Food autobiography
Your first project for this class is the Food Autobiography, a thoughtful, analytical description of food in your own life. This is a personal subject, but the goal for the Food Autobiography Project is to approach yourself – and your attitudes to food – with analytical detachment. The big question is, Why do you eat the kinds of foods that you do, and why do you eat them the way you do? Saying that you eat what you eat because you like that kind of food is *not* good enough. Think big: what kind of food systems make your diet possible? How have cultural messages about nutrition, health, fullness or hunger, gender, age, social class, and more shaped the choices you and the people around you have made around food? What bigger values -- such as ideas about family, religion, nationality, or morality -- have affected what foods and eating styles you think of as acceptable in the first place?
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You may write your autobiography in the first person. Or, if you think it will help you keep a detached and analytical tone, you may write your autobiography in the third person. In other words, you can write "I" sentences or you can use your last name -- as if you were studying yourself. For example, if your name is John or Jane Smith, you could write something like, “Influenced by American ideas about children's pickiness, Smith grew up eating an extremely limited number of foods, most of them heavily processed..."
Things your autobiography should cover: * Big-picture overview of food systems in the place and time when you were growing up * Food values and taboos in larger culture * Food values and taboos in your home when you were growing up, including religious prohibitions if applicable * Parents’ or relevant family members’ attitudes towards food * Your food habits as a child * One meaningful food experience that changed the way you approached eating. This could be one specific event or something that happened regularly that you remember strongly (with fondness or not). This could be something that happened to you directly or something you observed * An overview of your current food habits, preferences, and aversions -- and how they have changed up to now |
You will note: this is a lot to cover! Also please note: I will be looking for thoughtful analysis throughout -- not just a description. Because you have a limited number of words for this assignment, I suggest you start well in advance of the due date by writing a longer draft and then giving yourself the time to refine and condense and distill your ideas down to a good, readable essay that fits within the word limit.
Reminder: Make sure to refer to at least two class readings, films, or other sources in your essay.
LENGTH: 750-1250 words
Reminder: Make sure to refer to at least two class readings, films, or other sources in your essay.
LENGTH: 750-1250 words