HNSC:2222 — Foods of Diverse Populations

Instructor: Scott Alves Barton

Office hour: Via Google Hangouts/Meet or phone by appointment (to schedule contact via email)
Contact: scott.barton@brooklyn.cuny.edu | Dept Office: 718-951-5026
Co-requisite: HNSC 2222 Foods of Diverse Populations (lecture/seminar)
Pre-requisite: HNSC 1200 (Fundamentals of Nutrition) or 2210 (Human Nutrition)

Core-fringe-legume Sidney Mintz

The goal of this course is to your understanding of international cooking and cultures as a
means to develop our cross-cultural awareness as budding practitioners of Nutrition and
Dietetics. Being able to communicate and develop a cognitive understanding of cultural,
religious, social, and, racial, ethnic and gender mores, values, and behaviors around food will
enhance your ability to administer to your future client base.
We will use a variety of texts as a way to build understanding and sensitivity to international
culture and cuisine and eat delicious meals as well. This course has three component parts.
Primarily to engage students in the theoretical and practical nature of international cuisines
and their subtexts as markers of cultural identity, social habitus, class status/access, and for
their reflection of technological advancement in local agricultural/culinary traditions. The
course will be constituted of guided readings, lecture and discussions, & media presentations.
You are being prepared to go out into the field and work with populations that reside in your
community from all over the world. My goal is to introduce you to culinary cultural
sensitivity and the politics of identity as relates to food, foodways and commensality.

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GRADING GRID

ASSIGNMENTS:

PARTICIPATION (in-class: 25 points)

For every class one to two students will select the readings for the week,
read them closely, and come to class with a summary of each text
assigned to them. They have to formulate 2-3 questions that are derived
due to their need to better understand the text; or as a means to stimulate
classroom discussion based upon their interpretations of the text. This
project will often cause the respondent to read more deeply into the
subject under discussion. Following footnotes or using library sources to
prepare a brief presentation on the weekly topic.

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Each respondent must work with a minimum of 20 pages of written
material!
For each presentation, you will present research and findings addressing on
element of the foodways of the region we are focusing on. This can be widely
interpreted and should be subjects you are excited to deep dive into. You will
peer review each other’s presentations and those scores will be calculated for
your total presentation grade. The following categories will be assessed:
Accuracy, Cultural Sensitivity, Creativity, Engagement.
For students who are not presenting their interpretation of the weekly guided
reading, you will be responsible to have familiarized yourself with the
readings and be able to engage in discussion or ask topical questions related
to the week’s themes.

RESPONSE ESSAYS (25 points)

Throughout the term you will be either given questions to prompt a response regarding prior week’s
readings to answer before Wednesday evening 6:00 p.m. The response paper deadline is timed and
need to be uploaded to Blackboard to receive credit. Answers are encouraged to be succinct and
direct, 200 minimum-300 maximum word count. If there are portions of the readings that you are
struggling with, and you want to bring them out in this forum, please do. Rhetorical questions, brief
critiques on the readings or comments and strategies for engaging with the subject in each reading
are welcome too. If need be please see the Response Paper Guidelines in the Resources Tab.

MARKET PROJECT (60 points)

Beginning next week I want you to find a market in or near your neighborhood that you can
periodically shop at during this term. If you wish to purchase food from this market that is great. If
you just want to shop it as a market researcher, observing product, displays, sales, service,
communication, quality, quantity, price and customer demographics, that is fine too. Normally, if
this was not a pandemic, I would insist that you do not shop within your own ethnic, linguistic or
religious orientation. Yet, given the reality today, you will decide to either do an ‘auto-ethnographic
project’ leaning into a world that you already know, or stepping outside of it, as close as you can to
your home, work or school. I generally recommend that you shop there/or observe 5-7 times to
complete the project. You will need to go on some slow days and at least one or two visits when it is
busier to see how the flow, product and people change. Do speak to customers if you are
comfortable doing so, speak to salesforce and management, first identifying yourself as a student. If
they will let you, every visit take some snapshots with your phone, and/or record audio, if there is
something that you think is of value. You will need to take notes, but it might be easier to do that
after you have left to be less conspicuous, so that you are not considered to be an inspector. There
are guides in a separate folder to help you.

