FST 005 A-Z - Special Topics in Food Studies

Semester Hours: 1-3

Current Special Topics:

FST 005C - Food and Literature

As the climate house that allows for what we call “civilization” burns down, business as usual in the Global North keeps on fueling the fire. Our foodways are a core element of that business as usual. And because businesses as usual are established, maintained, and, perhaps, challenged and changed by the stories a culture tells about itself and the world, one important way to study how foodways are implicated in the existential but fundamentally ignored crisis of climate change is to study literature in which food plays an important part. In this course, we’ll do that by considering such works as Don DeLillo’s White Noise, Agustina Bazterrica Tender is the Flesh, Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “On the Slave Trade,” Amelia Alderson Opie’s “The Black Man’s Lament,” Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal,” Agnes Varda’s “The Gleaners and I” (a film), and (also a film) Benh Zeitlin’s “Beasts of the Southern Wild.” (This is a rough list; the actual syllabus may differ somewhat).

Prerequisite: WSC 001  or WSC 002 .

Crosslisting: ENGL 196N  

FST 005D - (CP) Bite by Bite: The Art of Food Writing

In this creative writing class, we will explore ways in which food writing can serve as a vehicle to explore issues of identity, memory, and social justice. Our title is taken from Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s book of essays, which we will read alongside additional personal essays, memoir, profiles, and reportage. Through a series of exercises and workshops, students will build a portfolio of their own food writing, drawing on themes and techniques we study together. 

Prerequisite: WSC 001  

Crosslisting: CRWR 184J  

FST 005E - (CC, IS, BH) Drug Plants Globalization

Crosslistings:GEOG 104Y , GS 104Y  

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Fall 2025

January 2026

Spring 2026