Course Spotlight: Urban Agriculture, Summer 2026
Calling all urban agriculturists, plant parents, and green-seeking enthusiasts!
The BU Food Studies Department is excited to welcome Tuft's PhD candidate Olivia Grieco this summer to teach our Urban Agriculture class this summer. While perhaps not the first thought that comes to mind when we shop at our local supermarkets, but growing food in a urban context in itself is quite an interesting puzzle to think about. Where is food grown? How is it brought in? Is it shipped out? How do we as humans experience public green spaces when surrounded by the mass of concrete? Food for thought for sure!
What makes this course different from a typical environment or food studies class?
Olivia: The focus of this course is on exploratory learning. There will be major emphasis on hands-on learning and direct engagement with urban agriculture experts and practitioners. This will take students outside of the classroom and into their community and food system.
Curious if you need any prior experience with gardening or agriculture?
Olivia: No prior experience with gardening or agriculture is necessary. Just come with an excitement to learn, connect, and get your hands dirty!
Let's get a little more into the nuts & bolts...what kinds of food issues does this course explore?
Olivia: This course will span a wide variety of food issues. We will focus on the history of urban agriculture through what the field looks like today. We will touch on growing practices, food access, food justice, how food policy influences the field, nutrition, and many more topics.
What do you hope students will get out of taking this class?
Curious to learn more? Sign up for this Summer!
Last day to register is May 15th
Sebastian Crissey’s Article in The Chronical!
Check out the published work by one of our current graduate students, Sebastian Crissey.
Sebastian takes a walk down memory lane with his mother as they discuss 20th century supermarket shopping for this ethnographic study.
Julia Child Student Writing Award
The Gastronomy Department is proud to announce that Amy Phuong has been awarded this year's Julia Child Student Writing Award. This award is given to matriculating MA students in Gastronomy and honors their outstanding academic work. Below is a Q&A with Amy on her award-winning work that uses food mapping-- a technique that allows researchers to better make sense of their research through physical visualization.
How did you choose Lee’s Bakery as your research site?
Amy: Lee’s Bakery was not my original, intended research site. I found myself here after attending a book lecture by John T. Edge on his new memoir, The House of Smoke. In the conversation moderated by The Splendid Table’s host, Francis Lam, I became nostalgic for Edge’s memories of the global food options found along Buford Highway in Atlanta. Even then, I had planned to visit Northern China Eatery for my food observation visit. But when I typed the destination into GPS, I discovered it was closed. Rather than delay my observation visit, I decided to drive along Buford Highway, record my observations of the drive with a voice memo app, and see where the experience led me.
Buford Highway is home to various immigrant-owned restaurants and markets. For decades, it has served as a cultural bridge through food, where culinary traditions coexist along one of the city’s busiest thoroughfares. Buford Highway is a place I’ve visited a lot during my childhood. Growing up in Atlanta as the youngest of three children, I often tagged along with my parents during weekend shopping trips to Asian grocery stores and bakeries along the corridor. Those trips were less about food and shopping itself and more about being in a community, knowing where we belonged. In retrospect, choosing Lee’s Bakery wasn’t random at all. It reflected the pull of memory and familiarity that often shapes how we navigate food spaces.
In what ways did the food mapping process deepen or complicate your anthropological understanding of Lee’s Bakery?
Amy: Food mapping pushed me to think about space in a different way. During my initial ethnographic observations, I mostly analyzed interactions happening inside the restaurant. Mapping required me to zoom out and consider how Lee’s Bakery fits within a larger geography of daily life.
Drawing the memory map of Buford Highway made me realize how much of the corridor exists beyond restaurants. Auto repair shops, hair salons, tax offices, and convenience stores all operate alongside eateries. These places are rarely featured in glossy food destination narratives or articles about Buford Highway, but they are essential to the community that sustains those restaurants. The mapping process complicated my understanding because it showed that Lee’s Bakery is not just about Vietnamese cuisine. It represents a layered ecosystem of migration, adaptation, survival, and everyday coexistence.
What was the most challenging aspect of this project for you? How did you navigate it?
Amy: The most challenging part of the project was starting. I realized that this assignment wasn’t about creating a perfect map, it was about mapping the experience. Once I accepted that the maps could be interpretive rather than exact, the process became easier.
My favorite food map that I produced was of the Buford Highway corridor and of my plate map because it invoked many childhood memories.
How has completing this assignment contributed to your growth as a student and researcher?
