Virtual Commons - Bridgewater State University

Plenary 2: Eating Across the Curriculum: The Complex Roles of Food in Life and Culture

Moakley Auditorium

Food plays a crucial role in our lives, and studying its production, consumption, our attitudes toward it and cultural conventions about it can provide a way for students to investigate problems of sustainability, identity, nutrition, geopolitics, the importance of climate, and issues of global justice. This interdisciplinary panel proposes to look at some issues: 1) how studying food plays out within a particular discipline—which intellectual issues are involved, 2) how studying particular food issues works in the classroom—a description of student classroom experiences; 3) what sorts of student projects have been particularly useful, interesting, surprising or delightful. The goal of this presentation is to share and develop ideas for ways that food study and project work can contribute to student experiences in disparate disciplines at the college.