This popular snack cake, which is rumored to never expire, has been a fixture in pop culture and grocery stores since 1930. This course will examine the globalization of food as well as consumption patterns and the history of sugar, among other topics. (Image courtesy of Christian Cable on flickr. License CC BY.)
Instructor(s)
Anya Zilberstein
MIT Course Number
21H.S01
As Taught In
Fall 2014
Level
Undergraduate
Course Description
Course Description
This course will explore food in modern American history as a story of industrialization and globalization. Lectures, readings, and discussions will emphasize the historical dimensions of—and debates about—slave plantations and factory farm labor; industrial processing and technologies of food preservation; the political economy and ecology of global commodity chains; the vagaries of nutritional science; food restrictions and reform movements; food surpluses and famines; cooking traditions and innovations; the emergence of restaurants, supermarkets, fast food, and slow food. The core concern of the course will be to understand the increasingly pervasive influence of the American model of food production and consumption patterns.