Amy: This assignment challenged me to think beyond written observation and engage with visual methods of analysis.
As a student, I tend to approach research through writing detailed descriptions, analogies, and referenced citations. Food mapping forced me to interpret my observations spatially and visually. It also encouraged me to reflect more deeply on my own positionality—how my background and experiences shape what I notice and how I interpret it. I now see ethnography as not only as documentation but as a process of self-reflection and interpretation.
Why do you think food writing, especially ethnographic work, matters?
Amy: Food writing matters because food is one of the most accessible ways to understand culture and identity.
Ethnographic food writing goes beyond recipes or restaurant reviews. It examines the social relationships, histories, and emotions embedded as cultural texts in everyday meals and food practices. Through food, we can explore migration, adaptation, and belonging in ways that feel immediate and relatable.
Food ethnography also gives voice to ordinary spaces—small restaurants, markets, and community gathering places that might otherwise be overlooked.
Anything final thoughts you'd like to share or advice for other students?
Amy: From this project, I also learned that research doesn’t always begin with a carefully planned question. Sometimes, our best laid plans get sidetracked and by leaning into the journey and process of the work, I was able to produce one of my favorite projects so far through this Gastronomy program.
In my case, a closed restaurant led to a drive down Buford Highway, which led to Lee’s Bakery, and a deeper reflection about my memory and belonging.
In other words, just learn to go with the flow and you’ll surprise yourself!
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Student Work Highlight – Francesca Furey
This week we're highlighting the work of Gastronomy student Francesca Furey who recreated a historical recipe as a part of Dr. Karen Metheny's Cookbooks and History class this past semester.
Recreating Halibut Chowder from 1923
Forget deviled eggs, charcuterie boards, and savory dips this holiday season. Could soup be the star of a social hour? Mary D. Chambers, once the associate editor of “American Cookery Magazine” and a former professor of home economics at Rockford College, Illinois, argued such in A Book of Unusual Soups from 1923. In fact, she believes “no formal dinner, of even the least elaborate kind, deserves name unless there is a soup course (Chambers 1923: 1).
This 130ish-page cookbook dives into all things soup—from a quick primer on soup courses to accompaniments and garnish 101—before offering four chapters on sorts of soups that are considered “unusual.” What does unusual mean here? After flipping through odd and obscure (or perhaps revolutionary, modern, or haute) recipes like Veal and Pineapple, Cream of Raisin, and Hard-Cooked Egg soups, I determined a common denominator. An “unusual soup” doesn’t have to be unusual in ingredients, rather it could be something unexpected. The recipes Chambers crafted were written in hopes to impress diners at intimate luncheons, formal dinners, and parties. Yes, quirky ingredients could make a lasting impact. But so could soups made with French or global techniques, those from near and far (from France’s bouillabaisse to Russia’s borscht to Louisiana’s gumbo), or even if served in outlandish dishes or “pretty china.” Ultimately, the goal of cooking any unusual soup is to “let your friends ask you for the recipe—and find themselves unable to make the soup—for it is your own” (Chambers ix).
For my recreation recipe, I chose Chambers’ Halibut Chowder, which is designated as something “Soups-Plus” (102). A majority of the recipes were international sorts of soups. The author writes: “We have chosen for our section on ‘Soups Which Are Soups-Plus’ a number of the old-world and old-time soups that are really complete dinners” (Chambers 99–100). To Bostonians and New England natives, chowder is a lifeblood. It may even be the first type of soup they think of. And while it’s not extremely unusual by any means—or from somewhere Chambers considers “exotic in origin”—it could be something unexpected on the holiday dinner table. Chowder is a fisherman’s stew, something whipped up with scraps, leftovers, or excess seafood to feed the crew or family. That being said, could 100-year-old halibut chowder originally developed for Golden Age parties wow a crowd today? Let’s find out…
Shopping for Halibut Chowder
Before cooking comes shopping. I had most of the ingredients at home (onions, stock, seasonings) but went on the hunt for halibut and potatoes. Here, I experienced two hiccups: 1) seeing the exorbitant price of fish at a specialty food store and 2) trying to delineate the meaning of “medium-sized” potatoes in a 1920s context.
Imagine my surprise at the fish counter when I saw halibut was $37/pound. No thanks! It was baffling to consider how expensive fish is in the context of chowder being a blue-collar dish. I redirected my thinking to the middle- to upper-class audience of the cookbook, and felt a bit better. But I couldn’t imaging buying two pounds of halibut ($75 total) for this project. Sorry Dr. Metheny! The recipe said you could swap out other types of white fish. I chose the Icelandic cod at a lower (but still painful) price of $25/pound. I only bought one slab. Going with quality over quantity here… fingers crossed it works out.
