Office:  Holton 328
Phone:  (414) 229-5767
Messages: History Department (414) 229-4361
E-mail:  carlin@uwm.edu
Home page:   www.uwm.edu/~carlin
Office hours: Tuesdays, 11 AM - noon, and by appointment

This course will investigate the significance of food in human history over the past five thousand years.

Are we what we eat?  The history of human civilizations is inextricably bound to the history of food.  This seminar will explore the role of food throughout human history. We will survey the history of food and eating chronologically, from Prehistoric times to the present, and we will examine the role of food topically, analyzing its place in such aspects of human life and society as agriculture and commerce; famine and war; religion, ritual, and taboo; medical theory and diet; hospitality and power; eating and manners; technology and the household; age and gender; wealth and poverty; class and ethnicity; popular culture and national identity; changing tastes and the evolution of fashion; and myth and memory.  Students who take this class should expect to do a lot of reading and research, a lot of thinking and discussing, a lot of serious writing, and a certain amount of eating.

There are 2 required textbooks:

Margaret Visser, Much Depends on Dinner (New York: Macmillan, 1986).
ISBN:  0-020-08851-5

Reay Tannahill, Food in History (New York: Stein and Day, 1973; rev. edn, Three Rivers Press, 1988).
ISBN: 0-517-88404-6
 
 

There are also required readings on reserve and on the Internet.  These are listed below under TOPICS AND READINGS.   The reserve readings, which are normally available on e-reserve as well as on paper reserve, are from the following books and journal articles:

Achaya, K. T.  Indian Food: A Historical Companion.  Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1994.
          Call no.:  GT2853 I5 A28x 1994

Banerji, Chitrita.  “What Bengali Widows Cannot Eat.” Granta, 52 (Winter, 1995), 163-71.
         Call no.: [a photocopy of Prof. Carlin's copy is on e-reserve]

Carlin, Martha.   "Provisions for the Poor: Fast Food in Medieval London." Franco-British Studies: Journal of the British Institute in Paris, no. 20 (Autumn, 1995), pp. 35-48.
         Call no.: [a photocopy of Prof. Carlin's copy is on e-reserve]

Chang, K. C., ed , Food in Chinese Culture.  New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1977.
         Call no.:  GT2853 C6 F66

Counihan, Carole, and and Penny Van Esterik, eds.  Food and Culture: A Reader. New York: Routledge, 1997.
         Call no.:  GT 2850 .F64 1997

Davidson, Alan.  A Kipper with My Tea: Selected Food Essays. London: Macmillan, 1988.
         Call no.:  TX355.5 D38 1990

De Silva, Cara, ed.  In Memory’s Kitchen: A Legacy from the Women of Terezín.  Trans. Bianca Steiner Brown, with forward by Michael Berenbaum.  Northvale, New Jersey, and London: Jason Aronson, 1996.
         Call no.:  D805.C9 I5 1996

Diner, Hasia R.  Hungering for America: Italian, Irish, and Jewish Foodways in the Age of Migration.  Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, England: Harvard University Press, 2001.
         Call no.: GT2853 .U5 D54 2001

Glants,  Musya, and Joyce Toomre, eds.  Food in Russian History and Culture.  Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1997.
         Call no.:  GT2853.R8 F66 1997

Grew, Raymond, ed.  Food in Global History.  Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1999.
         Call no.:  TX353 .F64 1999

Inness, Sherrie A., ed.  Kitchen Culture in America: Popular Representations of Food, Gender, and Race.  Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001.
         Call no.:  GT2853 .U5 K57 2001

Pilcher, Jeffrey M.  ¡Que vivan los tamales! Food and the Making of Mexican Identity.  Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1998.
        Call no.:  TX716.M4 P54 1998

Shapiro, Laura.  “Do Women Like to Cook?” Granta, 52 (Winter, 1995), 153-62.
        Call no.:  [a photocopy of Prof. Carlin's copy is on e-reserve]

Visser, Margaret.   The Rituals of Dinner (New York: Penguin, 1991).
        Call no.:  BJ2041 .V57 1992 

Zubaida, Sami,  and Richard Tapper, eds.  Culinary Cultures of the Middle East.  London and New York: I.B. Tauris, 1994.
        Call no.:  GT2853 N33 C85x 1994

You will require an e-mail account and access to the Internet for this class.  All UWM students are automatically assigned a free UWM e-mail account, and have free Internet access via UWM computer terminals.