RESEARCH PAPER (45 points)

Food is often a mediator between cultural groups, allowing bridges to form where none existed
before. The cultural food presentation assignment is your chance to demonstrate a significant

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 cultural recipe(s). Each student will prepare a 4-5-page paper on their chosen culture
History of culture
Example of traditional dishes
Common terminology used for foods
Choose a subject of your own choosing that relates to class readings, course themes or
your personal interest, and write a brief research paper that will include:
For this project select a culture whose food and culture you wish to analyze.
To be submitted online, a culminating look at your growth and understanding
of International Cuisine by researching an area of personal interest to you.
This paper should be succinct and concise in its argument. Find a narrow
niche to explore.
For example, if you were interested in peanut allergies, you might choose to research the
food and cuisines of Sichuan province, in China, Peru, Brazil or Senegal all places where
they are deeply embedded in the local diets. Are there cultural or historic norms that
preclude allergic reactions in youth within these regions/nations?

In preparation for delivering this assignment you will have to provide an:
Abstract (15 points)
The Abstract should briefly and clearly detail the subject, theme, and mode of analysis. It
should is 150-200 words in length. This is the first stage in developing your research project.
Distill your theme to a workable concept that can be studied and presented in 4-5 pages. It
should include at least 5 academic (peer reviewed) bibliographic citations. These may change
as you continue to research and hone your ideas..
Outline (20 points)
Following approval of the Abstract, an Outline for the Final Paper will be required. The
second step is the Outline will be a 1-2 pages long and can be written in bullet points, that
details the arc of the research study.

Final Paper
Your final paper should follow the following format. Include your previously graded
Abstract. An Introduction of 1-3 sentences that identifies your argument, or research focus.
The Body of the paper that provides the narrative and data. A Conclusion, and a
Bibliography.

These preliminary steps will help you to craft and edit your final paper. In your final paper
you may also include references from journalism, media, and popular culture when
appropriate Please follow bibliographic guidelines as detailed in the APA guide on Bb.
Presentation (10 points)
A brief in class Presentation of an aspect of your research will be shared with your
colleagues. On or near the last day of class everyone will create a 5-8-minute presentation
that pulls out some specific details from your research that you find interesting to share.
You may elect to create a video, food tasting, or oral or visual presentation.

Assignment format: Your papers must be submitted in the form of a Microsoft Word document
(file extension “.doc” or “.docx”) through SafeAssign on Blackboard. Assignments in the body of
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an email, EMAIL attachments, and any other format than Microsoft Word are not accepted.
Points will be subtracted if any of the following format requests are not included:
● Microsoft Word files ONLY, NO pdf or Pages files!
● File name: Last Name#1_Last Name #2_Last Name
#3_HNSC2222_Annotated_Bibliography_Sp2020 (e.g.,
Chow_Jarana_Kaplan_HNSC2223_part2_Sp2020; part 3, part 4, part 5 for individual papers).
No spaces in between words. Note there is no “part 1.”
● Document must include class name, the names of all the team members (unless it’s the
individual paper), date, a title and page numbers
● Use double-spaced text (no simple, triple/quadruple spaces between paragraphs)
● Use standard 12-point Times New Roman font and 1-inch margins
● Proofread. You should
o Review what you and your team wrote,
o Use the Spelling and Grammar Microsoft Word tool (under Review ribbon/menu).
Spelling and grammar errors will incur in point subtraction.
● Cite all sources, including recipes, following the APA style format:
▪ http://www.apastyle.org/learn/tutorials/basics-tutorial.aspx
● Citation in the text for ANY information that is not considered common knowledge AND full
references at the end of your assignment.
Follow the APA format
• Helpful Tools https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/purdue_owl.html
• American Psychological Association. (2013) The Basics of APA Style. Available at:
http://www.apastyle.org/learn/tutorials/basics-tutorial.aspx

All written assignments for this course must be submitted through the
appropriate Blackboard links by 6:00 o’clock P.M. on the due date.
The paper requires the inclusion of a recipe, which may be either one of your own invention (and
authorship) or from another source. If you use a recipe from another source, whether that source is
a family member, friend, website, cookbook or magazine, you MUST cite it properly, just as you
would any other source. If the recipe is your own invention, simply state “Recipe by YOUR
NAME”. Plagiarism policies apply, please, ask when in doubt.

WEEK-TO-WEEK:
Every week there will be readings presented in advance. Each week there are handouts available
on Blackboard to download. Students will be expected to come to class and discuss these
materials. A calendar will be created for students to sign up for 2-3 weeks as reading responders.
On their designated week as a responder they will give a brief summary of the reading that they
selected and present a critical opinion and 1-2 questions that arose from their reading. If in the
process of reading you have questions related to content and understanding, those questions
should be brought out in class so that as a class we can discuss the content, theme and meaning to
better understand and contextualize the readings. Students will be graded on these brief
presentations.