As for the potatoes, I did some digging and found archival images from 1907 of Burr Oak, Michigan, once considered the “Potato Capital of the World” (above). After zooming in as best as I could, I believed that potato sizes then were comparable to how they are now. I chose Yukon Golds (the recipe didn’t specify type, I went with my gut) and chose potatoes that weren’t too big but weren’t too small either. I guess that’s what “medium” truly is. A Goldilocks gold potato, if you will.
Preparing the Halibut Chowder
A lot of cookbooks from this time period kept recipes in big chunks of paragraphs. So, I broke down each sentence into steps to make preparation easier.
Step 1: “Cut into thin, narrow strips three or four slices of fat ham and cook on hot pan with one sliced onion until onion is nicely.”
I was cooking with a fellow classmate, Kitty, who is pescatarian. I swapped out the ham and cooked down tomato paste (umami/complexity) in butter (fat) to achieve a similar flavor profile. The only thing this adaptation choice might have affected was the end color of the chowder, which had an orange hue.
Step 2: “Pare and slice six medium-sized potatoes; remove skin and bones from two pounds of halibut or other white fish cut in slices, and arrange in alternate layers of potato and fish, interspersed with the bits of ham, in a deep kettle until all have been used up. Sprinkle each layer with seasoning of salt and pepper.”
I found other recipes (ex: Fannie Farmer’s version in The Boston Cooking School Cookbook, below) that called for cubed potatoes, rather than sliced. I much prefer cubed as they cook faster and evoke some sort of nostalgia for the chowders I’ve had throughout New England in the 21st century. Alas, I sliced the potatoes to follow the recipe. My fish was already skinned and deboned (huzzah!) from my grocery store purchase. I used a Dutch oven, which is comparable to soup kettles of the 1920s, as my vessel.
I found the arrangement of alternate layers of potato and fish quite unusual. (Hah!) Another classmate Alice called this method “casserole-like” and I agree. I was concerned that piling these heavy ingredients on top of the onion would make the bottom burn. And what if I need to stir the chowder? Would this ruin the layers? Why even layer the potato and fish?
I was pleasantly surprised that Chambers called for seasoning with salt and pepper in each layer. It may be a stereotype, but I was expecting the end result to be bland. Not so.
Step 3: “Pour over the whole two cupfuls of fish stock or court bouillon, cover, and simmer for half an hour or until potatoes are cooked.”
No matter the vessel used (I chose a Dutch oven), I believe two cups of stock would not be enough at all! After pouring two cups, I deemed another cup was needed to completely submerge all the layers of potato and fish. Imagine if I used another pound of fish!
In 1923, the soup kettle Chambers used would’ve been placed over a fire or hearth. I was using a gas stove, so I fenagled with the heat settings until a simmer was achieved. I could only imagine the constant adjusting over the fire (or near it, to keep warm) when using a source of heat that cannot be tamed.
Step 4: “Add one cupful of thin cream, heat through for a moment, and serve at once in shallow soup dishes with small pilot crackers. Six servings.”
I traded thin cream for High Lawn Farm’s luscious, super-fresh heavy cream. That might’ve been the star! I made the executive decision to stir the cream (the recipe didn’t say whether or not you should), otherwise it would’ve sat on the top. Heat through for a moment? I kept it simmering for about 3–4 minutes to incorporate flavors and ingredients.
Final Thoughts and Flavors
For a soup (which I consider to be one of my specialties) where I let the author’s directions do most of the work, I was pleasantly surprised. It wasn’t thick or overly creamy like the cups and bread bowls served at seafood shacks. While I love those sorts of chowders, they have a time and place. I’m not sure the coastal chowder we’re used to would be a “winner” at social events and cocktail hours. This, though, could be. The potatoes were cooked through quite well and the fish flaked into tinier pieces, so every spoonful had a mish-mosh of ingredients. It required no more seasoning (shocker) and wasn’t too filling after we ate small portion. I think it could easy double as a soup course or main event, no matter the case. View my presentation here.
Works Cited
Chambers, Mary D. 1923. A Book of Unusual Soups. Boston: Little, Brown and Company.
Farmer, Fannie. 1918. The Boston Cooking School Cookbook. 3rd edition. Boston: Little, Brown and Company.
