History of Food and Wine, 7.5 Credits

Contents

When did we start eating with a fork? What did kings and queens have for breakfast? What did peasants eat? Are French fries really French? Why is champagne so expensive? Why is there so much hunger in a world of plenty? This history of food and wine is practically the history of everything. Topics include: how the introduction of new foods (including spices, wheat, maize, potato, coffee, tea, chocolate, sugar) transformed global trading networks and consumption habits; food as a site of cultural exchange and interaction; food practices as expressions and markers of identities based on class, wealth, gender, nationality, and community; how industrialization, migrations, economic crisis and other upheavals transformed food production and consumption; the history of food retailing, gastronomy and public dining, the history of hunger and overeating, the history of wine production and consumption, and the successes and failures of various movements to reform food production and consumption.
 
The course focuses mostly on the western world, but also includes food and products from other parts of the world. It covers a long period of time, starting with the gatherer-hunter society to the “McDonald” generation of the 2000s.

This is a Faculty Course at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities

Expected learning outcomes

After having completed the course the students will show:

Knowledge and understanding:
•    Knowledge about how culture and traditions have influenced the productions and business related to food and beverage items.
•    Knowledge about the different dynamics and factors at stake in the production, trade and globalization of food and beverage items.
•    Knowledge about the evolution of food and wine production, exchange and trade over a long period of time.
•    Knowledge about how key concepts such as famine, globalization, trade, agricultural production for example, have been defined by historians.

Skills and abilities:
•    Ability to critically discuss and assess different justifications and arguments for describing food and wine history especially in regard to production, commercialization, trade and exchange.
•    Ability to critically discuss and assess how key concepts such as famine, globalization, trade, agricultural production, have been defined and how these definitions have been argued for.
•    Ability to formulate these learning outcomes clearly in speech and writing.

Assessment and attitude:
•    Ability to independently formulate and analyze a scholarly problem in relation to the wider topic of the course.

Required Knowledge

90 ECTS in one subject, including a degree project of at least 15 ECTS, or a Bachelor’s Degree (180 ECTS), or the equivalent. Proficiency in English equivalent to Swedish upper secondary course English A. Where the language of instruction is Swedish, applicants must prove proficiency in Swedish to the level required for basic eligibility for higher studies.

Form of instruction

Instruction consists of self-governed reading and analysis of the course literature, governed and structured by reading instructions, online lectures, study queries and seminars. All teaching and examination takes place on the course’s web-based learning platform.

Students are required to have access to a computer with a webcam, a headset with a microphone, and a stable internet connection. Basic computer skills are required.

Examination modes

The examination of the course consists of seminars and written and oral individual assignments. All assignments are written in English.

On the course as a whole, the grades given are Fail (U), Pass (G), or Pass with Distinction (VG). In order to pass the course as a whole, all mandatory parts must be passed as well. The final grade of the course is a summary assessment of the results and decided only after all mandatory parts are passed. A student who has passed an examination may not be re-examined.
 
For students who do not pass the regular examination there is another opportunity to do the examination within two months and a third opportunity within one year.
 
A student who has failed two examinations for a course or segment of a course, has the right to have another examiner appointed. Requests for new examiners are made to the Faculty of Humanities.

Academic credit transfer
Transfer of credits is handled by Student Services/Degree Evaluation Office. See http://www.student.umu.se/english/getting-your-degree/transfer-of-credits/