Cultural Significance of a Food Blog/Essay (600 to 1,000 words)
For this assignment, you will choose a food item or dish and analyze its cultural significance. You are required to use the model for understanding the cultural significance of food that we discussed in class. The model has four connected parts:
Production: Examine who owns and controls the production of the food and the conditions under which it is produced. Production also includes the cultural materials that give the food meaning, such as advertisements, packaging, cookbooks, food blogs, social media posts, and films.
Cultural signs: Analyze the texts, images, practices, codes, and rituals associated with the food. Consider both their denotative meanings, which are direct or literal, and their connotative meanings, which include the cultural values, emotions, identities, and ideas associated with them.
Readings: Consider how different people interpret and respond to these cultural signs. Their readings may be shaped by perception, prior knowledge, personality, social position, personal experience, or health considerations.
Lived cultures: Examine how the food fits into everyday life and wider social conditions. You may consider social relationships, values, norms, political and economic conditions, laws, regulations, institutions, governments, and subcultures.
The four parts of the model are connected. Your paper should explain how they work together to shape the cultural significance of your chosen food. You must also include a recipe and discuss the significance of the food within one or more specific cultural contexts.
Although you may write the assignment as a blog, it must be based on research and course materials rather than personal opinion alone. Your writing should be clear, concise, and engaging for readers with a basic understanding of food systems and cultural studies. To earn an A, you must meaningfully use at least four assigned course readings and four external readings.
Students with relevant production skills may propose a video or podcast instead of a written blog or essay. You must receive approval from Professor Erik before beginning this option. The video or podcast must meet the same research and analysis requirements as the written assignment.
You are also encouraged to prepare a recipe featuring your chosen food item for the Taste Around the World Farewell Feast on December 3. This is optional, and we will discuss the details later in the semester.
Hello everyone,
Your first assignment is due in class on October 8. Please submit a hard copy and attach a blank copy of the grading rubric. If you cannot attend class, you may leave your assignment in my mailbox anytime before 8:15 p.m. on October 8.
Please include the following:
A brief statement on the back indicating whether you used generative AI. If you did, explain how you used it. Refer to the course syllabus for clarification on acceptable uses of generative AI.
A word count at the end of your assignment.
Citations and references in APA, MLA, or Chicago style. Choose one citation style and use it consistently throughout the assignment.