INTRODUCTION TO GASTRONOMY

Course Objectives:

Through readings, discussion and research, the course aims to;

• teach the basics of gastronomy and develop a base knowledge required to proceed to an advanced understanding of gastronomy. 
• introduce a local and global gastronomic map that leads to further understanding and research on cross cultural gastronomic topics.

Course Content: The semester is divided into 4 quartiles, each quartile lasting for 3 weeks. Weekly sessions include lectures and discussion followed by academic writing tasks on Learn. Each session is based on weekly readings focusing on the quartile theme. Thus, it is crucial that students systematically engage with and exploit weekly readings and be prepared to contribute their findings through in-class discussions. The first weekly sessions of each quartile directly engage readings while the following sessions provide contextualizing historical and theoretical information through group work. Each student starts an individual research project at the beginning of the semester and carries out research throughout the semester. Each students’ research is tracked by periodical submissions and individual feedback sessions. At the end of the semester, students are expected to prepare and present a research question presentation and submit a research paper.