COME TO CLASS PREPARED:

To participate in class (and to receive full credit for participation, see below), you must:
● Login on time for the Google Meet virtual class

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 ● Stay through the entire class until it is dismissed
● Communicate via email with the instructor as soon as possible in case of a technical
difficulty/lack of access to the platform, or medical emergency
● Follow e-etiquette

COLLEGE POLICIES
Academic Integrity
The faculty and administration of Brooklyn College support an environment free from cheating and
plagiarism. Each student is responsible for being aware of what constitutes cheating and plagiarism
and for avoiding both. The complete text of the CUNY Academic Integrity Policy and the
Brooklyn College procedure for implementing that policy can be found at this site:
http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/bc/policies. If a faculty member suspects a violation of academic
integrity and, upon investigation, confirms that violation, or if the student admits the violation, the
faculty member MUST report the violation. NO EXCEPTIONS!
Any violation of the following will result in a grade of 0 for the assignment or activity.

Types of Academic Dishonesty Explicitly Prohibited

● Cheating is the unauthorized use or attempted use of material, information, notes, study aides,
devices or communication during an academic exercise.
● Plagiarism is the act of presenting another person’s ideas, research or writings as your own.
● Internet plagiarism includes submitting downloaded term papers or parts of term papers,
paraphrasing or copying information from the internet without citing the source, and “cutting &
pasting” from various sources without proper attribution.
● Obtaining unfair advantage is any activity that intentionally or unintentionally gives a student
an unfair advantage in his/her academic work over another student. This includes sharing
specific information about exam questions with other students.
● Falsification of records and official documents includes, but is not limited to, forging
signatures of authorization and falsifying information on an official academic record.

Center for Student Disability Services

In order to receive disability-related academic accommodations students must first be
registered with the Center for Student Disability Services. Students who have a documented
disability or suspect they may have a disability are invited to set up an appointment with the
Director of the Center for Student Disability Services, Ms. Valerie Stewart-Lovell at (718)

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951-5538. If you have already registered with the Center for Student Disability Services,
please provide your professor with the course accommodation form and discuss your
specific accommodation with him/her.

Student Absence on Account of Religious Belief

A student who, for religious reasons, does not attend classes on a particular day or days shall be
excused from any examination or other work. The student shall have equivalent opportunity to
make up any examination or study or work requirements. Please make every effort to notify me
beforehand of any planned absences for religious reasons. For a full description of the policy,
consult the Brooklyn College Bulletin.

Student Bereavement Policy

Please, consult Brooklyn College’s policy:
http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/web/about/initiatives/policies/bereavement.php

Weekly Lesson Plans for Reading and Discussions

January 29th Course Intro and Overview

February 12th : Prohibitions/Taboos in Faith and Hierarchies

SCHOOL IS CLOSED –READING ONLY

February 19th Lecture: Pierre Bourdieu—Distinction & Rachel Laudan,

on Grains from Cuisine and Empire

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February 26th Lecture: Shop-till-U-drop: Introducing our Research
Ethnography

7 Ways the Pandemic Has Changed How We Shop for Food, NYT
National Community Freedge Network

Please bring in digital copies of grocery circulars, images/fliers and

advertisements about local food options in your neighborhood

Market Ethnography: Pig Face Manicures and Dog for

Dinner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXhRylRyAVg
March 5th Bounded Gastronomy: Nation-States of Cuisine

In Class Discussion:
What Did Bon Appétit Do Now? Zoe Haylock
Editor's Note: Why a Recipe Is More Than a Recipe
http://www.colleensen.net/articles-and-papers/
Russian food sanctions produce hip Moscow cuisine, Financial Review

March 12th How do we make or define National Cuisines

Culinary Tourism, Lucy Long
How to Build a National Cuisine, Arjun Appadurai
The Best Chink Food, Frank Wu
Uterine Families, Margery Wolf

March 19th Marking the Culinary Politics of Identity

Food, Self and Identity, Claude Fischler

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From Kim Chee to Moon Cakes Kathleen Ja Sook Bergquist
"Let's Eat Chinese!": Reflections on Cultural Food Colonialism, Lisa Heldke
How South Korea Uses Kimchi to Connect to The World — And Beyond, Kitchen Sisters
The Bloody San Antonio Origins of Chili Con Carne, John Lomax

