English 135 - WRITING ABOUT FOOD

Students learn to use literary techniques to write factual, engaging narratives that read like fiction. Based on research, interviews and personal experience, creative nonfiction encompasses a wide range of genres, including memoir, travel writing, nature writing, science writing, food writing and biography. Prerequisites: one WI course. Enrollment in each section limited to 16. Course may be repeated once on a different topic. (E) In this course we read and write about food, the everyday miracle. You needn't be a chef or even know how to cook to appreciate food; we all eat. It is an act full of anticipation, delight, wariness, fear and adventure: all the elements of a good story. We use our senses to construct narratives where food acts as a lens, where food is a character and where food conveys emotion. We look at food memoir, fiction, restaurant and cookbook reviews. We do writing exercises and short assignments in and out of class, celebrating our ordinary, extraordinary world on a platter. Prerequisites: one WI course. (E)