Food Systems Minor
The production, processing, distribution, and politics of food systems represent one of the main challenges of the 21st century. The minor in Food Systems takes an interdisciplinary approach to the study of this essential issue, including courses related to this topic from a variety of departments and programs including: anthropology, biology, chemical engineering, civil & environmental engineering, economics, environmental studies, French & Francophone studies, geography, management, philosophy, psychology, and religion.
The Food Systems minor allows students to advance their interest in food policies, nutrition, water, waste and the urban environment, ethics of consumption, local and global cuisines, cultural practices, and the aesthetics of food. Cultural, political, economic, environmental, scientific, and geographic approaches to food within local, urban, and global contexts will allow students to investigate the myriad ways in which individuals, communities, and societies produce, distribute, and consume food. By exploring these issues with analytic tools developed in a range of academic disciplines, this minor leads to a critical examination of the role of food in historic and contemporary societies. A Food Systems concentration will enrich students’ understanding of their respective majors and prove useful to careers in a variety of fields, including: agricultural sciences, policy, development, advocacy, media, and social and cultural analysis.
The Food Systems minor consists of five courses. At least two courses must come from the “Global Cultural Approaches” list; at least one must come from the “Applied Approaches” list; the other two may be from either list. No more than three courses may be from the same department. No more than one 100-level course may count toward the minor. Please note that courses in the student’s major department may not count toward a minor.
Students or faculty instructors may request that relevant courses be included in the minor by obtaining approval from the coordinators of the minor. Students may count an internship or fieldwork related to food systems in the form of an independent study course. Students may request that study abroad courses be considered for the minor; the Coordinating Committee will consider study abroad courses upon review of the syllabus.
Students are encouraged to discuss their selection of courses for the minor with a member of the Coordinating Committee.
Global Cultural Approaches to Food Systems
| ANTH 265 | Food, Eating, and Culture | 1 |
| ECON 225 | Cultivating Change | 1 |
| ENST 204 | Global Political Ecology of Food | 1 |
| ENST 216 | Preindustrial Environment | 1 |
| ENST 226 | Water Politics and Policies | 1 |
| ENST 255 | Environmental Injustice | 1 |
| FREN 280 | Translating Food Cultures | 1 |
| FREN 282 | Patrimoines Gastronomiques | 1 |
| FREN 395 | Seminar in French Studies | 1 |
| GEOG 345 | Food and the Environment | 1 |
| IREL 234 | Environment & Development | 1 |
| IREL 252 | Political Economy of Global Resources | 1 |
| IREL 430 | Global Poverty: Politics and Practices | 1 |
| PHIL 100 | Introduction to Philosophy (Gods, Humans, Animals) | 1 |
| PHIL 271 | Eating Animals: Philosophical Perspectives | 1 |
| PSYC 309 | Appetite and Eating Behavior | 1 |
| RELI 229 | The Ethics of Consumption | 1 |
| RELI 312 | Digesting Divinity: Religion and Food | 1 |
| UNIV 200 | Integrated Perspectives Course (West, Cowboys, Nature, Myth) | 1 |
| UNIV 288 | Global Cuisines, Local Contexts: Commensality and Conflict | 1 |
Applied Approaches to Food Systems
| ANOP 301 | Global Supply Chain Management | 1 |
| ANTH 310 | Culture, Nature and Place | 1 |
| BIOL 131 | Biology of Food | 1 |
| BIOL 150 | Plants, People, and the Environment | 1 |
| BIOL 330 | Plant Systematics | 1 |
| BIOL 351 | Field Botany | 1 |
| CEEG 320 | Water Resources Engineering | 1 |
| CHEG 452 | Bioprocess Engineering | 1 |
| CHEG 470 | Special Topics in Chemical Engineering (Applied Food Science & Engineering) | 1 |
| CHEG 472 | Special Topics in Chemical Engineering | 1 |
| ECON 235 | African Economic Development | 1 |
| ECON 273 | Latin American Economic Development | 1 |
| RESC 098 | Foundation Seminar in Residential Colleges ("Food, Farming and Sustainability") | 1 |
| UNIV 200 | Integrated Perspectives Course (Farm to Table) | 1 |
| UNIV 209 | Tasting France: The Science and Culture of Terroir | 1 |
Faculty
Coordinator: John Penniman
Coordinating Committee: Philippe C. Dubois (Languages, Cultures & Linguistics-French), John Penniman (Religious Studies), Clare Sammells (Sociology & Anthropology), Mark D. Spiro (Biology), Margot Vigeant (Chemical Engineering)