After coming to DU in 2021, Dr. Trishula Patel has served as an associate professor of African and South Asian history. Patel is well informed on these topics, receiving a Masters of the Arts in World History from the University of Pennsylvania, and a Ph.D in African History from Georgetown University. This year, she released her first book following the history of Indians in Rhodesia.
In 2023, one of her essays was included in the American Historical Association’s online magazine, “Perspectives on History.” The essay traced the origins of the peri peri pepper, exploring how its spread through the Atlantic and Indian Oceans influenced the global history of Nandos, a South African chain restaurant. Her current research focuses on the history of Indian food in southern Africa.
During the summer, Patel led seven DU history students in a transformative internship where they compared food’s economic and social impact on the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean. The idea for this internship came from a course Patel co-led in the winter of 2025 with associate professor Dr. Kimberly Jones.
The course was a part of the required sequence for history majors, fulfilling the issues in comparative history credit.
Additionally, during the winter, associate professor of History Dr. Bill Philpott and fellow history professor Dr. Carol Helstosky offered a class on food history which introduced students to comparative methods of historical research and writing. Until recently, the two spaces of food and history were considered separate from one another.
Patel however, highlighted how overlapping the topic of food and histories were, which solidified an interest in creating an internship merging the two topics.
“The goal of this was to create a trans-national history project. I want to connect economic and cultural trades between the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean,” said Patel.
Throughout the internship, students researched and wrote histories of three foods, ingredients or cuisines. As a group, they created a physical and digital exhibition mapping the transfer of these foods across both oceanic spaces to reveal connections and networks of trade, kinship, culture and economy.
The physical exhibition will be put on display in Anderson Academic Commons in the fall during the history department’s annual history trivia event on Oct. 1.
The event is geared towards history students but open to anyone. It offers non-history students a chance to appreciate the work that the students do, which often goes unnoticed and undervalued. Dr. Patel stressed how important it is to display this work at the exhibition.
In the future, the program hopes to expand their website so other students can add onto these food discoveries and connections to economic and cultural exchanges.