- “Farmers Unloading Their Potatoes in 1907.” Photograph. Provided by Ted G. The Burr Oak History Project. https://www.burroakhistory.com/potato-capital-of-the-world
References (for Project)
Schmidt, Stephen. March 2019. “On Adapting Historical Recipes.” Manuscript Cookbook Survey. https://www.manuscriptcookbookssurvey.org/on-adapting-historical-recipes/
Giard, Luce. 1998. “Gesture Sequences” in The Practice of Everyday Life, Vol. 2: Living and Cooking, by Michel de Certeau, Luce Giard, and Pierre Mayol, 199-213. Trans. Timothy J. Tomasik. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Spring Course Spotlight – Special Topics: Food & Mental Health
METML 610 E1 – Special Topics in Gastronomy: Food & Mental Health will be taught by Chad Bradford (MET Gastronomy alum) in Spring 2026. This online course will have a weekly live classroom session via Zoom (that will be recorded) and can be taken synchronously or asynchronously. 
What are the unconscious motivations for the foods we choose? Is alcohol really linked to creativity? And what does the infamous “Twinkie Defense” really tell us about food, law, and psychology?
This spring, the BU Gastronomy Program is offering a new course, Food and Mental Health, taught by Chad Bradford, MD, MA. A forensic psychiatrist, retired Navy Captain, and BU Gastronomy alum, Dr. Bradford combines mental health expertise with a gastronomer’s perspective to guide students through the dynamic, bidirectional relationship between food and the mind.
This interdisciplinary course challenges students to examine food using psychology, neuroscience, sociology, art, media, and more. They will tackle topics such as the gut-brain axis, food as a performance of identity, cooking as therapy, the psychology of consumer marketing, and mental health in the food industry.
The semester culminates in a collaborative Food & Mental Health Cookbook, where students blend scholarly analysis with creative recipe design. Not just a collection of recipes, it is an exploration of how our cravings, identities, and cultural symbols come together on the plate. Students will leave equipped to apply these psychological insights in culinary, entrepreneurial, and cultural settings.
Food and Mental Health (MET ML 610 E1) is open to BU graduate students from all disciplines. Whatever your background, you will discover new ways to think about food, yourself, and the world.
Keep an eye on the Spring 2025 course listings and join us for a unique exploration of what links mind and meal.
Registration is open now!
Graduate Spotlight- Anthony Zamorra
We recently caught up with Anthony Zamora (@anthonyjzamora), one of our Professional Culinary Arts Program alums, who visited Chef Jody Adams and General Manager Harry Asimis to stage at La Padrona (@lapadronaboston) while in Boston. Learn more about his experience below:
How have the BU Culinary Arts programs helped you and how do you still feel connected to the program today?
"The program at BU helped me tremendously by opening up my perspective to all the things I didn't know about food and the industry. The program also allowed me to connect with mentors I still have today! Since earning my certificate in 2016, I keep up with my directors, the program on social media, and have even popped over to the classroom when I've visited Boston."
What does your regular day look like as a nutrition chef for a professional team?
"As the Vice President of Nutrition, Culinary, and Hospitality, I get to work closely with very talented individuals in diverse settings. We cover sports performance nutrition, culinary, and hospitality! When I'm not working hands-on with my teammates, we are usually planning for the next week, month or future seasons. I meet with managers and teammates regularly to review goals, brainstorm ideas, or troubleshoot issues. My team is continuously redefining the definition of hospitality in sports and challenging conventional practices. I am currently designing the kitchen and dining room space of Utah's new NHL practice facility."
Why did you choose to stage at La Padrona with Chef Jody Adams?
"I called Lisa Falso and told her I would be in Boston on a work trip and that I was looking for a stage. I explained to her how I was trying to grow. Hospitality, team building, and delivering high level experiences were all at the top of my list. She recommended La Padrona and Chef Jody, as she thought I would connect well with them and gain a lot of value. Chef Jody's experience in the industry was incredible to learn from, and she shared with me several gems as I continue my career."
Do you have any future plans post-staging?
"Chef Jody and Harry Asimis, GM of La Padrona, both helped open my eyes to see what's possible in hospitality from the inside out. I plan to keep dreaming, building, and to redefine the hospitality experience in professional sports and in the state of Utah. Additionally, I wrote Lisa Falso, Chef Jody, and Harry thank you cards. I believe it's always important to send a card in the mail."
