The Culture and Science of Food

Course Description:

Foodways are all around us. While we recognize the importance of food, and generally enjoy eating, we seldom recognize how suffused with meaning food behavior is; how deeply embedded its symbols and practices are in our daily lives. Some of our strongest values and beliefs—the world, other people, our culture and ourselves—are expressed in the ways we use, think about and talk about food. During this course, we will use a wide array of media to illuminate those phenomena in our personal lives as well as in those of others. We will explore the many ways that food systems are used (and misused) to shape our economies, societies, cultures and even our bodies. The work of psychologists, sociologists, neurologists, folklorists, anthropologists, biologists, physicians, writers and historians will help us to understand these issues and find ways to help sustain cultures and support strong communities. Class participation is a very important part of the ;earning process in this course. You are expected to contribute your insights through individual feedback and group collaborations.

Schedule:

Week 1: Why Study Food? An Introduction to the Features and Perspectives of Food Study
Week 2: The Origins of Food: History, Geography and Food Preservation Practices
Week 3: Food Science: Applying Scientific Principles Across the Food Industry
Week 4: Mind Over Food: The Psychological Processes Behind How and Why We Eat
Week 5: Food Identity: The Core of Our Most Intimate Relationships
Week 6: The Food Trade: Exports/Imports, Security and Impacts of the Business
Week 7: Farming and Agriculture: Transforming Landscapes for Production
Week 8: Health, Availability and Long Term Effects of Food Consumption
Week 9: Government Food Regulation: Labeling, Packaging, Inspection and Cost
Week 10: Food: The Highly Condensed Social Fact Shaping Our Societies
Week 11: Food Staging: A Marvelously Plastic Kind of Representation
Week 12: Media, Marketing and Advertising: Conceptual Framework and Digital Fascination

Requirements:

Class participation is a very important part of the learning process in this course. You are expected to contribute your insights through individual feedback and group collaborations.

Learning Outcomes:

At the conclusion of this course, you will be able to do the following:

1. Discuss the many ways that food is implicated in our personal lives, society and communities
2. Explain how communities use food and foodways to construct, perform, maintain or change identity
3. Identify some of the physical and environmental factors that shape or undermine traditional foodways
4. Describe the impact of the forces of politics, socioeconomics and conflict on traditional food systems and community                 sustainability
5. Demonstrate the acquisition of effective skills for the ethnographic study of foodways
6. Employ best practices for constructing cultural sustainability projects involving foodways projects about food and cultural           sustainability