"This course dared me to find out where our food comes from, and has changed the way I think about the world. The 'textbooks' . . . were a joy to read. In short, this is the one course everyone who eats needs to take." — Andy Kadlec, UMD Labovitz School of Business
51447 -001 LEC, 02:00 P.M. - 03:15 P.M., M,W (01/18/2011 - 05/06/2011), Cina 214, Roufs,Tim, 3 credits
Schedule may change as events of the semester require
Why food ?
“Food is required by every human on earth, yet the types of food we eat and how we produce and consume it vary tremendously. It is therefore a nearly perfect subject for anthropology, since it can be examined in terms of human biology, culture, and social status across time from our evolutionary ancestors to the present day. . . .” -- Ryan Adams, IUPUI Anthropology
Available used from about $ 49.65, new at $ 98.43 (+p/h; free shipping with Amazon.com with new book and $25 qualifying order)
Amazon.com price after "Book Buyback" $21.15.
A note on the slide formats: Since at this point we do not know what software you are using on your computer, we offer the slides in two formats. We recommend you first try "(.pdf)" , the “Portable Document Format” that is the open standard for document exchange. If you have problems with that format, please try "(.pptx)" , Office PowerPoint 2007. It is unlikely that you will have problems with both of them, but if you do, please let us know: troufs@d.umn.edu. When the materials are on your screen they should be running as a slide show. If you want or need to upgrade your software, you can download the latest PowerPoint viewer free, as well as download the latest Adobe .pdf Reader free.
(NOTE: This is a long slide set as it covers some very important background information that will be referred to often as we go through the semester. Please bear with it to the end. And it will take a little longer to load, so please bear with that also. There is no video presentation scheduled for this and next week as the base slide sets tend to be a little longer than "normal.")
[see note on slide formats] (NOTE: This is a long slide set as it covers more than 2000+ years. Please bear with it to the end. Please bear with it to the end. And it will take a little longer to load, so please bear with that also. There is no video presentation scheduled for this and next week as the base slide sets tend to be a little longer than "normal.")
Phil's official forecast as read February 2nd, 2011 at sunrise at Gobbler's Knob:
Hear Ye Hear Ye Hear Ye
Today is Groundhog Day! The scene at Gobblers Knob Wednesday, February 2, 2011, was rainy and cold, so no, Punxsutawney Phil did NOT see his shadow on Groundhog Day 2011. According to Groundhog.org, "The Prognosticator of Prognosticators, Punxsutawney Phil, once again appeared at sunrise at Gobbler's Knob in the Pennsylvania Wilds to make his annual prediction."
Punxsutawney Phil Says Spring Will Come Early
"Phil surveyed his surroundings and found no shadow, so an early spring it will be!" claims Groundhog.org.
The Cultural Feast, Ch. 5, "Food Technologies How People Get Their Food in Nonindustrialized Societies"
(The materials from Ch. 5 will be supplemented in Week 6 with the video Desert People. a classic film on one of the last gathering / foraging peoples discovered.)
(We're starting this book here, with Michael Pollan's discussion of "The forager" and "The ethics of eating animals" as next week we begin having a closer look at hunting / gathering / foraging as a way people get their food in nonindustrialized societies)
see related slides:
Nutritional Consequences: Foragers and Agriculturalists (.pdf) (.pptx) based on The Cultural Feast: An Introduction to Food and Society, Second Edition.
Bryant, Carol A., Kathleen M. DeWalt, Anita Courtney, and Jeffery Schwartz.
(Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thompson, 2003).
We're continue this book here, with Michael Pollan's discussion of Hunting and Gathering, and in Ch. 5 of The Cultural Feast we have a closer look at hunting / gathering /foraging as a way people get their food in nonindustrialized societies.
Chapter 5 of The Cultural Feast, focuses on "Food Technologies: How People Get Their Food in Nonindustrial Societies."
Notes:
Be sure to watch award-winning Our Daily Breadbefore you watch We Feed the World. And for its real impact, watch it on a large screen.
Our Daily Bread has almost no dialogue.
