Sociology 4113 Instructor: Barbara Parker

Sociology 4113 Instructor: Barbara Parker Special Topics – Food and Culture

Thursday 9:30 – 12:30 Room: AT 1007 Office Hours: TBA

Course Description:

Although we eat, prepare and shop for food as part of our regular daily routines, food is not simply nourishment. Rather, there are a host of social, cultural, health, familial, historical and political underpinnings of why, what, where and with whom we consume food as we do. Public health mantras moralizing proper nutrition to guard against heart disease and obesity, food TV with celebrity chefs, assuming a vegetarian diet/lifestyle, food production in far away places, and family food traditions are just a few of the food discourses we negotiate when we purchase, consume and understand food. Food gives meaning and order to our everyday lives and we communicate with others through food consumption. These discursive food patterns are important to investigate as they influence and affect how we understand and interpret our individual subjectivity and our social identities. In this course, we will examine how food as a cultural construction intersects with health, regionalism, globalization, gender, education, ethnicity and class to create social and cultural traditions of food and identity. As we will uncover, these discursive food sites are not static and instead, react in a state of fluidity as individuals, families, communities and cultures interact with their food and food practices. We will approach these food inquiries using interdisciplinary methods based in cultural studies, the sociology of food, and social anthropology. Upon completion of this course, students will have an in-depth understanding of the current literature on food within these disciplines and be able to de-mystify how and why we eat what we do. This is a seminar class and it will be necessary that weekly assigned readings are completed ahead of time to facilitate class discussion.

Required Textbooks:

Food Health and Identity (1997). Pat Caplan (Editor). London, New York: Routledge.

* Selected Articles available through instructor through a course package.

Class Structure:

The class will be divided into groups and each group will be assigned two research topics to be covered over the duration of the course. Each group will present at the beginning of the class on their assigned topic. The group presentation should include a brief report on their findings and present if any, cultural evidence for their findings. This should be accompanied by a one-page report to be handed in at the end of that class. This research involves the detection, collection, presentation and analysis of food- related cultural artifacts in the following areas: film, television, literature, visual arts, periodicals, the Internet, music, advertising/packaging etc. This research presentation will take up the first hour of the class. A lecture, group discussions and in some cases, a film will follow.

* Articles listed in the course outline that are marked with an asterick are not required but will complement the group discussion.

1 Sociology 4113 Instructor: Barbara Parker Special Topics – Food and Culture

Course Evaluation:

Group Research Reports & Presentations 10% x 2 = 20% (students sign-up at the first class for 2 of the assigned topics) In class-Participation = 10% Cookbook Analysis/Personal Recipes (3-5 pages) = 20% February 24, 2005 Term Paper (8-10 pages) = 25% March 24, 2005 Take Home Exam (assigned April 5th or 6th /05) = 25% Due April 15, 2005

Assignments:

Group Research Reports & Participation (20%) Assigned Topic areas include: Politics of Food, Food Writing and Food TV, Restaurant and Food Marketing, Ethnic Food, Fast Food, Slow Food, Health and Food, Vegetarianism, Veganism, Celebrity Chefs, Gender and Food, History of Food, Family Food Traditions, Globalization of Food production, Food and Film, Food Trends, Regional Foods, Food and Clothing, Genetically Modified Food * Additional topic areas are welcome upon consultation with Instructor

In-class Participation (10%) Your participation mark will be based on your participation level during the in-class discussions so come to class prepared to discuss the assigned weekly readings. In addition, your participation mark will reflect your level of participation in the discussion of the weekly Group Research Reports.

Cookbook Analysis OR compile a set of personal recipes complete with self-reflection and analysis (20%) Choose a favourite cookbook and complete a critical analysis on the content paying particular attention to the concepts/themes covered in class, in the weekly assigned readings and through any supplementary reading that complements the area of food. OR Compile a personal set of recipes (minimum of 5) and complete a critical analysis of why these recipes have come to be favourites paying particular attention to the concepts/themes covered in class and in the weekly assigned readings and through any supplementary reading that complements the area of food.

