GOVT105

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GOVT105

Culture and Cuisine GOVT105 FA

Section	Class Size	*Available	Times	POI	Prereq
1	19	0	Times: ..W.... 6:30PM-9:00PM;	No	No

*The number of spaces listed as available is based on class seats open for the Blue Add phase of registration. Some seats may be taken in previous phases while others may be held out for subsequent phases of registration. (Last Updated on Tue Aug 10 05:00:30 EDT 1999 )

In a broad sense, cuisine--the culture of food--includes such things as the social institution of the restaurant and social practices of dining, the development of home economics and culinary professionalism, cookbooks and food writers (including MFK Fisher, Calvin Trillin, the Sterns, Paula Wolfert, and John Thorne) as a distinctive literary genre, attitudes and beliefs about health and diet, and many other things. Its breadth and impact on daily life makes cuisine an especially useful way of understanding popular culture and society. Food fashions and trends, for example, reflect larger social inclinations and changing understandings about such things as ethnic diversity, the role of women in society and at home, and assorted philosophies about health, diet (witness fear of food) and religion. Our exploration will range across a wide variety of materials, including scholarly books and articles, fiction good and bad, readings in popular journals and newspapers, films, and the Internet.

MAJOR READINGS

Arlene Voski Avakian, THROUGH THE KITCHEN
WINDOW
Richard Klein, EAT FAT
Spradley & Mann, COCKTAIL WAITRESS
John Thorne, SERIOUS PIG
Gary Fine, KITCHENS

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

To be announced.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS

Among the particular topics we shall consider will be how cuisine reflects--and perhaps promotes--ethnic diversity and pluralism. Likewise, we shall want to explore how notions of haute cuisine and regional cuisines contribute to social stratification and geographic identity. In addition, we will want to use the concept of cuisine as a way of understanding changing gender and class roles in the United States. Finally, we will always be concerned with an overarching question: Is there an "American" cuisine? I suspect we will find that this question is just another way of asking: What is America? We shall see that processes of inclusion and exclusion, central to our collective and self-identity, lie at the heart of changing definitions of America and "American" food. Unless preregistered students attend the first class meeting or communicate directly with the instructor prior to the first class, they will be dropped from the class list. NOTE: Students must still submit a completed Drop/Add form to the Registrar's Office.

COURSE FORMAT: Discussion

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UG Credit: 1.00 Gen Ed Area & Dept: SBS GOVT

Prerequisites: None

Section 01: Finn, J; Times: ..W.... 6:30PM- 9:00PM;; Grading Mode: A/F; Registration Preference (1 high to 6 low, 0=Excluded) Sr: 0, Jr: 0, So: 0, Fr: 1; No Major Preference Given

Last Updated on MAR-22-1999

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