From one reviewer: It's "The 2001: A Space Odyssey of modern food production." -- The Nation
~
video--International Focus:
Our Daily Bread
(92 min., CC, but almost without dialogue, 2005, DVD 1988)
"Fueled by curiosity and a dash of naiveté, college buddies Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis return to their ancestral home of Greene, Iowa, to find out how the modest corn kernel conquered America. With the help of real farmers, powerful fertilizer, government aid, and genetically modified seeds, the friends manage to grow one acre of corn. Along the way, they unlock the hidden truths about America’s modern food system."
Big River: A King Corn Companion
(27 min., DVD tba, 2010)
"Following up on their Peabody winning documentary, the King Corn boys are back. For Big River, best friends Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis have returned to Iowa with a new mission: to investigate the environmental impact their acre of corn has sent to the people and places downstream. In a journey that spans from the heartland to the Gulf of Mexico, Ian and Curt trade their combine for a canoe––and set out to see the big world their little acre of corn has touched. On their trip, flashbacks to the pesticides they sprayed, the fertilizers they injected, and the soil they plowed now lead to new questions, explored by new experts in new places. Half of Iowa’s topsoil, they learn, has been washed out to sea. Fertilizer runoff has spawned a hypoxic “dead zone” in the Gulf. And back at their acre, the herbicides they used are blamed for a cancer cluster that reaches all too close to home."
or
f2f Guest Lecture
United States Focus:
Wednesday, 09 March 2011
While you are watching The Two Fat Ladies do a “freelisting” of the things that The Two Fat Ladies talk about or mention that are not specifically related to the actual cooking of the meal in the kitchen. Freelisting is a technique commonly used by anthropologists when doing fieldwork, and it’s basically just making a list of the things you’re focusing on—but a complete list.
(Don’t miss the gorilla. . . .)
When you’re finished with When you’re finished with the slides on Secret Ingredients, Ch. 8, have a look at the slides on Obesity and on Eating Disorders . . .
The "Obesity Epidemic" (.pdf) (.pptx)
Body Image and Eating Behaviors (.pdf) (.pptx)
Eating Disorders (.pdf) (.pptx) Causes of Eating Disorders (.pdf) (.pptx) Obesity, Eating Disorders: Applications (.pdf) (.pptx)
For Week 10 Activities see
Week 10 Reading Assignment
The Meaning of Food, pp. 1-33 The materials from The Meaning of Food, pp. 1-33 will be reviewed next week in the the video The Meaning of Food: "Food & Life."
Food for Body and Spirit
(29 min., 1984, VC 714) The Pig Commandments
(72 min., 2005, DVD 1690) The Meaning of Food: "Food & Life"
(ca. 60 min., CC, 2007, DVD 1700)
The third is at the very bottom of this week's listings.
~
review
The Cultural Feast
Ch. 8, "Worldview, Religion, and Health Beliefs: The Ideological Basis of Food Practices"
~
A comparative look . . .
controlled comparison—
Chinese : Buddhism : Food
in China and Malaysia
This week we'll first have a look at
a Taoist temple
and Buddhist Slow Food
and Locavorism
which has a thousand year history . . .
In Food for Body and Spirit we'll see how food
holds a part of Chinese culture together . . .
And following, we'll see how food tears apart a major segment of Chinese culture in Malaysia . . .
controlled comparison—
Chinese : Buddhism : Food
in China and Malaysia
video: Food for Body and Spirit (29 min., 1984, VC 714)
film HomePage course viewing guide
(China) (Online Optional Resource)
(Malaysia) (Online Optional Resource)
[food tears Chinese culture apart in Malaysia
肉
肉
"It was hardly surprising that, for the Chinese, the words 'meat' and 'pork' became, and remain, synonymous."