Papers:   There is a required weekly 1- or 2-page précis of the assigned readings.  There is also one required 20-page research paper and two required interim assignments designed to aid you in producing it.  These written assignments are described at the end of this syllabus.  The research paper is due in class in Week 13 (29 Nov.).

Oral presentations:  There is one required formal oral presentation. All students will prepare and bring to the final class (Week 15) one dish from the menu that is the subject of their research paper.  Each student will give a three-minute oral presentation on that dish and its cultural and historical significance, after which we will all share the foods in a class banquet.

Exams:  There will be no exams.

Grading, deadlines, and attendance:  Your final grade will be based equally on your weekly précis (33.3%), your attendance, active participation, oral presentation, and other work in class (33.3%), and your research paper, including the two interim assignments (33.3%). The research paper and other assignments are due on the dates specified in this syllabus.  Late work will not be accepted, and absence from class will not be excused, except in cases of major illness or emergency (please contact me immediately in such a case).  Students who, during the first week of classes, do not attend class or contact me, may be dropped administratively.

Disabilities:  If you have a disability, it is important that you contact me early in the semester for any help or accommodation you may need.

WEEK 1    INTRODUCTION TO COURSE

6 Sept.        Introduction to course; discussion of course scope and requirements, etc.
 

WEEK 2     GEOGRAPHY, CLIMATE, FOOD RESOURCES, AND COMMERCE

13 Sept.       [Before class, please e-mail me your name, mailing address, and phone
                      number(s).]

                    Reay Tannahill, Food in History, pp. 19-41 (Chap. 3: “Changing the Face of the
                      Earth”), 43-59 (Part Two, Introduction, and Chap. 4: “The First Civilizations”)

                    Margaret Visser, Much Depends on Dinner, pp. 11-21 (Introduction: “What Shall
                      We Have for Dinner?”)

                     Jack Goody, “Industrial Food: Towards the Development of a World Cuisine,” in
                       Food and Culture: A Reader, ed. Carole Counihan and Penny Van Esterik (New
                       York: Routledge, 1997), pp. 338-356.
 

WEEK 3     THE STAFF OF LIFE: GRAIN AND SALT

20 Sept.          [Assignment 1 due in class]

                    Reay Tannahill, Food in History, pp. 60-70 (Chap. 5: “Classical Greece”), 71-91
                      (Chap. 6: “Imperial Rome”), 92-102 (Chap. 7: “The Silent Centuries”)

                    Margaret Visser, Much Depends on Dinner, pp. 22-55 (Chap. 1: “Corn: Our
                      Mother, Our Life”), 56-82 Chap. 2: “Salt: The Edible Rock”), 155-191 (Chap. 5:
                      “Rice: The Tyrant with a Soul”)
 

WEEK 4     FOOD OF POWER: PROTEIN AND FAT

27 Sept.        Reay Tannahill, Food in History, pp. 103-123 (Part Three: Introduction, Chap. 8:
                      “India,” Chap. 9: “Central Asia”)

                    Margaret Visser, Much Depends on Dinner, pp. 83-114 (Chap. 3: “Butter – and
                      Something `Just as Good’”), 115-154 (Chap. 4: “Chicken: From Jungle Fowl to
                      Patties”), 224-258 (Chap. 7: “Olive Oil: A Tree and Its Fruits”)

                    Margaret Visser, The Rituals of Dinner, pp. 227-242 (“Carving;” plus notes on pp. 370-1)
 

