Full Course Title:
Even Better Than Sliced Bread: Writing Food Memoirs
An interdisciplinary, participatory UDL (Universal Design for Learning) based course, encouraging students to explore personal identities and create a new worldview based on food memories, ethnographic encounters, and food studies. This course was designed to cultivate an inquiry into food by savoring the delicacies of memories, where food, home, family, community, and culture intersect. Class periods will consist of food memory narrative tasks, peer review, discussion, and presentation. Modeling the “flipped” course pedagogy, readings are assigned for homework a week before. Many homework activities involve hands-on food encounters that may carry over into class demonstrations. Group presentations are the spice of this course and therefore used liberally. This course draws on personal reflection as well as independent research to cultivate individuality and unique tastes. Inclusion driven, students aren’t required to “cook,” however sharing of material artifacts and food experiences are encouraged.
In this course, students will expand their knowledge of both food studies and expository writing. Through a culinary lens students will learn how to write food related stories that foster research and information literacy competencies through multi-disciplines such as history, sociology, chemistry, psychology, geography, and/or botony. creating a time capsule of food knowledge, combined with a sprinkling of flavorful memories and new information, adding a dash of food photography, then stirring gently to create a unique flavor memory journal that creates connections and engages each of the senses.