Food & Culture in Spain

This course introduces Spanish gastronomy while focusing on the complex value codes and beliefs related to Spanish local products and their consumption. The course is divided into four parts. In the first part, students will be encouraged to define the concepts of food and culture, explore the role of cuisine in collective and individual identities, and examine how cultural food habits are created and change. This part covers the broader context that includes and sustains the way food is produced, prepared and consumed in Spain: the Mediterranean diet.

The second part of the course explains the theoretical and ideological aspects of cuisine in Spain and identifies the characteristics of traditional Spanish cuisine. The third part of the course presents historical events that have shaped the cultural food model in Spain by exploring the influences of the Romans and the Arabs and the Columbian Exchange as the initial basis of the modern Spanish diet. The final part focuses on some of the foods that comprise the core of the Spanish diet. The course includes a number of experiential learning activities that may vary from term to term. These range from visits to local markets and wineries to a variety of workshops, including olive oil tasting, a bread workshop, and a tapas cooking workshop.