WEEK 5     RELIGION, RITUAL, AND TABOO

4 Oct.          Reay Tannahill, Food in History, pp. 124-140 (Chap. 10: “China”)

                   The Bible, Leviticus, Chap.11 (Since this text has no argument or
                          evidence, merely summarize it in your weekly précis; URL below)
                 http://www.hope.edu/academic/religion/bandstra/BIBLE/LEV/LEV11.HTM

                    Jean Soler, “The Semiotics of Food in the Bible,” in Food and Culture: A Reader,
                      ed. Carole Counihan and Penny Van Esterik (New York: Routledge, 1997), pp.
                      55-66.

                    Jeffrey M. Pilcher, ¡Que vivan los tamales! Food and the Making of Mexican
                       Identity (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1998), pp. 7-18.

                    Caroline Walker Bynum, “Fast, Feast, and Flesh: The Religious Significance of Food
                      to Medieval Women,” in Food and Culture: A Reader, ed. Carole Counihan and
                      Penny Van Esterik (New York: Routledge, 1997), pp. 138-158.

                    Margaret Visser, The Rituals of Dinner, pp. 27-37 (“Feasting and
                      Sacrifice;” plus notes on pp. 360-1), 297-309 (“No Offence;” plus notes on pp. 374-5)

                    K. T. Achaya, Indian Food: A Historical Companion (Delhi: Oxford University
                      Press, 1994), pp. 61-76 (Chap. 6: “Indian Food Ethos”).
 

WEEK 6     MEDICAL THEORY AND DIET

11 Oct.        Reay Tannahill, Food in History, pp. 141-151 (Chap. 11: “The Arab World”)

                    Margaret Visser, Much Depends on Dinner, pp. 259-284 (Chap. 8: “Lemon Juice: A
                      Sour Note”)

                    E. N. Anderson, “Traditional Medical Values of Food,” in Food and Culture: A
                      Reader, ed. Carole Counihan and Penny Van Esterik (New York: Routledge,
                      1997), pp. 80-91.

                    Ronald L. LeBlanc, “Tolstoy’s Way of All Flesh: Abstinence, Vegetarianism, and
                      Christian Physiology,”  in Musya Glants and Joyce Toomre, eds., Food in Russian
                      History and Culture (Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press,
                      1997), pp. 81-102.

                    Alan Davidson, “Not Yogurt with Fish,” in idem, A Kipper with My Tea: Selected
                      Food Essays (London: Macmillan, 1988), pp. 149-51.
 

WEEK 7     SHARING THE TABLE

18 Oct.       [Assignment 2 due in class]

                    Reay Tannahill, Food in History, pp. 153-173 (Part Three: Introduction; Chap. 12:
                      “Supplying the Towns”)

                    Margaret Visser, The Rituals of Dinner, pp. 79-136 (Chap. 4: “The Pleasure of Your
                      Company;” plus notes on pp. 363-5)

                    Mauricio Borrero, “Communal Dining and State Cafeterias in Moscow and
                      Petrograd, 1917-1921,” in Musya Glants and Joyce Toomre, eds., Food in
                      Russian History and Culture (Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University
                      Press, 1997), pp. 162-176.

                    Mai Yamani, “You Are What You Cook: Cuisine and Class in Mecca,” in Sami
                      Zubaida and Richard Tapper, eds., Culinary Cultures of the Middle East (London
                      and New York: I.B. Tauris, 1994), pp. 173-184.
 

