Nature’s Past: Histories of Environment, & Society with Dr. James McCann
Gastronomy Students: If you are looking for an elective next semester, consider MET ML 589 Nature’s Past: Histories of Environment, & Society with Dr. James McCann. He has provided us with a brief description of the course.
I teach and think about connections between
our physical world, humans role in that and what they grow, eat,
and talk about eating. It tells us a lot about our world(s).
Environmental history has its methods defined by the parameters of science and the natural world –flora, fauna, topography, seasons—as well as human elements of technology, demography, and social organization. Cooking and cuisine is at the apex of these interactions. This course will examine the work of key historians in the emerging field of environmental history and the role of food/cooking in that human/nature interaction.
The course begins with historical/cultural landscapes and ends up in Boston’s landscape of food in bistros, food trucks, groceries, and storefront restaurants. It will include 3 group sessions in that will focus on particular dishes from Africa, the American South, and Italy as examples of the movement of ingredients, ideas, and techniques. The goal is to explore ingredients and the ecologies of cuisine. There seems to be a growing local, and global fascination with the world of food and how ideas in our world of what we eat, and cook, merge and diverge. Wonderful stuff about who we are.
All photos provided by Dr. McCann
