IMPORTANT UPDATE: The first class will meet on Tuesday September 30 to avoid the holiday on Wednesday, Oct 1.


This course examines food and diet from historical and transnational perspectives. We will consider the origins of agriculture, the co-evolution of world commodities and civilizations, the international exchange and spread of foods and food technologies following Columbus, and the effects of the emergent global economy on food, production, diets and health. From this survey of food in history, students will gain a greater understanding of how food influences, and is influenced by myriad factors, including politics, economics, climate, geography, technology, and culture.


COURSE FORMAT
This course is an interactive in-person seminar course in New York City. This course will meet once a week for 8 classes and will be held in-person at the following location: Jay Suites 3rd floor Conference Room, 369 Lexington Ave New York, NY

Weekly reading or other forms of materials may be assigned. There are no papers or grades. This course does not offer any credits or certificates. This course is intended for learning for the love of learning.

COURSE MATERIALS
This course will require participants to purchase/rent reading materials.
The following books can all be found new or used on Amazon, Abe Books, etc. If used copies are purchased, the price should be around $60. Copies of Mintz can be found for under $5.

Rachel Laudan, Cuisine and Empire: Cooking in World History (California, 2013)

Charles C. Ludington and Matthew Morse Booker, eds., Food Fights: How History Matters to Contemporary Food Debates (UNC, 2019)

Sidney Mintz, Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History (Penguin, 1985)

James C. Scott, Against the Grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States (Yale, 2017)

Registrants will receive access to the course website about two weeks before the course starts.

COURSE CANCELLATION POLICY
Registrants can cancel and receive a full refund up to September 15. After September 15, there will be no refunds issued.
Yale Alumni College courses are subject to schedule changes as well as cancellations. If Yale Alumni College must cancel any course prior to its start due to low enrollment, you will be notified of this by the cancellation date. Upon cancellation of a course, registrants may transfer their registration to another available course or have the registration fee fully refunded.

In the event of a disruption to the original course schedule, including but not limited to; Professor absence, hazardous weather conditions, or local travel restrictions, Yale Alumni College will do its best to reschedule the missed class for the week immediately following the original end date at the same course time and day.