Zamora is the VP of Nutrition, Culinary, and Hospitality at the Smith Entertainment Group, overseeing chefs and dietitians for The Utah Jazz, The Utah Hockey Club, and @experiencetheunderground. He earned his certificate in 2016, continuing to keep close relationships with past directors and mentors and even popping into the classroom when visiting Boston. He contacted our assistant director Lisa Falso with interest in hospitality and team building before being recommended to La Padrona. Chef Jody is a core instructor for our Professional Culinary Arts Program.
Summer Course Spotlight- Special Topics in Gastronomy: The Language of Wine
METML 610S B1 – Special Topics in Gastronomy: The Language of Wine will be taught by Professor Ariana Gunderson in Summer 2025. This in-person course will meet twice a week from 6/30 to 8/8 on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6 to 9:30 PM.
This course is in the discipline of Linguistic Anthropology, and we will be doing plenty of fieldwork together! We will, as a class and on our own, find and analyze examples of people talking about wine in many different ways. Students will learn to compose transcripts, closely read samples of natural language, and conduct linguistic anthropological fieldwork to study language in social life. We will go on field trips together to find and analyze wine talk 'in the wild' and students will get to do some of their own fieldwork in the wine worlds they have access to or are most curious about. We will tackle robust theories of language together, with plenty of support and camaraderie, and students will leave this class with a strong sense of accomplishment in having learned an introduction to the major themes, theories, and research methods of linguistic anthropology. We will have units on the prestige of wine talk, winemaking, the natural wine world, and more.
Anyone who is curious about language, how cultural worlds are constructed, and the social life of wine will enjoy this class. Students need no prior experience with linguistic anthropology or wine talk, and you do not need to consume any wine to participate in or enjoy the course. If you are worried that you don't know how to talk about wine the 'right way,' that makes you an excellent outside observer to the phenomenon and your insights will be critical to the class! Join us!
Summer Courses Spotlight
With warmer weather around the corner, we are spotlighting some of the exciting elective courses that students will be able to take this summer semester. Check them out below:
METML 702S E1, Special Topics in Food & Wine: Food, Documentary & Advocacy will be taught by Dr. Potter Palmer in Summer 2025. This online course will meet once a week from 5/6 through 6/23 (meeting times TBA).
Through an exploration of seminal works in the genre, this course will explore the intricate interplay between food, documentary filmmaking, and advocacy. The course will equip participants with the theoretical frameworks, practical skills, and a deeper understanding of visual storytelling necessary for critically assessing and producing documentaries that serve as vehicles for advocacy and social change within food studies. By the end of the course, students will make their own short documentary.
Course Objectives:
1. Analyze Documentary Techniques
a. Critically analyze documentary films about food systems, sustainability, ecology, and
social justice.
b. Identify and evaluate documentary techniques and modes of storytelling used in
conveying messages and advocating for awareness or change.
2. Cultivate Media Literacy:
a. Enhance media literacy to critically assess the credibility, bias, and intent behind food-
related documentaries.
b. Understand the role of media in shaping public perception and policy around food issues.
3. Develop a Personal Advocacy Project:
a. Learn the steps to conceive, plan, and execute a documentary film project.
b. Identify a specific food-related issue or subject of personal interest or concern.
c. Plan and execute a mini-project utilizing documentary techniques and modes of
storytelling.
MET ML 722, Studies in Food Activism will be taught this Summer 2025 on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6:00-7:30 p.m. by José López Ganem, with a travel component to Boston, Massachusetts (from July 31 to August 2, 2025).
This class will explore academic and practical efforts on food activism and citizens' efforts to promote social and economic justice through food practices. Either by outright challenging existing structures or supporting philanthropic schemes to mitigate externalities, the space of individual expression and group pressure in food is vast, covering the terrain from the field to the market shelf, from the raw product to the written word. Our time together will focus on exploring diverse, US-based, individual and collective forms of food activism including veganism, gleaning, farmers' markets, organic farming, fair trade, CSAs, buying groups, school gardens, anti-GMO movements, family foundations, among others.
To test the theory and understand the daily complexities of the food activist, the course includes a 3-day trip to Boston, Massachusetts, where we will visit, engage, and evaluate a series of operations that seek to intervene in the way food is grown, transported, cooked, marketed, purchased, recycled, and beyond.
Students interested in learning more about their own activist voice or pursuing a career in the food activist, nonprofit, or philanthropy sector, will find the most value in engaging the curriculum. Moreover, this class will be relevant to anybody that considers themselves an “active” or “aware food consumer.”