Term Paper (25%) The term paper if for students to expand on the topic area and knowledge that has evolved from one of in-class presentations. Page length should run between 8-10 pages. Of course, you may choose an alternative food topic. Please consult with the instructor ahead of time for approval of your topic area.

Take-Home Exam (25%) Students will be assigned a food-related topic as covered over the duration of the course on March 31, the last day of classes. The take-home exam will be due the following week on April 7, 2005. A minimum-page length will be set and specific guidelines will outline the expectations of content.

Topics and Readings:

January 6 - Introduction to Food Studies

Lupton, Deborah. Theoretical Perspectives on Food and Eating. In: Food, the Body and the Self (1996). pgs. 6-36.

Friedmann, Harriet. Remaking “Traditions”: How we eat, what we eat and the changing political economy of food. In: Women Working the NAFTA Food Chain: Women, Food and Globalization. Deborah Barndt (Editor). pgs. 36-60.

Caplan, Pat. Approaches to the study of food, health and identity. In: Food, Health and Identity (1997). pgs. 1-31.

*Sign up for two Research Topic Areas

January 13 – Instructor Absent (class will be held on one of the two make-up days April 5th or 6th)

January 20 - Dinner’s Served!

Simmel Georg. Sociology of the Meal. In: Simmel on Culture (1997). David Frisby and Mike Featherstone (Editors). pgs. 130-135.

Murcott Anne. Family Meals - a thing of the past? In: Food Health and Identity (1997). Pat Caplan (Editor). pgs. 32-49.

Mennell, Stephen. On the Civilizing of Appetite. In: Food and Culture: A Reader (1998). Carole Counihan, Penny Van Esterik (Editors). pgs 315-337.

* Douglas, Mary. Deciphering a Meal. In: Food and Culture: A Reader (1998). Carole Counihan, Penny Van Esterik (Editors). pgs. 36-54. ON RESERVE

January 27 – What’s in a Recipe? Cookbooks, Food-writing and Food TV (Rhetoric of food writing and food tv)

Hartman, Stephanie. The Political Palate: Reading Commune Cookbooks. Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture, Spring 2003, pgs. 29-40.

Pratt, G. How to Cook a Deer in British Columbia: Three Recipes and Eighteen Cookbooks (1998). BC Studies, 119, 87-95.

Heldke, Lisa. Recipes for Theory Making. In: Cooking, Eating, Thinking (1992). D. Curtain and L. Heldke (Editors) pgs. 251-265.

Chan, Andrew. “La grande bouffe”: Cooking Shows as Pornography. Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture, Fall 2003, pgs. 46-53.

February 3 – Drive Thru’s & Value-meals

Schlosser, Eric. Why the fries taste so good. In: Fast Food Nation: the Dark Side of the All-American Meal (2002). pgs. 111-131.

Sanderson King, Sarah and Michael J. King. Hamburger University. In: Ronald Revisited: The World of Ronald McDonald (1983). Bowling Green: Bowling Green University Popular Press, pgs. 94-105.

Reiter, Ester. Burger King: A Case Study. In: Making Fast Food: From the Frying Pan into the Fryer (1996). Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queens University Press, pgs. 63-72.

* Harbottle, Lynn. Fast food/Spoiled Identity: Iranian migrants in the British catering trade. In: Food Health and Identity (1997). Pat Caplan (Editor). pgs. 87-110.

Film – “Supersize Me”.

February 10 – Eating for Health

Lupton, Deborah and S. Chapman. A healthy life-style might be the death of you: discourse on diet, cholesterol control and heart disease in the press and among the lay public. Sociology of Health and Illness, (1995), 17(4): 477-94

Cohn, Simon. Being told what to eat: conversations in a Diabetes Day Centre. In: Food Health and Identity (1997). Pat Caplan (Editor). pgs. 193-212

Bradby, Hannah. Health, eating and heart attacks: Glaswegian Punjabji women’s thinking about everyday food. In: Food Health and Identity (1997). Pat Caplan (Editor). pgs. 213-233

February 17 – - NO CLASS - READING WEEK

February 24 - Java Culture – Readings on Reserve

Roseberry, William. The Rise of Yuppie Coffees and the Reimagination of Class in the United States. In: Food in the USA: A Reader. Carole M. Couniham (Editor). Routledge (2002) pgs. 149-168. ON RESERVE

Gaudio, Rudolf. Coffeetalk: StarbucksTM and the Commercialization of Casual Conversation. Language in Society, (2003), 32(5): 659-691. ON RESERVE

Waridel, Laure. Consumer Power. In: Coffee with Pleasure: Just Java and World Trade. pgs. 93-116. ON RESERVE

Film: Eat Drink Man Woman

* Cookbook analysis due at the beginning of class.

