Course Description: This course examines the historical processes that have informed the food on our plates. In particular, we will look at food as a medium through which to understand the processes of migration, invention, colonialism, imperialism, and capitalism that have shaped much of the Asia-Pacific world, including Japan and the United States. Students will have a clear understanding of the processes of colonialism and globalization that informed the spread and invention of different food cultures and cuisines.
Course Narrative: Through this course I've learned more about spam than I thought to be possible. From the original history, the impact spam has had on various islands in the Pacific, to the not so pleasant process of making the sort of meat product. We learned how foods have traveled across Asia and have major lasting impacts on the local cuisines that they encounter, such as curry. It's amazing to me how curry is so present in many different countries and even though it is called curry in each of these countries, the flavors are noticeably different between them. For the final project in this class we could work with a group to create a story-map through Arcgis about something related to food or the course. Our group chose to do our project on Cafe culture in Japan, the history and the current state of Cafes in Japan. Please take some time to view our map below.