Philosophy of Food Reading Schedule

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JAN 19

  • First Day of Class: See in class notes for details.

JAN 24

Overview of Course Units

  • Reading/Viewing: Food, Inc, Fed Up, or Cowspiracy; Nestle, "Introduction: The Food Industry and 'Eat More,' from Food Politics", 2013. (1-27).
  • Focus: These documentaries and Nestle's Introduction will quickly put a critique of the US Food System on the table. For the movies, you should each select at least one movie to view (all are on you tube and Netflix, at least one is on Kanopy (through Foley)). Take some notes on: 1. Facts that you are surprised by, think important, or are suspicious of.; 2. Questions raised by the movie; 3. Claims or thesis that the movie's documentary evidence seems to support.

JAN 26

  • Reading: Montanari, Massimo. Food is Culture, (1-26). Pollan, Michael. Part 1: "In the Age of Nutritionism," In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto (pp. 19-40).
  • Focus: Montanari takes us quickly into the intersection of history, anthropology, and philosophy of food by situating food as primordial culture. Pollan gives us a quick introduction to "nutritionism" -- the idea that food just is nutrition, along with some analysis of the problems of nutrition science and nutrition policy. We'll read the rest of his analysis and recommendations in the first unit of the course.

JAN 31

  • Reading: Pollan, Michael. Part 1: "In the Age of Nutritionism," In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto (pp. 40-81. Gopnik, Adam, "Who Made the Restaurant?" from The Table Comes First, 2012, (1-32). Montanari, "Fire, Cooking, Cuisine, Civilization" (29-33) from Food is Culture.
  • Focus: Gastronomy is the study of food taste and satisfaction at the level of both plate and culture. We will look at some quintessential moments in the history of gastronomy, such as the birth of the restaurant, but also discuss contemporary gastronomic growth in coffee culture and beer culture.

FEB 2

  • Reading: Gopnik, Adam, "Who Made the Restaurant?" from The Table Comes First, 2012, (32-57). Singer, Peter, & Mason, Jim. Chapter 18: "What Should We Eat?" (pp. 270-285): Rodale. There are legions of ethical and social justice issues in food. This chapter gives you an overview of the sorts of ethical problems connected with the production and consumption of food.
  • Focus: There are legions of ethical and social justice issues in food. This chapter gives you an overview of the sorts of ethical problems connected with the production and consumption of food.

FEB 7

US Food System and Food Politics

  • Reading: Pollan, Michael. Part 2: The Western Diet (pp. 83-132); Recommended (not for quiz): Nestle, Marion. Chapter 1: From "Eat More" to "Eat Less" 1900-1990 (pp. 31-50).
  • Focus: Part 2 of Pollan's book focuses on the most important evidence that we have about the diseases of the Western Diet, the epidemiological evidence. The story of taking aboriginal people of a Western diet, Weston Price's pioneering "ecological" approach and a review of food related diseases are all important. Track the major ways that food is degraded by industrial processes.

FEB 9

  • Reading: Pollan, Michael. Part 3: Getting Over Nutritionism: In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto (pp. 139-170); Nestle, Marion. Chapter 2: Politics Versus Science -- opposing the food pyramind, 1991-1992 (pp. 51-66).
  • Focus:

FEB 14

  • Visit from Jenny van Cott, Pantry Fuel
  • Reading: Pollan, Michael. Part 3: Getting Over Nutritionism: In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto (pp. 170-201); Zepeda, Lydia. Carving Values with a Spoon Food and Philosophy (pp. 31-43).
  • Focus: Zepeda offers a more general reflection on the US Food system than we've had so far. Note the difference between energy-dense and nutrient dense. Track Pollan's "eating algorithms"

FEB 16

Food Culture and History

  • Reading: Montgomery, David. Chapter 2: "Skin of the Earth" Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations(pp. 9-25); Montgomery, David. Chapter 3: "Rivers of Life" (pp. 27-47)
  • Focus: The Montgomery chapters tell the story of food and soil. Chapter 2 combines a bit of history and science about where soil comes from and how long we've known that. Chapter 3 really gets us started on understanding the transition to agriculture. Try to track competing theories, note the relationship to religion, and key points in the Egyptian, Mesopatamian and Chinese experiences with early agriculture.

