Finn, John
John E. Finn is a professionally trained chef and Professor of Government Emeritus at Wesleyan University. He is a graduate of the French Culinary Institute, and holds degrees from Princeton University, Georgetown University Law Center, and Nasson College.
Finn’s scholarship and writing in the field of food studies lay at the intersection of food, recipes, and politics. In addition to The Perfect Omelet, his published works include “How a Recipe Means: Interpreting the Recipe as Text,” in Table Matters, an entry on “Measurements,” in The Oxford Companion to Sweets (ed. by Darra Goldstein, 2015), an essay on Julia Child in Gastronomica (2007), an essay on “Sacraments and Swedish Meatballs” in Wesleyan Magazine (2004), and scholarly articles on “The Perfect Recipe,” (2011) and “The Kitchen Voice as Confessional,” (2004) in Food, Culture & Society. Finn is also the author of four books on constitutional law: Fracturing the Founding: How the Alt-Right Corrupts the Constitution (2019), Peopling the Constitution (2014), American Constitutional Law: Essays, Cases, and Comparative Notes (coauthor, 20018), and Constitutions in Crisis: Political Violence and the Rule of Law (1991).
Finn is a dynamic speaker; he has won several awards for outstanding teaching. He has fashioned two very successful courses on the Constitution for The Great Courses Company, which selects the nation’s best college and university professors to teach courses on DVD and CD: “Civil Liberties and the Bill of Rights” and “The First Amendment”.
Finn lectures frequently on food and popular culture, including at the Culinary Institute of America and the New England Culinary Institute, as well as at Molly O’Neill’s LongHouse Food Revival. He has also lectured on food and popular culture in France and Italy.
