Eating Locally and Globally: Explorations of Food, Identity & Place (CBL)

Food… We all eat it and it’s integral to our survival. But there is much more to food than simply sustenance. Our food choices are shaped by and reflect deeply held cultural ideas about taste, nutrition and sociability. What we eat is also determined by farmers, the media, multinational corporations, agricultural and international trade policies as well as our individual access to food. In this course, we will carefully examine contemporary American foodways to better understand how our food practices connect us with people and places, both locally and globally. We will explore the cultural, ecological, historical and geographic dimensions of various American food traditions. We will also consider matters of sustainability, food justice and food sovereignty. To do this, we will utilize a range of sources including cookbooks, memoirs, documentary and popular films, and scholarly tracts. As well, CBL placements with local food-related agencies will serve as additional experiential research texts. Drawing upon these insights, students will conduct independent research projects exploring local and global aspects of foodways in Northern NY. Students will present their finding through written, oral and poster presentations.