Overview of Course

Food is part of social mythology. Sinful, guilty, erotic, luscious, beloved, hated, tabu: the affective relation we all have with food. This course examines works produced in multiple national and linguistic literary traditions, moving on to consider the relationship between the local, the national, and the global, centered on the intersections that inform individual and communal identities. Discussion and writing about food in literature, films, and culture will serve as a springboard to introduce viewers to the national culture/s of the visited nations. Students will have the opportunity to analyze and discuss literary and cultural meanings through the food representations of the countries visited during this voyage in novels, films, recipes, and gourmet TV shows.