History 397TF - ST- What is on Your Plate?

Have you ever looked at your plate and wondered where the different foods came from? Have you ever wondered when Americans began to love chocolate, bananas, or sushi? In this course, we will explore a transnational history of food, beginning with the Natives of North America prior to European contact and ending with the processed boxed meals found on our supermarket shelves today. We will look at the ways in which our food systems developed, how they were influenced by immigration and intra-continental movements, and how the American food systems changed food worldwide. As we examine the cultural, political, and economic dimensions of food, we will analyse how food production, distribution, preparation, and consumption are shaped by race, gender, policies, marketing, as well as agricultural and labor practices. Finally, we will explore food activism, vegetarianism and veganism, and the development of diet fads. In this course, you will trace your family's culinary history, cook an old recipe or two, and will work with UMass archives extensive collection of old cookbooks.

Open to Seniors, Juniors & Sophomores only.