Title: Writer

Location: Hadano, Japan

Education: B.A. in English Literature, University of Wisconsin-Madison; M.S. in Sociology and Community Development, Illinois State University

Expertise: Organic farming, organic gardening, food and culture, food and travel, women and food, farmers' markets, Japan, Japanese food, food preservation, fermentation

  • Columnist for The Japan Times- Instructor in food culture at Temple University Japan

Experience

Joan Bailey is a food writer currently living in Japan, where her work focuses on organic food, farmers' markets and farming. She has been published in Civil Eats, EatingWell, Modern Farmer, Tokyo Weekender and The Japan Times, among others.

She has been writing and researching food, culture and farming for over a decade. As a former farmer, avid organic gardener and university instructor, she brings a researcher’s curiosity and a journalist’s eye to every topic. She is passionate about sharing the stories of food, the people that produce it, and its relationship to the broader culture.

Joan is a lifelong food devotee who learned the connection between food, culture and community in her mother’s kitchen and garden. She has written for publications in the U.S., U.K. and Japan, the country she currently calls home.

As an instructor at Temple University Japan, Joan and her students explore the deep connections between food and culture from angles such as climate and geology, fine dining, immigration and migration, and defiance, among others, in her course, Eating Cultures. Each unit approaches food culture from a different angle, including Defiant Food, Primary Ingredients, Indigenous Food and Celebration Foods.

Joan is currently at work on a book about women working in the food industry in Japan, based on her popular column, “Women of Taste,” at The Japan Times.

EatingWell, aDotdash Meredith Brand, has been publishing award-winning journalism about food, nutrition and sustainability since 1990. Our mission is to share flavor-packed recipes from around the world, celebrating fresh ingredients and the farmers, artisans and chefs who bring them to our table. Through science-backed nutrition advice and smart stories about sustainability, we help readers live their best lives. Learn moreabout usand oureditorial process.