Food for Thought: Narrating the Global Food System

Catalog description

Culinary traditions—and culinary innovations—are forged at the intersection of culture, history, politics, economics, geography, and ecology. In the twenty-first century, amid animated conversations about globalization and climate change, we are increasingly aware of where our food comes from and how our individual food choices affect our neighbors and the rest of the world. This course examines how we write and read about our food system—and ultimately what we do with that information. Our conversation begins with two seminal works about food’s relationship to its surrounding environment: anthropologist Sidney Mintz’s study of sugar production and consumption, Sweetness and Power, and environmental activist Rachael Carson’s polemic about pesticide use in American agriculture, Silent Spring. We then shift to the contemporary moment, considering new ideas about the combination of global politics and local food by journalist Michael Pollan, novelist Jonathan Safran Foer, and chefs Dan Barber and José Andrés. In written assignments, you will analyze the assigned texts as well as write your own food system narratives.