Anthropology of Food Midsemester Exam, Spring 2009, Page 1
Anthropology 3688: Anthropology of Food
Midsemester Exam
Spring 2009
26 February 2009
You may have the entire class period for the exam. Your exam must be turned in or uploaded to your WebDrop file no later than 3:15 p.m.
This exam is available in electronic form from the General Purpose Course WebDrop Folder at
If you are uploading a file to WebDrop call it something like your emailname_AF_midterm
do not use the characters ' # : "
Upload all four of your questions in one file. Do not upload them separately in four files.
This is an open-book exam. You may bring and use your texts, dictionary, thesaurus, a writing handbook, class handouts, notes, outlines, drafts, memos, and a Ouija board. You may also use references and materials from your other classes and the web, with the caveat, of course, that you properly cite any sources you use.
You may bring and use your laptop but you must upload your exam to your WebDrop folder at the end of the exam period
NOTE: If you normally generate a .wps file (from the Microsoft Works word processor) please turn in your paper as a .rtf (Rich Text Format) document. ( It does not work simply to type in the .rtf extension on an existing .wps file. You must load the original document and then resave it as a .rtf file type.)
Answer FOUR (only 4) of the following questions. Keep in mind that there is more than one approach you can take in answering these questions.
Follow these guidelines:
Organize your answer before you begin. Anthropology of Food Midsemester Exam, Spring 2009, Page 2
Be sure to state:
1. What or who something is 2. Where it occurred or is located (if appropriate) 3. How it is important 4. When it occurred 5. Why it is important
State YOUR position or approach clearly.
Cite specific examples or references to support your statements.
Mention problem areas or other relevant materials which you would like to consider further in a more thorough statement. That is, when you're finished with your answer, what major questions are still left unanswered?
Summarize your argument or discussion.
Wherever appropriate use materials from more than one region of the world.
Remember that each of your responses should have a beginning, middle, and an end.
Note: Do not discuss any topic at length in more than one question.
1. From the AFforum:
Explain how milk is digested by the human body. What is lactose intolerance and who has this? How is it linked to some calling the US Dietary Guidelines "institutionalized racism"? Be sure to cite specific examples when necessary.
2. From the AFforum:
Background: The film We Feed the World served as the introduction to the general topic of "Food Technologies: How People Get Their Food in Industrialized Societies," the subject of Chapter 6 of The Cultural Feast: An Introduction to Food and Society, 2nd Edition. The film brings food production and economics together.
Question: From what you learned from Chapter 6 of the text and from the film …
(A) How is economics affecting the food industry currently?
(B) What could the effects mean for the future of agriculture globally? Anthropology of Food Midsemester Exam, Spring 2009, Page 3
3. Part A: How does the video The Desert People best illustrate the principles discussed in Chapters 2 and 5 of The Cultural Feast (“Diet and Human Evolution?” and “Food Technologies: How People Get Their Food in Nonindustrialized Societies”)?
Part B: In what ways does the video The Desert People fall short of illustrating the principles discussed in Chapters 5 and 6 of The Cultural Feast?
4. Chapter 1 of The Cultural Feast: An Introduction to Food and Society, 2nd Edition, is entitled “Setting the Table for a Cultural Feast?” From your readings of Chapter 1, and from class presentations, what is the “main course” of “The Cultural Feast?” Why?
5. After introducing New World “Staples” and “Produce” in Chapters 2-3 of America's First Cuisines, Sophie D. Coe discusses the Aztecs in Chapters 4-6—the people who were the last of a series of cultures living in the areas of the Mexican Central Highland areas first populated by the peoples discussed in The Cultural Feast in the section “Development of Agriculture in the Tehuacán Valley” (pp. 49-52).
In America's First Cuisines Coe goes on to discuss the Maya in Chapters 7-11, the Inca in Chapters 12-13, and the coming of the Spanish and Portuguese in Chapters 11-17.
Question: How would you rewrite the section of The Cultural Feast currently focusing on the “Development of Agriculture in the Tehuacán Valley” (pp. 49-52) for the next edition of The Cultural Feast using Coe’s Maya or Inca materials rather than materials from the Mexican Central Highlands?
