Fall 2025 | Yale University
Food as an expression of cultures and societies from pre-history to the present. How environment, taste, and contacts among peoples and actions influence culinary preferences. The second half of the course concentrates on US history and looks at food in relationship to immigration, gender, technology, and ethnicity.
General
Readings
Required Texts to Be Purchased
[\c] Albala, Ken, Joyce Chaplin, and Paul Freedman, eds. Food in Time and Place. Berkeley: University of California Press. (Abbreviated as FTP.) Also accessible via Yale Library.
[\c] Freedman, Paul, ed. Food: The History of Taste. Berkeley: University of California Press. (Abbreviated as FHT.)
[\c] Levenstein, Harvey. Revolution at the Table: The Transformation of the American Diet. New York: Oxford University Press. Available via Internet Archive; purchase strongly recommended.
[\c] Biltekoff, Charlotte. Eating Right in America. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
[\o] Parasecoli, Fabio. Food: A Citizen’s Manual. New York: Columbia University Press.
Aug. 27: Prehistoric Preferences and Early Civilizations
[\c] Freedman, Paul, ed. Food: The History of Taste (FHT), pp. 33–61.
Sept. 3: China and India
[\c] Albala, Chaplin, and Freedman, eds. Food in Time and Place (FTP), pp. 41–47, 68–88.
[\c] Freedman, ed. Food: The History of Taste (FHT), pp. 93–124.
Sept. 10: Ancient Greece and Rome
[\c] Albala, Chaplin, and Freedman, eds. Food in Time and Place (FTP), pp. 21–41.
[\c] Freedman, ed. Food: The History of Taste (FHT), pp. 62–92.
Sept. 17: Africa, the Near East, and Islam
[\c] Albala, Chaplin, and Freedman, eds. Food in Time and Place (FTP), pp. 95–104, 107–116, 188–204.
[\c] Freedman, ed. Food: The History of Taste (FHT), pp. 125–145.
Sept. 24: Medieval European Cuisine
[\c] Freedman, ed. Food: The History of Taste (FHT), pp. 146–173
Oct. 1: Early Globalization: Spices and Sugar
[\a] Freedman, Paul. “Spices and Late-Medieval Ideas of Scarcity and Value.” Speculum.
[\o] Nunn, Nathan, and Nancy Qian. “The Columbian Exchange: A History of Disease, Food, and Ideas.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 24, no. 2 (2010): 163–188.
[\c] Wise, Michael D., Wallach, Jennifer J., The Routledge History of American Foodways, chapter 10, “Sugar,” pp. 128–144.
Oct. 8: The Birth of Modern European and American Cuisine
[\c] Albala, Chaplin, and Freedman, eds. Food in Time and Place (FTP), pp. 233–248 (read first); pp. 142–159 (read second).
Oct. 22: Food and the American Middle Class, 1890–1930
[\c] Levenstein, Harvey. Revolution at the Table, pp. 72–108; 147–172.
[\c] Biltekoff, Charlotte. Eating Right in America, pp. 12–44.
Oct. 29: Food and Race
[\a] Wallach, Jennifer Jensen. “Food and Race.” In The Routledge History of American Foodways, pp. 293–306.
[\c] Opie, Frederick Douglass. Hog and Hominy, pp. 55–82; 101–120.
Nov. 5: Food and Immigration
[\c] Albala, Chaplin, and Freedman, eds. Food in Time and Place (FTP), pp. 209–225.
[\c] Freedman, Paul. American Cuisine and How It Got This Way, pp. 255–281.
[\a] Ray, Krishnendu. The Migrant’s Table, pp. 47–76.
Nov. 12: Male and Female Roles and Preferences
[\a] Deutsch, Tracy. “Home Cooking: Why Gender Matters to Food Politics.” In Food Fights, pp. 208–228.
[\c] Freedman, Paul. Ten Restaurants That Changed America, chapter on “Schrafft’s.”
Nov. 19: Visit from Danny Meyer and Hallie Meyer
Guest speakers: Danny Meyer, founder of Shake Shack; Hallie Meyer, founder of Caffè Panna (NYC).
Dec. 5: Food and Popular Culture
[\c] Albala, Chaplin, and Freedman, eds. Food in Time and Place (FTP), pp. 111–135.
[\c] Salkin, Allen. From Scratch: Inside the Food Network. *