Global Food Cultures

Catalog description

This innovative, team-taught course introduces students to Food Studies as an interdisciplinary field that intersects with the Humanities to examine how food serves as a powerful tool for understanding broader cultural, social, economic, and political structures. Through geographic-cultural case studies, the course provides a comparative exploration of global food cultures, with a focus on Egypt, the Levant, France, Senegal, and Vietnam. By engaging with key theories and debates within Food Studies and contextualizing global food cultures within their historical development, the course explores how socioeconomic transformations, migration, notions of national identity, and climate change have led to hybrid cuisines and culinary narratives. Drawing from history, media, film, literature, ethnography, and languages, students will develop a critical understanding of how foodways contribute to cultural negotiation, addressing issues such as sustainability, identity, belonging, and cultural preservation. By the end of this course, students will gain a deeper appreciation of how the field of Food Studies illuminates the evolving significance of food in an interconnected world and will reflect on their role as global citizens vis-a-vis global challenges. Students will also have the opportunity to taste and experience select dishes firsthand. Course taught in English.