# Calendar

Course readings.
LEC # | TOPICS | KEY DUE DATES
--- | --- | ---
1 | Introduction to food, culture, and politics |
Part 1: Foundations
2 | Food paradoxes and dilemmas in the US |
3 | Food and power in the global arena |
4 | Waste amidst plenty In-class viewing and discussion: BUFFET: All You Can Eat Las Vegas. Directed by Natasha Schüll. Color, 30 min. 2006. In-class discussion: “What Makes a Critical Essay” |
5 | Cheap meat and expensive fish Written Assignment 1: Cheap Meat distributed |
Part 2: What Makes Food Good?
6 | Good food is culinarily authentic | Written Assignment 1: Cheap Meat due
7 | Good food is culturally authentic In-class viewing and discussion: Excerpt from The Meaning of Food. Series directed by Maria Gargiulo, Vivian Kleiman, Kris Kristensen, and Karin Williams. Color, 180 min. 2004. |
8 | Good food is convenient |
9 | Good food tastes good In-class tasting: Chocolate |
10 | Good food feeds relationships | Written Assignment 2: revision of Cheap Meat due
11 | Good food is symbolically pure In-class exercise: Bring in a photo of a meal you’ve eaten in the past week. ITEMIZE and DECIPHER it as A MEAL, offering a symbolic, structural reading akin to Mary Douglas’s. Why (and in what contexts) does this count as a “meal”? This meal might be representative of your daily diet, or an exception to it. We are not being food police here, but rather doing symbolic analyses of empirical data. |
12 | In-class writing workshop with Karen Pepper, lecturer, MIT Comparative Media Studies / Writing Brainstorming / free-write for final papers, tips for doing library research, follow-up on deciphering exercise Written Assignment 3: Food Memory distributed |
13 | Good food reminds you of your mother (or homeland or childhood) In-class viewing and discussion: Excerpt from Ratatouille. Directed by Brad Bird and Jan Pinkava. Color, 111 min. 2007. Excerpt from The Meaning of Food. Series directed by Maria Gargiulo, Vivian Kleiman, Kris Kristensen, and Karin Williams. Color, 180 min. 2004. | Written Assignment 3: Food Memory due
14 | On gastropolitics Written Assignment 4: Food Memory, Revisited distributed |
15 | Good food is nutritional In-class viewing and discussion: Excerpt from Frontline: Diet Wars. Directed by Jon Palfreman. Color, 60 min. 2004. “Eat the Butter.” YouTube. Final Paper Proposal information distributed | Written Assignment 4: Food Memory, Revisited due
16 | Good food is (engineered to taste) real In-class peer-reviewing of final paper proposals—bring 2 hard copies to class to share with peers |
17 | Good food is appreciated, not appropriated | Revised final paper proposal due
18 | Good food is medicinal Guest lecture: Alex Rewegan, MIT-HASTS |
19 | Any food is good food if you’re hungry |
20 | Good food is just In-class viewing: Food Forward, Ep. 8: Food (Justice) For All. Directed by Greg Roden. Color, 24 min. (**View the first story—Salinas, CA) In-class tasting: Vermont cheese |
Part 3: Food Futures
21 | Good food is sense-ible/able |
22 | How good is the future of agriculture? In-class viewing: The Future of Foo d. Directed by Deborah Koons Garcia. Color, 88 mins. 2004. | Final paper draft due
23 | Guest lecture: Andrea McClave, MIT Integrated Design & Management, on developing an MIT food map app |
24 | Thanksgiving |
25 | Good food sustains us |
26 | Final paper panel presentations |
27 | Potluck and final paper panel presentations Bring to class a food item of significance to you (perhaps a nostalgia food, or an item from the meal you deciphered, etc.). Be prepared to speak briefly about your offering for our feast. | Final paper due