AMS 55 FOOD IN AMERICAN CULTURE

Spring 2015 Tues / Thurs 3:10 4:30 Storer 1322

Professor Charlotte Biltekoff
cbiltekoff@ucdavis.edu
OH: Tuesdays 12:45 2:45pm 2210 RMI South

OVERVIEW
This course is about why we eat what, and how, we do. Together we will ask a lot of
questions about American eating habits: Why is it so important for families and
communities to come together at the table? Is cooking an expression of creativity and
power for women, or a sign of their oppression? Are we really what we eat? Should we
love or loathe convenience foods? What kind of role should responsibility play in our
choices about what to eat? What should the future of food look like? We will use many
disciplines (history, sociology, anthropology, consumer research) and analyze many
different kinds of texts (images, TV shows, films, newspaper articles).
The goals of this course are for students to
Learn a basic vocabulary and set of concepts for analyzing American eating habits.
Understand the three main influences on American eating habits (identity,
convenience and responsibility) and the tensions that arise between them.
Learn about some of the central debates that shape current thinking about food in
American culture and practice articulating their own informed opinions on those
debates.
Practice writing and discussion as a way of refining critical thinking about these
matters.
Please read this document carefully. This syllabus is considered a contract. By choosing
to take this class you are agreeing to abide by the expectations and policies stated here.
REQUIREMENTS & EXPECTATIONS
You are required to attend lecture and discussion sections, read all assigned texts,
contribute to discussions, and complete all written assignments on time.
Lectures: Lectures will assume that you have completed and reflected on the assigned
reading. I will talk for part of the time, but I will also want to have conversations with you
at some point during each class so come prepared to share your (informed) ideas and
opinions about the ideas raised in the reading. We will write during class and discuss
ideas in small groups or pairs. We will also view and discuss images, film and TV clips,
music, and podcasts. PowerPoint slides will be posted to smartsite each morning before
class. Keep this in mind as you take notes during lectures.
Lecture Conduct: I expect you all to be considerate, respectful members of this
class:
Do not talk to each other while I am talking or while your classmates are talking.
Do not use cell phones and other gadgets during class.
You may use a laptop to take notes in class but only in the last two rows of the
classroom where your screen will not distract other members of the class. (See
me if for some reason you need to use a laptop in the front of the room.)
Discussion Sections: Discussion sections are mandatory. They are the primary place
where you can make sense of the readings in this course, articulate and discuss your
own ideas about the course concepts, and prepare for both written assignments and inclass projects. Your discussion leaders are excellent instructors who will help you to
apply what you are learning in lectures and prepare you for success on written
assignments. Discussion sections are absolutely integral to this class. You can not
succeed without attending them. Under normal circumstances, your work in sections

counts for 15% percent of your final grade. Please note, however, that failure to attend
section regularly can result in failing this course. Your section grade will include both
your participation and your performance on unannounced reading quizzes.
Assignments: Assignments will be based on lectures, readings, and our discussions
during both lectures and discussion sections. You will write three 4-5 page essays for
this class. You will also write four informal, 500 word reports (one page single spaced).
Detailed instructions for all assignments will be posted to the resource section of our
smartsite and discussed in class (at least ten days before due dates for paper
assignments). Printed handouts will be provided for the syllabus only. The syllabus will
also be available on smartsite.
Experiments and Reports
The world is your lab for this class, and throughout the quarter you will be asked to
conduct experiments, reflect on them in writing, and discuss them in class. Each
experiment, more like an experience, will prepare you for a more formal writing
assignment. Your reports, or reflections on your experiment, will be due in section where
they will be discussed and evaluated in peer-to-peer feedback sessions (The reflection
for the final paper will be written during section). These are informal writing assignments
so what matters is the extent to which the author has reflected thoughtfully on the topic
provided. (They must be clearly written enough to be understood, but organization and
grammar are not the emphasis here.) After the feedback sessions TAs will collect the
reports and grade them using a simple pass / not pass system.
Papers
You will write one short paper (4-5 double spaced pages) for each of the three units of
this class. In each case, the goal of the essay will be to refine your thinking and express
your ideas in clear, sophisticated, polished prose. All papers are due in class, at the start
of class.
Your final course grade will be comprised of the following components:
15% Section Contribution & Unannounced Reading Quizzes
20% 4 Experiments (5% percent each)
20% Paper One: Identity
22% Paper Two: Convenience
23% Paper Three: Responsibility
POLICIES
Late Assignments:
Experiments: Experiment reports are due in section, at the beginning of your section
meeting. They will form the basis of discussion on the day that they are due which, in
turn, will help to prepare you for a more formal paper assignment. No late reports will be
accepted.
Papers: The grade for a late paper will be reduced one whole letter grade for each class
meeting it is late. (If a paper is due on Tuesday but handed in on Thursday, it starts out
as a B. The following Tuesday, it starts as a C.) You may only submit papers at our class
meeting not in section, in your TAs mail box or over email. Exceptions to the above
will only be made with advanced permission by your TA (send an email before the
assignment is due!), or with a written excuse from a doctor, therapist or the UCD
Counseling Center (752-0871). Papers are due at the beginning of class. Papers turned
in after 3:25 will be considered late and marked down half of a grade point.
2

Mailing List: Students should check their UC Davis email accounts regularly. You are
responsible for any updates and changes to the syllabus that may be sent over email.
Individual Questions: If you have questions about class material or procedures, please
attend my office hours, ask me after class, or make an appointment by email. Please
refrain from asking questions immediately before class (I am usually preparing for class
at these times).
Email policy: In recent years, I have noticed a marked increase in student e-mail
messages. As a result, I ask you to send me email messages only to make an
appointment to meet with me. Please do not send me email messages that ask for
clarification of class materials or class procedures (this should be handled during class,
office hours or after class), that notify me of your absence from class, or that ask what
you missed during an absence (please check with another student).
Disability: I encourage students with disabilities including invisible disabilities such as
chronic diseases, learning disabilities and psychiatric disabilities to notify your TAs so
that you can discuss accommodations within the first 2 weeks of class.
Academic honesty: The papers for this class are to be completed individually without
collaboration, except for editing by a classmate, friend or the Learning Skills Center.
Dishonesty (cheating, plagiarism, and collusion) will be reported and an F given to the
offending assignment. Plagiarism is defined as copying information from someone else
and passing it off as your own work (including from a website). Collusion is
unauthorized collaboration with another person in preparing your work.

