Food

Food, Culture and Cuisine: A Case Study of Oaxaca, Mexico
March 21-April 15, 2010
5 credits
Instructors: Dr. Cynthia Belliveau, Dr. Amy Trubek, Dr. Jean Harvey-Berino
Part I: COOKING AS RESISTANCE IN OAXACA, MEXICO
March 21-25
Instructor: Dr. Cynthia Belliveau
1 credit
"Your challenge is to keep people satisfied even when the corn is no longer the same - some say it is animal feedtrucked in from the US. Things must taste right even though, more and more, you use gas instead of firewood and enamel coated pots instead of clay and you feel that you have increasing responsibilities and less time to spend preparing meals.”
Maria Elisa Christie
Kitchenspace: Women, Fiestas, and Everyday Life in Central Mexico, 2008 (pg. 265)
Course Description:
The goal of the class isto better understand the food resistance movement in Oaxaca. We will read, discuss, interview, and most of all, cook the foods of Oaxaca. It is my hope that you will transfer what you have learned here in the Oaxacan kitchen, back to your own community, and successfully resist what you don't want on your dinner table.
Course Objectives:
By cooking traditional and contemporary Oaxacan food wewill begin to:
1. Understand the concepts and multi-dimensional aspects of social movement resistance and autonomy.
2. Prepare and eat Oaxacan cuisine.
Course Readings:
* The Food and Life of Oaxaca, Zarela Martinez - pgs. 25-47.
* Social Movement Resistance to Neoliberalism: The Zapatista Autonomy Movement in Chiapas, Mexico, Richard Stahler-Sholk - pgs. 1-30 (on reserve).
*Kitchenspace: Women, Fiestas, and Everyday Life in Central Mexico, Maria Elisa Christie, pgs. 232-266.
* Opening Spaces through Relocalization: Locating Potential Resistance in the Weaknesses of the Global Food System, Mary K. Hendrickson and William D. Heffernan, pgs. 347-366 (on reserve).
Course Schedule:
Monday, March 21
10 - 5:00 pm
* Introductions and review of syllabus
*What is social movement resistance?
* Discussion of Stahler-Sholk reading
* Introduction to the kitchen
* Cooking and eating Oaxacan food
Tuesday, March 22
10 - 5:00 pm
* Who is resisting and how?
* Discussion of Maria Elisa Christie reading
* Cooking and eating Oaxacan food
Wednesday, March 23
10 - 5:00 pm
* How to/Should I resist?
* Discussion ofHendrickson and Heffernan reading
* Building an understanding of Oaxacan and Mexican Cuisine
(Discussion of Long and Solis Food Culture in Mexico)
* Cooking and eating Oaxacan food
* Review of Food, Culture and Cuisine essay assignment
Part II. CUISINE AND CULTURE
March 24-April 1
Instructor: Dr. Amy Trubek
2 credits
Course Description:
This section of Food, Culture andHealth will explore the intersection of food and culture with a consideration of Oaxacan cuisine, or the ingredients, methods, techniques and traditions of Oaxaca. We will use as our base Sidney Mintz's definition: “a cuisine requires a population that eats that cuisine with sufficient frequency to consider themselves experts on it….in short, common social roots.” We will work to define Oaxacancuisine, to understand the components of this cuisine, and to explore continuity and change in the cuisine. Finally, we will investigate how all elements of the food system, from farming to cooking to eating, impact Oaxacan cuisine today.
Course Objectives:
1. To understand the relationship between culture and cuisine.
2. To identify the ingredients, methods, techniques, traditions and valuesthat comprises Oaxacan cuisine.
3. To explore the interdependence of region, nation, and globe to contemporary Oaxacan cuisine.
4. To investigate the importance of food and cooking to the identity of Oaxacans, both at home and abroad.
Course Reading:
* Introduction, Timeline, Chapters 1-3 from Long-Solis and Vargas Food Culture in Mexico (available on Bailey-Howe Library e-reserve)...