Food and Farming in America

Food and Farming in America

Brian Donahue

Rabb 348 781-736-3091

Office Hours: Monday 11-1,Wednesday 11-1

“Eating is an agricultural act. Eat responsibly,” writes Wendell Berry. This course will examine the responsibilities of eating and growing food, along with the pleasures. In America, food is available in great abundance and variety in all seasons of the year, at prices that most can afford. Yet many Americans eat poorly, good food is not available to all, and some believe that our food poses health risks and is produced by methods that are environmentally damaging and unsustainable. Others disagree, and hold that ourfood system is the foundation of our prosperity, and offers the best hope of freedom from hunger for the rest of the world.

The course will explore the development of farming and eating in America. Research projects will explore the history, social and environmental impact, and possible healthy and sustainable future of various crops and foods. It will include weekly field trips to Land’s Sake community farm in Weston, Waltham Fields Community Farm, and other farms and historical sites. About half of these trips will be devoted to experiential learning by helping with farm tasks such as planting and cultivation of crops.

Required Books

Edwin Hagenstein et al, American Georgics

Ann Vileseis, Kitchen Literacy

Paul Greenberg, American Catch

Course Requirements

1) Class participation. Based on attendance, participating in discussions, presentation,and field work. 25%

2) Experiential learning assignment. 5%

2) Exams. 20%

3) Food research paper. 50%

If you are a student with a documented disability on record at BrandeisUniversity and wish to have a reasonable accommodation made for you in this class, please see me immediately. You are expected to be honest in all your academic work. The University policy on academic honesty is distributed annually as section 5 of the Rights and Responsibilities handbook. Instances of alleged dishonesty will be forwarded to the Office of Campus Life for possible referral to the Student Judicial System. Potential sanctions include failure in the course and suspension from the University. If you have any questions about my expectations, please ask.

Course Schedule

Wed Sep 3Course introduction

Reading: Wendell Berry, “The Pleasures of Eating”

Michael Pollan, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, “Our National Eating Disorder”

Brian Donahue et al, “A New England Food Vision”

Mon Sep 8Field trip to Land’s Sake Farm, Weston

Wed Sep 10Native Diet and Farming

Howard Russell, “The Family Meals,” in Indian New England Before the Mayflower

Kathleen Bragdon, Native People of Southern New England, 1500-1650, Ch 1, 55-62, Ch 3, 102-29.

Mon Sep 15Waltham Fields Community Farm

Wed Sep 17Colonial Food, 1600~1800

Sarah MacMahon, “A Comfortable Subsistence: The Changing Composition of Diet in Rural New England, 1620-1840,”William and MaryQuarterly 42

Vileisis, Kitchen Literacy, Intro and Ch 1

Mon Sep 22Land’s Sake

Wed Sep 24New England Colonial farming

Brian Donahue, The Great Meadow, Ch 7

Mon Sep 29Field Trip to Minute Man National Historical Park, Concord

Wed Oct 1Agrarian Nation, 1775-1860

Hagenstein, American Georgics, Sections 1-3

Vileisis, Kitchen Literacy, Intro and Ch 2

Mon Oct 6Waltham Fields Community Farm

Wed Oct 8Farming and Diet in IndustrializingAmerica

American Georgics, Section 4

Vileisis, Kitchen Literacy, Ch 3-5

First exam due—10% of course grade

Mon Oct 13No class – Brandeis Thursday

Wed Oct 15American Fish

Greenberg, American Catch -- Intro, Oysters

Sat Oct 18 Field Trip to Appleton Farm & Glouchester

Mon Oct 20Land’s Sake

Wed Oct 22American Farming: Golden Age to Great Depression

American Georgics, Section 5, 6

Stoll, Fruits of Natural Advantage, “The Conservation of the Countryside”

First checkpoint paper due—15% of course grade

Mon Oct 27Waltham Fields Community Farm

Wed Oct 2920th Century Revolution in American Diet

Vileisis, Kitchen Literacy, Ch 6-7

Mon Nov 3Land’s Sake – or Boston?

Wed Nov 5 Post-WWII Changes in American Diet

Vileisis, Kitchen Literacy, Ch 8

Greenberg, American Catch -- Shrimp

Mon Nov 10Field trip: Pete & Jenn’s Birds

Wed Nov 12Sustainable Farming

American Georgics, Section 7

Land Institute 50 Year Farm Bill

Second exam due – 10% of course grade

Mon Nov 17Film: “A Place at the Table”

Molly Anderson, “Beyond Food Security”

Wed Nov 19 Organic Food, Slow Food, Slow Fish

Greenberg, American Catch – Salmon, Conclusion

Ruhf & Clancy, “It Takes a region”

Healthy Eating -- TBA

Mon Nov 24Class dinner

Mon Dec 1Food and crop presentations

Wed Dec 3Community Farming and New Agrarianism

Brian Donahue, “Reclaiming the Commons,” in New Agrarianism

American Georgics, Conclusion

Second checkpoint paper due—15% of course grade

Mon Dec 8Food and crop presentations

Dec 18Final draft of paper due – 20% of course grade