JOUR 535D: Food Journalism: The literature of growing, cooking and eating our meals

Our relationship with food--and the way we discuss it--is complicated and deeply personal. We filter everything from restaurant reviews to nutritional news through the lens of our past and present circumstances, bringing class, history, economics, culture, race, and even DNA to the table. In this course, we'll parse out these perspectives, the array of assumptions we make when we sit down (or stand up) to eat. Graduate students enrolled in the class will be required to complete a more in-depth food story that explores the culture of food. One might report on the local restaurant scene to discuss the type of cultural appropriation described in the Charleston story in Eater.com, or explore a little-known phenomenon related to local food sources, on the model of Debbie Weingarten's Guardian story; both are detailed in the syllabus. We will meet one-on-one to develop this story idea and discuss sources and research opportunities. (elective, 3 credits)