s seasonal. Warning: they’re not seedless grapes. It’s worth a try.

There’s the Central Market. It’s very touristy, so it’s a lot of packaged foods like balsamic vinegars and oils. You can do your groceries in the Mercato di Sant’Ambrogio without a problem. There are butchers in there, there’s a fish guy in there, there’s a bakery in there. Outside, it’s all fruits and vegetables. It’s very seasonal.

I would recommend just getting out of the historic center because then you’ll find restaurants that take a little bit more care of the food. If you get to residential neighborhoods, it could be good.

What would you say are the most significant things you’ve come to learn in your time in Florence?

You have this nice ability to set up a certain routine. It makes it more personable, where you go to a certain coffee shop, you go to a certain market, you go to a certain restaurant, and they kind of get to know you. That’s the thing I like about Florence.

What’s your ideal day in Florence?

Yesterday, I went to the cafe, I went to the market, I had class, I had coffee on the way home. It was an ideal day.

This interview has been edited for length and/or clarity.