March 3 – Adding Spice (Gender & Ethnicity and Food)

Counihan, Carole. What does it mean to be Fat, Thin, and Female in the United States: A Review Essay. In: Food and Gender: identity and power (1998). Counihan, Carole and Steven L Kaplan (Editors) pgs 145-162. ON RESERVE

Allison, Anne. Japanese Women and Obentos: the lunch box as ideological state apparatus. In: Food and Culture: A Reader (1998). Carole Counihan, Penny Van Esterik (Editors). pgs. 296-314

James, Allison. How British is British Food. In: Food Health and Identity (1997). Pat Caplan (Editor). pgs. 71-86

* Esterik, Penny. The Politics of Breastfeeding. In: Food and Culture: A Reader (1998). Carole Counihan, Penny Van Esterik (Editors). pgs. 370-383

Film: Like Water for Chocolate

March 10 – Low-fat or Carb-free? (Diet and Food Trends)

Bentley, Amy. The Other Atkins Revolution: Atkins and the Shifting Culture of Dieting. In: Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture, Summer 2004, pgs. 34-45

Allport, Susan. The Skinny on Fat. In: Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture. Winter 2003, pgs. 28-36.

Keane, Anne. Too Hard to swallow? The palatability of healthy eating advice. In: Food Health and Identity (1997). Pat Caplan (Editor). pgs. 172-192

March 17 – Food for Thought (Globalization and food production)

Ritzer, George. Globalization, McDonaldization and Americanization (1998). In: The McDonaldization Thesis. pgs. 81-94

Reiter, Ester. Serving the McCustomer: Fast Food is not about Food. In: Women Working the NAFTA Food Chain: Women, Food and Globalization. Deborah Barndt (Editor). pgs. 82-96.

Barndt, Deborah. You Can Count on Us: Scanning cashiers at Loblaws Supermarkets. In: Tangled Routes: Women, Work and Globalization on the Tomato Trail. pgs. 113-154.

Film: Banana Split (Saxberg and Harpelle 2002)

March 24 - Politically-Eating (Food Politics)

Bodnar, Judit. Roquefort vs Big Mac: Globalization and Its Others. Arch.Europ. Sociol., XLIV (2003), pgs. 133-144.

Powdermaker, Hortense. An Anthropological Approach to the Problem of Obesity. In: Food and Culture: A Reader (1998). Carole Counihan, Penny Van Esterik (Editors). pgs. 203-210.

Bordo, Susan. Hunger as Ideology. In: Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture and the Body (1993). pgs, 99 –134.

*Term paper due at the beginning of class.

March 31 – Wheat & Potatoes (vegetarianism)

Willetts, Anna. Bacon sandwiches got the better of me’: meat-eating and vegetarianism in South-East London. In: Food Health and Identity (1997). Pat Caplan (Editor). pgs. 111-130.

Maurer, Donna. Vegetarian Diets and the Health Professions. Ch. 2 In: Vegetarianism: Movement or Moment (2002) pgs. 22 – 46.

Fiddles, Nick. Declining meat: past, present… and future imperfect? In: Food Health and Identity (1997). Pat Caplan (Editor). pgs. 252-266.

April – Add to taste…

Charsley, Simon. Marriages, weddings and their cakes. In: Food Health and Identity (1997). Pat Caplan (Editor). pgs. 50-70.

Williams, Janice. We never eat like this at home’: food on holiday. In: Food Health and Identity (1997). Pat Caplan (Editor). pgs. 151-171.

LAST CLASS – Take-home exam assigned. Due: April 15, 2005.