WEEK 8     EATING AND MANNERS

25 Oct.         Reay Tannahill, Food in History, pp. 174-195 (Chap. 13: “The Medieval Table”)

                    Margaret Visser, The Rituals of Dinner, pp.146-210, 284-295 (“Taking Note of Our
                      Surroundings,” “The Prospect Before Us,” “The First Bite,” “Fingers,” “Chopsticks,”
                      “Knives, Forks, Spoons,”  “Sequence,” “All Gone;” plus notes on pp. 366-9, 373-4)
 

WEEK 9     TECHNOLOGY AND THE HOUSEHOLD

1 Nov.        Reay Tannahill, Food in History, pp. 197-223 (Part Five: Introduction; Chap. 14:
                      “New Worlds;” Chap. 15: “The Americas”)

                    Margaret Visser, Much Depends on Dinner, pp. 192-223 (Chap. 6: “Lettuce: The
                      Vicissitudes of Salad”)

                    Jeffrey M. Pilcher, ¡Que vivan los tamales! Food and the Making of Mexican
                      Identity (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1998), pp. 99-111.

                    Laura Shapiro, “Do Women Like to Cook?” Granta, 52 (Winter, 1995), 153-62.
 

WEEK 10     AGE AND GENDER

8 Nov.           Reay Tannahill, Food in History, pp. 224-229 (Chap. 16: “Food for the Traveller”)

                     Margaret Visser, The Rituals of Dinner, pp. 39-56 (“Learning to Behave: Bringing
                      Children Up;” plus notes on pp. 361-2), 272-84 (“Feeding, Feasts, and Femalesp”
                       plus notes on pp. 372-3)

                     Jeffrey M. Pilcher, ¡Que vivan los tamales! Food and the Making of Mexican
                       Identity (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1998), pp. 145-150.

                     Ianthe Maclagan, “Food and Gender in a Yemeni Community,” in Sami Zubaida
                      and Richard Tapper, eds., Culinary Cultures of the Middle East (London and New
                      York: I.B. Tauris, 1994), pp. 159-172.

                      Jane Dusselier, “Bonbons, Lemon Drops, and Oh Henry! Bars: Candy, Consumer Culture,
                        and the Construction of Gender, 1895-1920,” in Sherrie A. Inness, ed. Kitchen Culture
                        in America: Popular Representations of Food, Gender, and Race (Philadelphia: University
                        of Pennsylvania Press, 2001), pp. 13-49.

                      Chitrita Banerji, “What Bengali Widows Cannot Eat,” Granta, 52 (Winter, 1995),
                        163-71.

WEEK 11     WEALTH, CLASS, AND ETHNICITY

15 Nov.        Reay Tannahill, Food in History, pp. 230-251 (Chap. 17: “A Gastronomic Grand
                      Tour: 1”)

                    Martha Carlin, "Provisions for the Poor: Fast Food in Medieval London,"
                      Franco-British Studies: Journal of  the British Institute in Paris, no. 20 (Autumn,
                      1995), pp. 35-48.

                    Jeffrey M. Pilcher, ¡Que vivan los tamales! Food and the Making of Mexican
                      Identity (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1998), pp. 38-43, 52-57.

                     Hasia R. Diner,  Hungering for America: Italian, Irish, and Jewish Foodways in the
                      Age of Migration (Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, England: Harvard
                      University Press, 2001), Chap. 2 (“Black Bread, Hard Bread: Food, Class, and
                      Hunger in Italy”), pp. 21-47, 236-45; Chap. 5 (“The Sounds of Silence: Irish Food in America”),
                      pp. 113-45, 262-8.

                    Musya Glants, “Food as Art: Painting in Late Soviet Russia,” in Musya Glants and
                      Joyce Toomre, eds., Food in Russian History and Culture (Bloomington and
                      Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1997), pp. 215-237.

 WEEK 12     POPULAR CULTURE AND NATIONAL IDENTITY

22 Nov.        Reay Tannahill, Food in History, pp. 252-279 (Chap. 18: “A Gastronomic Grand
                      Tour: 2”)

                    Claudia Roden, “Jewish Food in the Middle East,” in Sami Zubaida and Richard
                      Tapper, eds., Culinary Cultures of the Middle East (London and New York: I.B.
                      Tauris, 1994), pp. 153-158.

