Syllabus

Syllabus 2019: Ecogastronomy and Food Cultures of Italy (8 credits)
Instructor: Gigi Berardi
Responsible Adult: Kay Sullivan (grubbk@wwu.edu)
Email: Gigi.Berardi@wwu.edu Phone: 1-360-739-7163

Description and Objective of the Course

This 8-credit course builds on work in ENVS 110 (Ecogastronomy) and ENVS 410 (Agroecology and Sustainable Agriculture) with critical studies in food cultures, artisan foods, the conviviality of eating, and food consumption patterns and society. As such, this course offers intensive study in ecogastronomy and social movements that focus on key production and consumption debates in agriculture. Students study Slow Food in the form of sensory sciences in Florence, studying food cultures and scientific practice. In studying sensory taste science, students can critically examine the rhetoric of the Slow Food Movement. Some course sessions occur at a key center of ecogastronomic research and archives (University of Florence). While in Italy, students complete close to 80 hours of lecture, laboratories, and field trips. The objective of the Italy program part of the course is to immerse the students in ecogastronomy study – and also to experience a unique food economy at Camporbiano in the Truscan countryside. Field experiences and enrichment activities include language study and guided tours in Florence, as well as local excursions and direct experience with Italian “kitchen literacy.”

The course also includes one day of Bellingham-based lectures and culinary intensives. Course Structure and Evaluation: The format for this course is a 22-day intensive. The intensive consists of one day of lectures and meetings on the WWU campus prior to departure, and three weeks in Florence.

Course work

1. Bellingham and WWU campus attendance and participation, short-answer essays 25%* Saturday, June 29, 2019

    • 10:00am-12:00pm exam writing
    • 12:00pm-1:00pm group logistics
    • 1:00-2:00- salmon intensive and potluck
    • 2:00-5:00- exam writing

2. Florence attendance, behavior,** and participation, as well as daily reflections (amounting to about 15 pages of typed work), 50% ….Please bring notepads that you can share with me, once back in the United States – or I-pads (and files you can email), or loose-leaf paper. You’ll be keeping notes and answering prompts for reflections, while in Italy, but then I’ll need to see the compilation upon your return (due August 1) and before grades are due.

3. Paper 25% (due August 12, 2019); instructions in Canvas

4. Course evaluation (due August 20, 2019) once completed, International Programs will return $60 to you.

Readings

Texts to be read in preparation for short-answer essay writing in class, Saturday, June 29:

    • Harper, Douglas and Faccioli, Patrizia. The Italian way: Food & social life. The University of Chicago Press. 2009. Required.
    • Petrini, Carlo. Slow Food Nation. New York: Rizzoli ex libris. 2005, 2007. Required.
    • Vreeland, Susan. The Passion of Artemisia. New York: Penguin. 2002. Required.
    • Hibbert, Christopher. The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici. New York: HarperCollins. 1974. [recommended only]

Article to be read (available in Canvas):

    • Monteleone & Dinnella 2008 Italian Meals.pdf (111.17 KB) Required.

Behavior

Please refer to the Participant Code of Conduct in Modules, which you signed. We, US citizens, have a notorious reputation for rowdy and disorderly behavior.

    • There is a curfew of 1am Monday through Friday mornings.
    • You are required to attend nightly dinners with your host family.
    • At no point during the three weeks are you to be out of touch with me via phone (360-739-7163) or What’s App.

Given the intensity of the program, missing class is not an option. If you miss class (usually beginning at 9am at the Institute or with a meeting at the bus stop in Pzza. San Marco), you are required to get a doctor’s excuse. Note that given the close proximity in which you all are living, the doctor’s visit (about $100) is our only way to assure that you are being treated correctly for an otherwise contagious disease.