HSEM3953H

Eating is both an everyday, mundane activity and a complex act that is linked to internal and external factors. Using the lenses of the humanities and sciences, we will explore topics from the full continuum of human eating. We move from hunger, starvation, and dieting to food choice and obesity, to eating’s relationship to contemporary politics, culture, and racial diversity. Overarching these topics are common themes of gender roles and changing cultural norms. We will investigate how and why diets vary as well as how food has emerged as a central political problem. Students will leave this class better able to judge evidence used in diet advice and with more understanding of their own beliefs about what they should eat.

000571