                    Anne Allison, “Japanese Mothers and Obentos: The Lunch Box as Ideological State
                      Apparatus,” in Food and Culture: A Reader, ed. Carole Counihan and Penny Van
                      Esterik (New York: Routledge, 1997), pp. 296-314.

                    Joyce Toomre, “Food and National Identity in Soviet Armenia,” in Musya Glants
                      and Joyce Toomre, eds., Food in Russian History and Culture (Bloomington and
                      Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1997), pp. 195-214.
 

WEEK 13     CHANGING TASTES AND EATING FOR PLEASURE

29 Nov.         [Research paper due in class]

                     Margaret Visser, Much Depends on Dinner, pp. 285-322 (Chap. 9: “Ice Cream:
                      Cold Comfort”)

                     Reay Tannahill, Food in History, pp. 281-346 (Part Six: Introduction; Chap. 19:
                      “The Industrial Revolution;” Chap. 20: “The Food-Supply Revolution;” Chap. 21:
                      “The Scientific Revolution”)

                     Frederick W. Mote, “Yüan [ AD 1271-1368] and Ming [AD 1368-1644],” in  K. C.
                      Chang, ed., Food in Chinese Culture (New Haven and London: Yale University
                      Press, 1977), pp. 234-240.

                     Holly Chase, “The Meyhane or McDonald’s? Changes in Eating Habits and the
                      Evolution of Fast Food in Istanbul,” in Sami Zubaida and Richard Tapper, eds.,
                      Culinary Cultures of the Middle East (London and New York: I.B. Tauris, 1994),
                      pp. 73-85.

                     Jeffrey M. Pilcher, ¡Que vivan los tamales! Food and the Making of Mexican
                      Identity (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1998), pp. 129-138,
                      163-165.

WEEK 14     MYTH AND MEMORY; FOOD AND GLOBAL HISTORY

6 Dec.           Reay Tannahill, Food in History, pp. 347-371 (Chap. 22: “Confused New World;”
                        Epilogue)

                     Cara De Silva, ed., In Memory’s Kitchen: A Legacy from the Women of Terezín,
                        trans. Bianca Steiner Brown, with forward by Michael Berenbaum (Northvale,
                        New Jersey, and London: Jason Aronson, 1996), pp. ix-xvi,  xix-xliii.

                     Jan Thompson,  “Prisoners of the Rising Sun: Food Memories of American POWs
                      in the Far East During World War II,” in Food and Memory: Proceedings of the
                      Oxford Symposium on Food & Cookery 2000, ed. Harlan Walker (London:
                      Prospect Books, 2001), pp. 273-86, available [Internet]:
                       http://www.kal69.dial.pipex.com/shop/pages/isbn161.htm#prisoners

                     Alan Davidson, A Kipper with My Tea: Selected Food Essays (London:
                      Macmillan, 1988), “Funeral Cookbooks,” pp. 27-8.

                      Sami Zubaida, “National, Communal, and Global Dimensions in Middle Eastern
                        Food Cultures,” in Sami Zubaida and Richard Tapper, eds., Culinary Cultures of
                        the Middle East (London and New York: I.B. Tauris,1994), pp. 33-41.

                      Raymond Grew, “Food and Global History,” in Food in Global History, ed.
                        Raymond Grew (Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1999), pp. 1-14, 22-29.
 

WEEK 15     ORAL PRESENTATIONS AND BANQUET

13 Dec.           Oral presentations (described at beginning of syllabus, under Oral presentations),
                          followed by class banquet.

                                                                WRITTEN  ASSIGNMENTS
 
 

I.  Weekly précis:

For each assigned reading, provide a complete bibliographical reference, followed by a brief summary of  the main argument(s) and evidence.  If you quote the text directly or refer to specific passages in it, be sure to cite the relevant page numbers.  The total length of your weekly précis should not exceed two double-spaced pages.
 

II.  Interim assignments for research paper:

Assignment 1      Due in class, Week 3 (20 Sept.)

