Food is never just food. It is history, culture, ritual, and resistance. It is tied to memory and migration, power and pleasure. In this course, we will examine how literature uses food as more than just a backdrop, but as a lens for exploring identity, community, and tradition across a wide range of cultures. Through fiction, poetry, and personal essays, we will consider how the act of eating—what, how, and with whom—reveals deeper truths about human relationships, belonging, and exclusion. How do stories about food negotiate cultural heritage and adaptation? What is the connection between taste and memory, or between scarcity and desire? How does food in literature reflect systems of power, from colonial histories to contemporary food justice movements? As we read, we will think critically about our own relationships with food and how writing about food shapes the ways we understand nourishment—both physical and emotional.

Offered Fall 2025