HIST 428: Food, Health, and Environment in History

Does food have a history? While seemingly a mundane aspect of everyday life, food has been central to cultural meaning, political conflict, religious life, and economic and social systems. Food has also been closely connected, both materially and in the realm of ideas, to bodily health and the natural environment, which will be the key themes of this course. Topics may include: the creation of the modern food system, the relationship between food production and landscape change, the shift from local to long-distance food procurement, the transformation of diet, the industrialization of agriculture, farm labor, the history of nutritional science and expert advice about what kinds of foods to eat, the development of global commodity chains, the environmental consequences of changes in the food system, the origins of public policy initiatives such as the school lunch and farm programs, and the rise of movements to challenge the conventional food system, such as vegetarianism, organic agriculture, and the local food movement. We will focus on historical experiences in their global and comparative context. Through this course, we will explore how a historical perspective can be insightful in understanding the food system.