Master Class I

A History of Food 

Professor Stanley Chodorow 

The history of food is amazingly complex. It includes tracing the evolution of plant and animal sources. For example, garlic is used in most cooking traditions (but not Japanese). Where did it come from? Food historians spend a great deal of ink on debates about food origins. The topic also includes the domestication of plants and animals, the ways food is prepared, the development of technologies of food preparation, the effects of domestication on the character and qualities of foods and many other subjects. One result of the course will be to provide substance to the adage, “we are the food we eat.” 

April 2: The Basics 

For most of human history, we were hunter-gatherers. The first lecture will consider what those people ate (and eat, since there are still some hunter-gatherers in the world) and what the health consequences of the hunter-gatherer diet are. We will discuss the origins of cooking and how hunter-gatherers became agriculturalists, which first occurred in the Middle East but independently occurred elsewhere several times. 

April 16: The Spread of Food Crops Around the World 

The spread of food crops reveals prehistoric migration and trade patterns. We will cover the effect of empires on food practices and distribution. Alexander’s conquests affected food crop distribution, as did Roman and Chinese imperialism

 

April 30: The Age of Discovery (16th and 17th Centuries) 

Food crops (potatoes, corn, tomatoes, peppers, etc.) were discovered in South and Central America and brought to Europe, China, India and Southeast Asia by European explorers. Some foods that originated in South America were brought to North America by European colonists and were for a very long time regarded as European crops. The patterns and timing of food usage in various parts of the world create some puzzles that scholars are attempting to solve. For example, the Polynesians had sweet potatoes when the Europeans first contacted them. How did that happen? 

May 14: The Evolution of Regional/National Food Regimens 

National and regional food regimens include Arab, Chinese, Indian (a plethora of lentils) and European. In this lecture, we will also cover the evolution of cooking methods, especially the invention of the stove. 

May 28: The Universalization of Regional Food Practices 

The spread of regional foods has occurred during the lifetimes of those in this course. We will look at this as seen on a city block with Italian, Mexican and Chinese restaurants and in the expansion of food varieties in grocery stores. In addition, we will cover how contemporary food and health science affects our foods and how the creation of lab-grown foods might change both our food practices and our health outcomes.