March 26th Breaking Down Menus and Categories

N.Y. Jews and Chinese Food: The Social Construction of an Ethnic Pattern, Gayle Tuchman
and Harry G. Levine
The Language of Food: A Linguist Reads the Menu, Dan Jurafsky
‘If You Want to Experience Liberation, Black Women Must Be at the Table’, Jocelyn
Jackson
Mapping Men onto the Menu, Masculinities and Food, Alice Julier & Laura Lindenfeld
The Moral Instinct

Digital Homework: Please bring in Menus/photos of menus from 3 types

of restaurants or food shops that you enjoy or enjoyed pre-lockdown.

April 2nd Whose Food is it Anyway?

“Going for an Indian”: South Asian Restaurants and the Limits of Multiculturalism in
Britain, Elizabeth Buettner
The Sensory Experience of Food, Carolyn Korsmeyer & David Sutton
Please Pass the Chicken Tits, Jonathan Deutsch
Food and Emotion, Deborah Lupton
Lvng Book, Shaun Chavis

April 9th Food and Family

Charlas Culinarias, Meredith Abarca
Inventing Baby Food, Amy Bentley
Socializing Taste, Ochs, Fasulo and Pontecorvo
In Class: Discussion
What’s it Like Cooking for My Child with Autism, Shelly Gautreau & Emily Johnson

April 16th Commensality, Loss and Cultural Memory

Mapping Food, Loss, and Longing, Martin Manalasan
Institutionalizing the De-Institutionalization of Food Margaret Bail
Eating well with dementia
Cream Cheese, Potato Chips, and the Anger in an Egg Salad Sandwich, Catherine Kudlick
On Disgust, Aurel Kolnai
Land of Milk and Hummus, Yahil Zaban
Effects of ageing on smell and taste, J M Boyce and G R Shone

April 23rd The Food and Culture of Caring for Each Other
What Do You Call Post-Funeral Meals?, L. Kashimu Harris

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Some Covid Survivors Haunted by Loss of Smell and Taste, Roni Caryn Rabin
I didn’t trust my palate or my body or my mind, H. Claire Brown
Sniff, Nicola Miller
The Remains of the Feast, Githa Hariharan
In Class: Discussion
death.nothing.everything. LeRhonda Mangault-Bryant

April 30th Roots and Branches of the Columbian Exchange

Who Owns Southern Food? Tunde Wey
The Columbian Exchange, Rebecca Earl
Açaí: The Local Consequences of a Food Gone Global, Jessica Zerrer
Caruru and Calulu, Etymologically and Socio-Gastronomically: Brazil, Angola, and São
Tomé Príncipe, Russell G. Hamilton and Cherie Y. Hamilton

In Class: Discussion
Tribes Revive Indigenous Crops, And the Food Traditions That Go with Them

Young Women are Reviving Indigenous Food Traditions Online, Anne Kusmer

Food, Culture, Storytelling

May 7th Down Under—Pacific Islands

Eating the Asian Other? Pedagogies of Food Multiculturalism in Australia, Rick Flowers
and Elaine Swan
Eating at the borders: culinary journeys, Jean Duruz
A “Queer-Looking Compound”: Race, Abjection, and the Politics of Hawaiian Poi, Hi’ilei
Julia Hobart

In Class: Discussion
There’s a Disturbing Nexus: Organics and Supremacists, Kristin Toussaint
Hunger is not a Food Issue, Esther Ndichu

May 14th Serving the Masses Plates and Glasses

‘If I Caught the Coronavirus, Would You Want Me Making Your Next Meal?’ Fran Marion
Being Black in a White Wine World, Dorothy Gaiter,
America’s Obsession with Cheap Meat, Jane Zeigelman
Pollution is Killing Black Americans: This Community Fought Back, Linda Vilarosa
The Hudson Valley's Farm Workers Are Our Unsung Heroes, Steve Fowler

In-Class Discussion: Gender Case Study

The Wine World’s Most Elite Circle Has a Sexual Harassment Problem, Julia Moskin
Amid Sexual Harassment Scandal, Elite Wine Group Elects New Board, Julia Moskin
Elite Wine Group Suspends Master Sommeliers, Julia Moskin

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Chairman of Elite Wine Group Resigns Amid Its Sexual Harassment Scandal, Julia Moskin

May 21st
Final In-Class Presentations

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