Are We What We Eat? An Inter-disciplinary Introduction to the Study of Food: syllabus
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Module 1 (weeks 1-4): Approaches
Week 1
Modern studies of food are typically rooted in the Enlightenment and more precisely in Brillat-Savarin and his groundbreaking La Physiologie du gout (1825). We will read his comments on restaurants, gender, drunkenness and national customs.
Week 2
The industrial revolution supposedly originates in mid-eighteenth century England. This week we consider Mintz’s hypothesis that it starts in the colonies and is based on sugar rather than coal, iron or steel.
Week 3
The rise of the restaurant, including an analysis of Menell’s argument that nineteenth century pattern of labour was as evident in the kitchen as elsewhere.
Week 4
A reading of discussion of several chapters of Good to Eat : “Lactophiles and Lactophobes”, “Small Things” and “Dogs, Cats, Dingoes, and other Pets.”
Module 2 (weeks 5-7): Cooking, Recipes and Gender
Week 5
The eighteenth century saw a spectacular rise in the publication of cookery books. We will look at one of the most influential, Hannah Glasse’s The Art of Cookery Made Simple (1747). We will also read why it was so heavily criticised by at least one of her contemporaries, aptly and truthfully named Ann Cook.
Week 6
Med Dods’ (pseudonym of the early nineteenth-century journalist Christian Isobel Johnstone) frequently published manual is perhaps unique for its symposium on cooking, housekeeping and how and why British cooking should be improved. Again, questions of gender and nationality figure highly.
Week 7
Whether as fiction, film or opera Karen Blixen’s Babette’s Feast is probably the single most influential recent account of the relationship between religion, desire and the arts.
Module 3 (weeks 8-12): What We Eat, What We Are.
Week 8
Fast Food. Fast Food Nation became notorious through its denunciation of the economics of fast food, that is fat profits based on the exploitation of immigrants and youth.. We will concentrate on the special role of youth as consumer, as well as the changes McDonalds, as prime representative of the industry, has introduced in order to try to improve its image.
Week 9
Throughout the course, the question of food as national culture has played a significant role. We will concentrate on two examples, Italy and the drink that accompanies fast food, coca-cola.
Week 10
Foodies. What is a foody? What marks them out as a relatively new figure distinct from that of gourmet and gourmand?
Week 11
Film. This week consists of a screening and discussion of Marco Ferreri’s La Grande Bouffe (1973).
Week 12
Fusion. Why has fusion cooking become the most fashionable form of cookery? What is included/excluded? What links does it have to globalization?