In a time where political engagement reaches sectors sometimes misperceived far from The Hill, discover how the taste of your favorite vegetable, the location of a snubby supermarket, or the persistent existence of unhealthy ingredients were decided by predominantly political processes. Above all, come to understand your role as a food scholar on how to participate in its evolution.
Course Spotlight- “Bake Like a Pro”
We are thrilled to announce we will be running “Bake Like a Pro” next semester: The hands-on, pared-down version of our professional pastry arts certificate program, designed for home bakers and aspiring pastry chefs alike. No experience necessary! In this class students will tackle the basics of pastry making, master time management skills and learn the functions of ingredients and their role in baking. You’ll gain knowledge about the science of baking and how to master essential techniques, all while developing good kitchen practices and habits.
Classes take place once a week in our state-of-the-art kitchen and are taught by a team of highly acclaimed instructors who also teach in our professional pastry arts program, including Chef Janine Sciarappa and Chef Brian Mercury (instructors subject to change). While completion of this course does not result in a certificate, it offers a scaled-down version of our professional pastry arts program. The course covers all the basic core skills with a focus on key recipes and techniques.
For more about the course, we caught up with Chef Janine Sciarappa, Lead Instructor of BU’s Pastry Arts program.
- What type of student is this course really for?
"This class is really geared for anyone who has a passion for pastry. Whether you're a home baker or just really love something sweet, this course is really for someone who is passionate about learning. It makes a great gift too!"
- What should students expect a typical class period to look like?
"In a typical class period, students will be given instructions on how to execute a recipe, then working individually or in groups, they will bake 2 to 3 recipes over the course of the night. We end each session with time to discuss results and give feedback. And then the best part, students get to take all of their pastries home to share with their friends and family!"
- What material is covered in this course?
"Topics include cookies, meringues, cakes and decorating, laminated doughs, custards, tarts and pies, pâte à choux, pastry creams, ganache and breakfast pastries. Everything taught in this course will be sweet, so we will not be working with bread or savory pastries."
- What will students take away from this course?
"My hope is to teach them all of the tips and tricks to basic baking. I want to take the mystery out of complicated and advanced desserts. But above all, because this kind of program works better for those with busy lives, I want to cultivate an environment where students can come in to escape the world and make/eat beautiful things!"
---
Course details— Non-Credit Cost: $1,800, Meets: Tuesdays 6:00 – 8:45 pm, September 9th to December 9th
Signup here.
Course Spotlight- World Food Systems & Policy
MET ML 720A1, World Food Systems & Policy will be taught this spring by Ellen Messer, Ph.D. Anthropology.
Global societies in 2025 confront major challenges to ensure that all people can feed themselves sustainable, healthy diets and enjoy basic human security in a warmer, more crowded and interconnected world threatened by climate change, global pandemics, and structural violence.
Through readings and discussions, course participants acquire working knowledge of the ecology and politics of hunger, food security, and nutrition, and the evolution of global-to-local food systems and diets. Overviews of world food situations and international institutions are combined with analysis of more detailed national and local-level case studies that connect global to national and local food situations, crises, and responses.
Key Policy Questions Explored:
- How many are hungry and why? What are world food situations and priority policy concerns in 2024-2025, in contrast to the late 20th century and pre-pandemic 2020?
- How stable and equitably distributed are world food supplies? Which agriculture, nutrition, and related technology and trade issues have advanced or declined on the world and national food-policy agendas, with what impacts on food supply-chain stability, sustainability, safety, health and nutrition?
- Are animal-source foods necessary for human health and well-being? What should be the roles of livestock, animal protein (meat, seafood, dairy), and meat substitutes in diets favoring planetary and human health? At what scale(s)?
- Can traditional, or more diversified agro-ecological agricultural methods, feed the world?
Learning Objectives:
- Master food-system, food-value-chain, food-security, food-sovereignty, and human-rights terms of analysis at multiple (local to global) scales and demonstrate their interconnections in short weekly critical reviews and food-focused mid-term country-level assignment and final country report.
- Evaluate the relative merits, deficiencies, and overlaps of comparative advantage (markets and trade) vs. food-first (food sovereignty and food security) policies; and “basic needs” (Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) vs. “human rights/rights-based” food-policy approaches in mid-term and end-of-term evidence-based national case studies.
- Navigate the international agricultural, food, nutrition, and health agencies that monitor and evaluate food and nutrition and become a food-and-nutrition policy expert on a particular country, its hunger situation, and its significance in international food production and trade.