Spring 2017

Eating the Big Apple: Global Food and Food-writing in New York City

Director: Naomi Guttman, Professor, Literature and Creative Writing
315-859-4780
nguttman@hamilton.edu

The focus of the program this semester will be on the study of food culture, policy, production, distribution, marketing, and consumption in the global marketplace of New York City. An emphasis will be placed on New York as not only a “food-city” in terms of creativity, labor, consumption and publishing, but also an important center for shaping the direction of national and global food policy. Field trips, courses, and independent studies will focus on New York and its place as a cross-roads of food culture, food policy and food advocacy.

Seminar on Food and Globalization in New York

A landing point for waves of immigrants and a port city critical to international food trade and tourism, New York is a stew of many spices. It is also the home of many local, state, national, and international food-policy organizations. Students will read various texts and watch relevant films on the impact of globalization on agriculture, food-policy, and food industries, and examine issues such as labor, sustainability, fair trade, and nutrition, and hunger.

Special Topics

Food-writing in and around the city. A course in which students read and discuss food-writing and write essays about food in the grand “pantry” of New York. Students will contribute to a weekly blog based on their reactions to readings and their own experiments in food-writing.

Internship

Students will receive credit for working four days a week in a media organization, an agency, or an advocacy group that relates to food; they will post weekly synopses of their experiences on Blackboard.

Independent Study

Students will contract with the director to pursue an independent project under the director’s supervision. Depending on individual interest, students may organize to have professors from other departments be secondary advisors and readers for their projects. The final result will be a substantial piece of work (20-30 pages) for college credit. Upon petitioning the relevant department, students may receive concentration credit for their work.

Prerequisite: Any literature course.