INQ-110 | Eating America

Full Title: Eating America: Food, Feasting and the American Appetite

Topic Description:

What does it mean when someone says “as American as apple pie”? What does food have to do with national identity? One of the quintessential “American meals” is Thanksgiving dinner; a Turkey supper that has no resemblance to what the Pilgrims and Wampanoag ate that famous November day. Food is a central signifier to national, regional, and familial identities and something that carries significant cultural currency. This course traces the history of American cuisine from the original Jamestown settlers to the taco trucks of Oakland, California, and explores the multitude of ways we as Americans consume, feast, and satisfy our literal and figurative appetites.

Counts as Global? No

Topic Approved: March 2013