COURSE TEXTS
Warren Belasco, Food: The Key Concepts (available at the campus bookstore)
All other course readings are available through smartsite
SCHEDULE

Tuesday 3.31 Introduction

Thursday 4.2 Bugs For Breakfast Bugs For Breakfast: What is food? What is food
studies?
Belasco, 1 and 2: Why Study Food? and Identity: Are We What We Eat?
Girardi, Spaghetti
IDENTITY
Tuesday 4.7 Community and Hierarchy
Sections: Experiment Due (Madeleine)
Humphrey, Soup Night: Community Creation Through Foodways
Yarbrough, Grandmas Table
Thursday 4.9 Manners and Rituals
Visser, How Rude Are We?
Cook, Social Etiquette: Manners and Customs of Polite Society (skim excerpt)

Tuesday 4.14 Gender and the Family

Belasco, 3: The Drama Of Food: Divided Identities
Beoku-Betts, We Got Our Way of Cooking Things: Women, Food and
Preservation of Cultural Identity Among the Gullah
Wade-Gayles, Laying on Hands Through Cooking: Black Womens Majesty
and Mystery in their own Kitchens
Piercy, Whats That Smell in the Kitchen
Thursday 4.16 Many Meals, Family Meals
Swenson, Domestic Divo? Televised Treatments of Masculinity, Femininity, and
Food
Tuesday 4.21 Ethnicity and Authenticity
Sections: Experiment Due (Interview)
Manalansan, Beyond Authenticity: Rerouting the Filipino Culinary Diaspora
Johnston and Baumann, Eating Authenticity
Thursday 4.23 Culinary Tourism and Colonialism
Bentley, From Culinary Other to Mainstream American: The Meaning and Uses
of Southwestern Cuisine
Anthony Bourdain, Under the Volcano
CONVENIENCE
Tuesday 4.28 No Class - sections will meet this week
Thursday 4.30 Making of the Modern Food System and Modern Food Consumers
Paper #1 Due
Belasco, 4: Convenience: The Global Food Chain 55-67 only
Hine, The Grocer Couldnt Help It
Tuesday 5.5 Meaning and Power in the Industrial Food System
Sections: Experiment Due (Experiencing Convenience)
Belasco, 4: Convenience: The Global Food Chain 67-78 only (Inside Gigantic)
Guptill et al., Branding and Marketing: Governing the Sovereign Consumer
Thursday 5.7 Social Trends / Product Trends
Peterson, Bringing up Baby (Carrots)
Strom, Has Organic Been Oversized
Food Culture Year in Review: Food Culture 2014 (follow links that interest you)
Tuesday 5.12 Food Product Development, Ron Rentell, President, Consumer Eyes
Sections: Experiment Due (Contextualizing Convenience)
Jackson, Grab and Go: A Restless Nation Tanks Up
Is the Era of Big Food Coming to an End?
Thursday 5.14 The Processed Foods Controversy
Lauden, A Plea for Culinary Modernism
Ramen to the Rescue: How instant Noodles Fight Global Hunger

RESPONSIBILITY, HEALTH AND THE FUTURE OF FOOD

Tuesday 5.19 Food Anxieties and Scares
Belasco, 5: Responsibility, Who Pays for Dinner
News:
Taking On the Food Industry, One Blog Post at a Time
Yoga mat chemical azodicarbonamide found in nearly 500 grocery store
food items
Poll: Three-Quarters of Americans Want More Government Food Safety
Oversight
Thursday 5.21 Labor in the Convenience Food System
Paper #2 Due today OR 5.26
Hands that feed us Executive Summary
Brown and Getz, Farmworker Insecurity
News:
For $1 per Big Mac, a truly livable salary for millions (editorial)
'Managers Told Me To Put Mustard On It': Fast-Food Workers Say Burns
Are Rampant, File OSHA Complaints
Tuesday 5.26 Urban Farming and the Future of School Lunch
Sections: Prepare For Debate On Future Of Food (Review Belasco 113-123 Before
Section)
Paper #2 Due today if not turned in on 5.21
News:
If urban farming took off, what would Boston look like?
Heres One Way to Improve School Lunches
No Appetite for Good-for-You School Lunches
Lunch on the barricades (opinion)
Thursday 5.28 Future of Food with Bruce German
Belasco, Chapter 6: The Future of Food
News:
Lab-grown beef taste test: Almost like a burger
Green food: Silicon Valley gets a taste for food
Will Soylent Solve our Food Problem (opinion)
Tuesday 6.2 Obesity: Framing Contests
Popenoe, Ideal
Campos et al., Epidemiology of Overweight
News:
Ban on fast-food eateries in South L.A. hasn't cut obesity, study says
To many, fat stigma makes obesity smell foul
Our Absurd Fear of Fat (op-ed)
Thursday 6.4 Future of Food Debate
6.10 Papers due via smartsite by 12:30pm (final exam date and time)