About Me

About me

I am a PhD Candidate in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Michigan (defense scheduled Summer 2026), and a member of the Culinary Mind Center for the Philosophy of Food.

My research focuses on the philosophy of food, especially how the metaphysics of food shapes questions of sustainability, food security, culture, and moral agency. In my teaching and community work I explore how conceptual frameworks around food influence what we value and how we live.

I serve on the Public Market Advisory Commission (PMAC) for the Ann Arbor Farmers Market, and have worked farmers market stalls vending for Two Tracks Acres, Raindance Flower Farm, and Green Things Farm Collective.

I am currently developing What Makes Food Local?, an interactive public philosophy exhibit for the 2026 Ann Arbor Local Food Festival. The project invites festival-goers to reflect on the many meanings of “local food” and to ask what kind of localness they value when participating in local food systems.

In Summer 2025, I was the Doctoral Food Systems Intern at Growing Hope Urban Farm in Ypsilanti, Michigan.

A Los Angeles native, I did my undergraduate degree at Loyola Marymount University with honors in both Philosophy and Psychology.

I live in Ann Arbor, Michigan with my two cats, Magnus and Tiny Cat.

Contact

emhardy@umich.edu
emmarosiehardy@gmail.com

Upcoming Events

What Makes Food Local? Public Philosophy Exhibit
Ann Arbor Local Food Festival
August 27th, 2026 
Ann Arbor Farmers Market

Recent Talks

Accidental Ethnography at the Farmers Market
Ethnographilosophy Workshop
June 2026, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany

Cultivating Attention: Food Practices and Spiritual Formation
2026 AFHVS/ASFS Conference
June 2026, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT

We Are What We Eat: Alice Waters, Slow Food, and Moral Agency
Culinary Mind / Gastronomica 
Lecture in Philosophy of Food
March 12, 2026, 5pm est
Online, Recording Here!

Competing Local Food Values
2025 AFHVS/ASFS Conference
June 2025, Oregon State, Corvallis, Oregon