-- concluding sentence to Chapter 2 "Changing the Face of the Earth," Reay Tannahill, Food in History (NY: Three Rivers Press, 1988)
Food Revolution #2: The Meaning of Eating
-- the discovery that food is more than sustenance
For a comprehensive review of pork avoidance and its historical and social importance see
Frederick J. Simoons, Eat Not This Flesh: Food Avoidances form Prehistory to the Present, 2nd Ed. (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press 1994)
Week 12—Global Food Issues . . . World Hunger and Other International Food Issues "Hunger in Global Perspective" "Addressing Global Food Issues" Week 12 Memo
The Cultural Feast
Ch. 9, "Hunger in Global Perspective" slides (.pdf) (.pptx)
Food Sufficiency
Consequences of the Agricultural Revolution
Food Aid and Trade
Hunger and Malnutrition
Obesity Revisited
Projections for the Future
~
The Cultural Feast
Ch. 10, "Addressing Global Food Issues"
slides (.pdf) (.pptx)
Hunger and Malnutrition Revisited
Adequate Nutrition
Policy Options: Self-Sufficiency vs. Food Security of Small Farmers
Commercialization of Agriculture and Household Food Security
Entitlements
Nutritional Quality of Food, Education, and Household
Distribution
Health and Sanitation
Highlight: Women: A Pivotal Link in the Food Chain
[NOTE: If you are interested in this topic, or the economics of Third World countries in general, be sure to have a look/listen to Bina Agarwal's Nobel Food conference talk below.]
~
video: The End of the Line: How Overfishing Is Changing the World And What We Eat
(85 min., 2010, DVD 2028) film HomePage course viewing guide
Policy Options: Self-Sufficiency vs. Food Security of Small Farmers
Commercialization of Agriculture and Household Food Security
Entitlements
Nutritional Quality of Food, Education, and Household
Distribution
Health and Sanitation
Highlight: Women: A Pivotal Link in the Food Chain
~
Non-Reading Assignment:
The Cultural Feast, Ch. 11, "Dietary Behavior Change: How People Change Eating Habits"
Ch. 11 is not assigned reading, but as with Chapter 12, if you expect to go into or be a part of any program or company involved in dietary behavior change (including advertising and marketing), it would be a good idea to read this chapter. Materials from this chapter may also be used as the optional "Take-Home" question that you make up yourself.
~
Non-Reading Assignment:
The Cultural Feast, Ch. 12, "Designing Large-Scale Programs to Change Dietary Practices"
Ch. 12 is not assigned reading, but as with Chapter 11, if you expect to go into or be a part of any large-scale program or company involved in dietary behavior change (including advertising and marketing), it would be a good idea to read this chapter. Materials from this chapter may also be used as the optional "Take-Home" question that you make up yourself.
Your su2012 Presentation is due on-line in by the end of Week 12, Friday, 03 August 2012, 11:55 p.m.
Upload your project and have a look at the other class projects.
Will Allen of Growing Power
will give a talk at UMD
Friday, 22 April 2011
Kirby Ballroom 7:00 p.m.
Because of Will Allen's appearance
for s2011 FRESH will be shown before The End of the Line: How Overfishing Is Changing the World And What We Eat
(85 min., 2010, DVD 2028)
su2012 Final Exam Submitted Question to Wiki
due by Tuesday, 14 August 2012, 11:55 p.m.
su2012 Extra Credit Paper
due by the end of Week 13, Friday, 10 August 2012, 11:55 p.m.
AVISO: Late Extra Credit Papers will not be accepted unless (1) arrangements for an alternate date have been arranged in advance, or (2) medical emergencies or similar extraordinary unexpected circumstances make it unfeasible to turn in the assignment by the announced due date. Why?
su2012 Term Paper
due by the end of Week 14, Friday, 17 August 2012, 11:55 p.m.
AVISO: Late Term Papers will not be accepted unless (1) arrangements for an alternate date have been arranged in advance, or (2) medical emergencies or similar extraordinary unexpected circumstances make it unfeasible to turn in the assignment by the announced due date. Why?
su2012 Final Evaluation
due on-line by the end of Week 15, Friday, 24 Augugst 2012, 11:55 p.m.
On-Line
The Live Chat for on-line Anthropology of Food Final Exam will be Tuesday, 21 August 2012, 7:00-8:00 p.m. Sign in on in the Week 15 Panel.
Week 15 (Last Week of Class): The on-line Anthropology of FoodFinal Exam for su2012 will be available Wednesday-Thursday, 22-23 August 2012
Face-to-Face
The Live Chat for f2f Anthropology of Food Final Exam will be announced, 7:00-8:00 p.m. Sign in on in the Week 15 Panel.
