Kitchen philosophers have been chewing on this debate for decades:

Are pizza and red sauce still considered Italian cuisine?

Or have they been part of this countrys culinary landscape for so long that theyre now thought of as basic American food fare?

What marks an ingredient, dish or meal as belonging to this culture or that?

And finally, just what is the relationship between food and national identity?

Dr. Donna Gabaccia will attempt to serve up an answer or two to all of the above when she discussesMaking Italian Food in the Atlantic Worldat 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 23, in the Mountainlair Gold Ballroom on WVU s Downtown Campus.

Gabaccia is the Rudolph J. Vecoli Professor of Immigration History at the University of Minnesota, and also directs that schools Immigration History and Research Center.

Her WVU visit is sponsored by the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences and the Committee for the Preservation of Italian-American History and Culture.

Gabaccia is a leading scholar of gender and immigration whose research focus on the Italian immigrant experience in the United States and Americas culinary history.

Shes the author of several books and publications includingImmigration and American Diversity,Italys Many Diasporas,We Are What We Eat: Ethnic Food and the Making of AmericansandFrom the Other Side: Women, Gender and Immigrant Life in the United States, 1820-1990.

For more information on her talk, contact Eberly College assistant dean Dr. Tina Levelle at tina.levelle@mail.wvu.edu or 304-293-4611.

For information on WVU s Italian Studies Program, contact Dr. Annastella Vester in the Department of Foreign Languages at annastella.vester@mail.wvu.edu or 304-293-5121, ext. 5502.