Courses
The following list of disciplines and course modules comprise the Gastronomy and Food Communications program of study. Each may include seminars dedicated to a specific issue, and course content may vary from year to year.
Economics
-
This course addresses the main issues of international commerce within the agri-food sector, with particular attention to theory, to EU agriculture policy, and to WTO accords. Challenges related to food business administration will also be considered, including accounting and management.
-
Gastronomy has a value beyond economics, one that is also social, but which is difficult to define in monetary terms. This course provides the principal means of estimating the financial value of socially useful goods and services, with particular attention to the gastronomic framework.
-
Focusing on the key aspects of European legislation on national and international tourism economics and law, this course examines the use of trademarks and labels on high-quality foods, as well as systems for the protection of agri-food products and gastro-tourism.
Communications
-
This course addresses advertising—the paid placement of marketing messages in commercial media channels—within the social context. Issues covered include the role of advertising in society, the public policy debates concerning advertising today, the influence that advertising has on culture (particularly food culture), and various methods of analyzing advertising messages and effectiveness. This course is given during the study-abroad period at the University of New Hampshire (Durham, NH, USA).
-
Focusing on the ideas of translation and practical knowledge within the cultural context, this course provides a set of guidelines for the semiotics of food culture. Communications strategies and consumer tactics are addressed, in order to develop a unified theoretical portrait of promotion and the erosion of values within the semiosphere. Starting with a general theory of mediation, the course also looks at themes within mass media and the challenges of marketing: packaging, food advertising strategy, and the communication of brands. Finally, through field study, a working model will be developed to survey the many facets of the field of food studies.
-
This course examines the sociology of tourism and the motivations behind tourism choices, as characterized by the self-actualization of individuals and the influence of globalization. The dimension of sustainability and models of food and wine tourism will also be considered, those that add value to high-quality food products and local identity, ultimately favoring local development.
Food Technology
-
Providing the fundamental knowledge for managing quality-assurance systems within food enterprises, this course also covers aspects of distribution logistics and packaging technologies. Strategies are discussed for gaining access to food resources, sustainable production, the relationships between consumer food profiles, and the availability of nutrients and food safety.
Language
-
The objective of this course is to provide in-depth knowledge of Anglo-Saxon and North American cooking and gastronomic language, with particular attention to its origins and neologies. Food industry vocabulary is included, as well as that of distribution, catering, quick-serve restaurants, and the creation of related international terminology.
-
The objective of this course is to provide an understanding of French food vocabulary in domestic and professional settings, including cooking and service. Tools for philological and lexical analysis of language will be taught, as well as in-depth knowledge of the history of gastronomic language in France and its diffusion throughout Europe.
History
-
This course develops the notion of building interpretative profitability using the guardianship of foodways—as a combined economic, social, and cultural fact—through the lens of geography. Each lesson will address one geographic stratum (the home, the community, the city, the region, the nation, and the globe as a whole), and the multiple links between food and these places.
Geography
-
The geographic approach to gastronomy analyzes and interprets food production territories through the lens of physical, living, and human elements (e.g. geo-morphology, geology, climate, ecology, socio-economics, etc.) Together, they characterize the nature of environmental systems, of the cultural and symbolic spheres, and of integrated nodes of economic development.
|