                           Topic for your research paper.  Must include:
                                  3 choices of menus (ranked 1-3)
                                 Complete copy (photocopy or print-out) of your 3 menus
                                 Complete bibliographical references for your 3 menus, including complete
                                    address of Internet sources, if applicable
                                 Date, place, and occasion or historical context of your 3 menus

Assignment 2      Due in class, Week 7 (18 Oct.)

                             List of five relevant primary sources and five relevant, scholarly, secondary
                                 sources that you will be using to research your chosen menu.

                             See handout for proper Bibliography format to use.
                             Be sure to provide a complete bibliographical reference for each source,
                               including, if applicable, a full Internet reference.
 

III.  Research paper:

The paper is due in class in Week 13 (29 Nov.).  No extensions will be allowed on the paper
except in the case of major illness or emergency (please contact me immediately in such a case).

The focus of your paper must be an actual historic menu.  You may choose your menu  from any place
and any period in world history, but it will have to be approved by me.  I have placed a sample collection
of menus on my home page, and you are welcome to choose one of these or to find your own.  Only one
student may work on any individual menu or menu collection.  You must submit your choice to me by
Week 3 (see above, Assignment 1) for approval.

Your paper should concentrate on asking, what does this menu tell us about the society that created it?
There are many possible ways to approach this question.  For example, what does  your menu say
about its society’s:

            Climate and agriculture?
            Economy and trade?
            Access to distant or foreign products?
            Wealth and power?
            Good times or hard times?
            State of peace or war?
            Religious traditions and taboos?
            Medical and nutritional theories?
            Hospitality rituals?
            Etiquette conventions?
            Food technologies?
            Household labor arrangements?
            Eating conventions concerning age, gender, and class?
            Cultural preferences, and ethnic and national identities?
            Role of fashion in food consumption?
            Myths and memories?
            Attitudes towards food and eating?

Your menu may commemorate a religious holiday or a special event, such as a coronation, a military
victory, a wedding, or a funeral.  Equally, it may represent a typical, “everyday” meal, for a private
household or an institution (e.g., a school, a prison, or a military unit), or it may represent the
commercial offerings of a restaurant, hotel, or cruise ship.  The intended diners may be rich or poor,
and they may be living in a time of war or peace, in good times or bad.  Therefore, you might also wish
to consider whether or not your menu:

           Is typical of the “everyday” food of its place and period?
           Is designed as a piece of political, religious, or cultural propaganda?
           Is place- or class-specific?
           Is intrinsically commercial or institutional, or domestic in character?
           Is designed to please the diners, or to control them, or both?

Your paper must be 18-20 double-spaced, typescript pages long (about 5,000 words maximum),
exclusive of notes, bibliography, and any appendices.

Your paper must be based on a minimum of five primary sources and five scholarly secondary sources.
Encyclopedias are permissible as sources of general background reading (and must be cited if used),
but cannot be used as any of the five required secondary sources.  At least seven of your ten required
sources must be from printed books; three may be from the Internet.  Any additional sources that you
use may be taken either from the Internet or from printed books.

In searching for sources, in addition to the readings on this syllabus (and the sources they cite), you may
wish to consult the following very useful online bibliographies on food history:

  Thomas Gloning, “Bibliography on Cookery, Food, Wine, etc., mainly 1350-1800”
        http://staff-www.uni-marburg.de/~gloning/cookbib.htm

  Kenneth Lipartito, “Food in History Bibliography”
        http://vi.uh.edu/pages/lprtomat/bib~1.htm

  New York Public Library, “Culinary History: A Guide to the Collections of the Humanities and Social
    Sciences Library”
        http://www.nypl.org/research/chss/grd/resguides/culinary/

Full Chicago-style documentation -- endnotes or footnotes, plus bibliography -- is required in your
research paper.  (Parenthetical citations are not acceptable.)  For guidelines on how to document your
paper, see the handout, or consult any of the online style guides listed on my homepage at:
       http://www.uwm.edu/~carlin/#DOCUMENTATION GUIDES