Week 16 ("Finals Week"): The f2f Anthropology of Food Final Exam time for s2013 will be announced, in Cina 214
"Academic dishonesty tarnishes UMD's reputation and discredits the accomplishments of students. UMD is committed to providing students every possible opportunity to grow in mind and spirit. This pledge can only be redeemed in an environment of trust, honesty, and fairness. As a result, academic dishonesty is regarded as a serious offense by all members of the academic community. In keeping with this ideal, this course will adhere to UMD's Student Academic Integrity Policy, which can be found at [http://www.d.umn.edu/conduct/integrity/Academic_Integrity_Policy.htm]. This policy sanctions students engaging in academic dishonesty with penalties up to and including expulsion from the university for repeat offenders."
– UMD Educational Policy Committee, Jill Jensen, Chair (08/16/2007)
The instructor will enforce and students are expected to follow the University's Student Conduct Code [http://www1.umn.edu/regents/policies/academic/Student_Conduct_Code.html]. Appropriate classroom conduct promotes an environment of academic achievement and integrity. Disruptive classroom behavior that substantially or repeatedly interrupts either the instructor's ability to teach, or student learning, is prohibited. Disruptive behavior includes inappropriate use of technology in the classroom. Examples include ringing cell phones, text-messaging, watching videos, playing computer games, doing email, or surfing the Internet on your computer instead of note-taking or other instructor-sanctioned activities."
– UMD Educational Policy Committee, Jill Jensen, Chair (08/16/2007)
A Note on Extra Credit Papers
Failure to comply with the above codes and standards when submitting an Extra Credit paper will result in a penalty commensurate with the lapse, up to and including an F final grade for the course, and, at a minimum, a reduction in total points no fewer than the points available for the Extra Credit project. The penalty will not simply be a zero for the project, and the incident will be reported to the UMD Academic Integrity Officer in the Office of Student and Community Standards.
Students with Disabilities
It is the policy and practice of the University of Minnesota Duluth to create inclusive learning environments for all students, including students with disabilities. If there are aspects of this course that result in barriers to your inclusion or your ability to meet course requirements – such as time limited exams, inaccessible web content, or the use of non-captioned videos – please notify the instructor as soon as possible. You are also encouraged to contact the Office of Disability Resources to discuss and arrange reasonable accommodations. Please call 218-726-6130 or visit the DR website at www.d.umn.edu/access for more information.
su2012 Midterm Exam Submitted Question to Wiki
due to the wiki by the end of Week 05, Friday, 15 June 2012, 11:55 p.m.
You can review the questions and my notations there, and use them as study questions
su2012 Project Promissory Abstract and Working Bibliography
due by the end of Week 07, Friday, 29 June 2012, 11:55 p.m.
su2012 Presentation
due on-line in by the end of Week 12, Friday, 03 August 2012, 11:55 p.m.
f2f: Your s2013 Presentation is due on-line in by the day you give your presentation in class
su2012 Extra Credit Paper
due by the end of Week 13, Friday, 10 August 2012, 11:55 p.m.
AVISO: Late Extra Credit Papers will not be accepted unless (1) arrangements for an alternate date have been arranged in advance, or (2) medical emergencies or similar extraordinary unexpected circumstances make it unfeasible to turn in the assignment by the announced due date. Why?
su2012 Term Paper
due by the end of Week 14, Friday, 17 August 2012, 11:55 p.m.
AVISO: Late Term Papers will not be accepted unless (1) arrangements for an alternate date have been arranged in advance, or (2) medical emergencies or similar extraordinary unexpected circumstances make it unfeasible to turn in the assignment by the announced due date. Why?
su2012 Final Exam Submitted Question to Wiki
due by Tuesday, 14 August 2012, 11:55 p.m.
su2012 Final Evaluation
due on-line by the end of Week 15, Friday, 24 Augugst 2012, 11:55 p.m.
AVISO: Unexcused late assignments receive no credit
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Duluth Time
, the “Portable Document Format” that is the open standard for document exchange. If you have problems with that format, please try "(.pptx)" 
, Office PowerPoint 2007. It is unlikely that you will have problems with both of them, but if you do, please let us know: 
