First-Year Seminar: Italian Foods and Cultures

Catalog description

This first‑year seminar invites students to explore the history and cultural meanings of Italian gastronomy, tracing its transformations from Ancient Rome to the present, in Italy and abroad. We examine how Italian food has been conceived, represented, produced, consumed, and marketed across a range of contexts including family in rural and urban settings, commercial spaces like restaurants, markets, and food industries. As we investigate how Italian culinary practices reflect broader historical, social, and economic shifts, we consider how food shapes politics, national identity, international relations, and contemporary marketing strategies. Building on this foundation, we adopt an intercultural perspective to study the migration of Italian culinary traditions to the United States to address some questions, including: How have dishes, ingredients, and food rituals changed? What emerges when Italian foodways interact with local cultures, particularly in communities in the Philadelphia area? By examining these dynamics, we gain insight into adaptation, hybridization, and cultural exchange. Through close reading analysis, case studies, and experiential learning activities (conversation with guest speakers, interviews with food experts, visits to museums and local food establishments) students develop a deeper understanding of Italian food as both a political artifact and a living, evolving practice. Course materials include literary narratives, films, scholarly articles, artworks, recipes and cookbooks, selected archival material, and commercial sources. All the reading and viewing material is in English. No knowledge of Italian is needed.