Maya Hey is a cross-disciplinary researcher, food-maker, and educator, combining her backgrounds in nutrition, gastronomy, and movement to investigate ways that engage the everyday eater. New to Montreal, Maya is a doctoral candidate in the Communications Department at Concordia University as a Faculty of Arts and Science Fellow and a Concordia University Public Scholar (2018-2019). Her current research investigates the relationship between humans and microbes by way of fermented foods, using feminist theories and discourses of contamination to better understand discriminating tastes and practices.

She is co-founder of Food, Feminism, and Fermentation, author of the experimental cookbook EAT M.E., and researcher at the Milieux Institute for Arts, Culture, and Technology. Prior, she has conducted various research projects related to food: on a post-Fukushima food system, on Japanese ferments with the Nordic Food Lab, and on the antioxidant scavenging power of polyphenols in grapefruits at the University of Notre Dame. She completed her master’s degree in Food Culture and Communications at the University of Gastronomic Sciences and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in dietetics and biochemistry.