FOOD, CULTURE, AND IDENTITY

Catalog description

Food is the very core of life and one of the most culturally prescribed areas of human experience. This course will study the role of food in human history, and the biocultural construction of what is classified as food. We will examine the meaning of food across cultures with particular attention to how cultural and ethnic (e.g. Asian American, Native American) identities are associated with particular types of food. Rituals, religions and family celebrations, and secular holidays all include the deliberate preparation, serving and sharing of food (or abstinence from food). (SBS, SBS-S)