Philosophy and Biochemistry of Food and Eating Practices

Catalog description

An essential and necessary component of our daily lives, food offers itself as one of the most interesting topics of cultural and scientific discussion. This course is designed to analyze food and eating practices from the twofold perspective of philosophy and biochemistry. The intersections of philosophy and biochemistry will be highlighted in topics such as "Food as Art" (juxtaposing the aesthetic and biomolecular properties of food) and "Food in Culture" (contrasting how societies prepare and eat food with the nutrition and technology of food science). To accomplish our learning goals and spur lively discussions, we will combine a lecture with activities such as trips to farms, museums, American "terroirs", guest lectures, and in-class laboratory activities. Crosslisted with CHEM 1072 .