FEB 21

  • Reading Day -- Montgomery, David. Chapter 4: "Graveyards of Civilizations" (pp. 49-81)

FEB 23

  • Reading: Montgomery, David. Chapter 8: "Dirty Business" (pp. 179-215); Montgomery, David. Chapter 10: "Life Span of Civilizations" (pp. 233-246):
  • Focus:

FEB 28

  • Reading: Tannahill, Reay. Chapter 3: "Changing the Face of the Earth" Food in History(pp. 19-41); Tannahill, Reay. Chapter 4: "The First Civilizations" (pp. 45-59).
  • Focus:

MAR 2

  • Reading: Soler, Jean. "The Semiotics of Food in the Bible"; Tannahill, Reay. Chapter 6: Imperial Rome (pp. 71-91).
  • Focus:

MAR 7

  • Reading: Wallach, Jennifer Jensen. Chapter 1. "The Cuisine of Contact" (pp. 1-31); Wallach, Jennifer Jensen. Chapter 6: "The Pious or Patriot Stomach" (pp. 143-150).
  • Focus:

MAR 9

Nutrition and History of Nutrition

  • Reading: -- Gratzer, Walter. Chapter 1: "The Ravages of War Terrors of the Table" The Curious History of Nutrition (pp. 1-15).
  • Focus:

MAR 14

  • Spring Break
  • Reading: Nix, Stacy. Chapter 2: "Carbohydrates" Williams' Basic Nutrition and Diet Therapy (pp. 47-63).

Gratzer, Walter. Chapter 2: "The Scurvy Wars" (pp. 16-35).

  • Focus:

MAR 16

  • Spring Break
  • Reading: Moss, Michael. Chapter 2, "How do you get People to Crave?," Salt Sugar Fat. (pp. 24-44)
  • Focus:

MAR 23

  • Reading: Moss, Michael. Chapter 8, "Liquid Gold," (pp. 161-181)
  • Focus:

MAR 28

  • Reading: Nix, Stacy. Chapter 3: Fats Williams' Basic Nutrition and Diet Therapy (pp. 31-46); Moss, Michael. Chapter 11, "No Sugar, No Fats, No Sales," (pp. 236-263)
  • Focus:

MAR 30

  • Reading: Nix, Stacy. Chapter 4: "Proteins" Williams' Basic Nutrition and Diet Therapy (pp. 47-63).

Moss, Michael. Chapter 4, "Is it Cereal or Candy?" (pp. 68-94).

  • Focus:

APR 4

  • Reading: Nix, Stacy. Chapter 7: "Vitamins" Williams' Basic Nutrition and Diet Therapy (pp. 94-127): Elsevier.

Gratzer, Walter. Chapter 8: "Paradigm Postponed: the Tardy Arrival of Vitamins" (pp. 135-161). Oxford: Oxford UP.

  • Focus:

APR 6

  • Reading: Break (We'll leave this class blank for now to give us some flexibility.)
  • Focus:

APR 11

  • Reading: Barber, Dan. The 16.9 Carrot. In H. Hughes (Ed.), Best Food Writing 2014, (185-190); Barber, Dan. Introduction and Chapter 12 The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food, (1-21, 159-173).
  • Focus:

APR 13

  • Reading: Barber, Dan. Chapter 30: "Bread" (pp. 382-409)


  • Focus:

APR 20

  • Reading: Andrews, Geoff. Chapter 2: "The Critique of 'Fast Life'" The Slow Food Story (pp. 29-47).
  • Focus:

APR 25

Food Ethics

  • Reading: Estabrook, Barry. "Hogonomics." (142-149). Francione, Gary L. (2012). "Animal Welfare, Happy Meat, and Veganism as the Moral Baseline." In D. M. Kaplan (Ed.), The Philosophy of Food (pp. 169-189).
  • Focus:

APR 27

  • Reading: Haynes, Richard P. (2012). "The Myth of Happy Meat." (pp. 161-168); Singer, Peter, & Mason, Jim. (2006). Chapter 17: "The Ethics of Eating Meat" (pp. 241-270).
  • Focus:

MAY 2

  • Reading: Singer, Peter, & Mason, Jim. (2006). Chapter 2: "The Hidden Costs of Cheap Chicken," (pp. 21-37)
  • Focus:

MAY 4

  • Reading: Singer, Peter, & Mason, Jim. (2006). Chapter 4: "Meat and Milk Factories," (pp. 42-69).

Singer, Peter, & Mason, Jim. (2006). Chapter 9: "Seafood," (pp. 111-135).

  • Focus:
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