6. Optional Take-Home Question:
NOTE: Essentially you may make up ONE question total. You may either do that as a take-home and bring it to class with you, or you may do that in class the day of the exam. If you elect to do the optional take-home exam and bring it with you to class, then you must choose three (3) additional of the remaining questions presented on the actual exam, as they are presented on the exam.
If you do not like these questions, make up and answer a question of your own choice relating to a topic which you have not considered in your other answers. Answers should contain specific information supporting your position. Both your question and your answer will be evaluated. If you like these questions but simply prefer to make one of your own, go ahead.
If you elect to make up and answer a question, you may prepare your question and answer in advance and bring them with you to the exam. If you prepare your question and answer in advance you only need to answer three (3) midterm exam questions in class. Anthropology of Food Midsemester Exam, Spring 2009, Page 4
7. On Current Affairs:
In Tuesday’s State of the Union Address President Obama mentioned only one item relating to food: Under the general topic of “Health Reform” he said, “In this budget, we will end education programs that don't work and end direct payments to large agribusinesses that don't need them” (
In the first e-mail for this class and on every Anthropology of Food web page there has been a reference to Michael Pollan’s article from The New York Times Magazine, "The Food Issue—An Open Letter to the Next Farmer in Chief" (from 9 October 2008)
The President’s State of the Union Speech probably didn’t surprise Michael Pollan—who many wanted Obama to pick as Secretary of Agriculture, and the author of The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals which will be “featured” on the final exam. Pollan probably wasn’t surprised by the speech at all as the first sentence of his “Open Letter” to the President reads, “It may surprise you to learn that among the issues that will occupy much of your time in the coming years is one you barely mentioned during the campaign: food.”
In his speech President Obama, on the other hand, mentioned health care, health costs, health reform and the like at least twenty-four times
But most observers would include food-related issues among the biggest health issues Americans face today:
hunger (“35.5 million people in the United States are at risk of hunger”)
malnutrition / undernutrition (“580,000 people—mainly children and the elderly—who cannot afford to eat, and therefore go hungry [in America]”)
obesity (it is often reported that about a third or more of Americans are clinically overweight [BMI≥30])
anorexia/bulimia (“In the United States, as many as 10 million females and 1 million males are fighting a life and death battle with an eating disorder such as anorexia or bulimia. Millions more are struggling with binge eating disorder”)
food security (“More than 11% of the United States' population suffers from food insecurity”)
possible ill effects from industrial food chemicals and the like—not to mention the ecological and other damage caused by industrial farming of commodity crop monocultures and CAFOs that might be inflicting long-term health damage on the population
and others
Obesity alone relates to almost a dozen serious health issues.
“This rate of obesity raises concern because of its implications for the health of Americans. Obesity increases the risk of many diseases and health conditions. These include–
* Coronary heart disease * Type 2 diabetes * Cancers (endometrial, breast, and colon) * Hypertension (high blood pressure) * Dyslipidemia (for example, high total cholesterol or high levels of triglycerides) * Stroke * Liver and Gallbladder disease * Sleep apnea and respiratory problems * Osteoarthritis (a degeneration of cartilage and its underlying bone within a joint) * Gynecological problems (abnormal menses, infertility)”
Pollan goes on to suggest to the President, “…you…will find yourself confronting the fact —so easy to overlook these past few years—that the health of a nation’s food system is a critical issue of national security.”
And more to the point, Pollan pointed out, “…the deeper reason you will need not simply to address food prices but to make the reform of the entire food system one of the highest priorities of your administration: unless you do, you will not be able to make significant progress on the health care crisis, energy independence or climate change. Unlike food, these are issues you did campaign on—but as you try to address them you will quickly discover that the way we currently grow, process and eat food in America goes to the heart of all three problems and will have to change if we hope to solve them.”
Question: A. How could Obama, who mentioned health issues at least twenty-four times in his speech, have missed what Pollan considers the obvious—viz. that food issues are at the heart of health care issues—mentioning only in passing “direct payments to large agribusinesses that don't need them” as a health care issue?
B. If you were advising the President on future actions and policy as an applied anthropologist, what would you tell him, based on what you have learned so far in Anthropology of Food? Why?