Gottfried Hagen, Near Eastern Studies | 2018-2019
Food and drink are fundamental to human existence. They provide sustenance, meaning, memory, and identity, and they can even be delicious. This course explores the social and cultural history of food and drink, in the Middle East–an area fundamental to human history and in the contemporary world. As a strictly classroom-based course, MIDEAST 209 had students pore over archaeological artifacts, medieval cookbooks, or modern anthropological accounts, when it was first taught in Fall 2018. We are now seeking funds to add a hands-on experience of actually making, serving, and consuming several Middle Eastern iconic dishes. We started the course last fall by ‘deconstructing a meal’ in terms of materials used, processes deployed in the preparation, social significance of consumption, and cultural and especially religious meaning attributed to food and drink. To teach students the preparation, in conjunction with considerations of shared consumption, hospitality, and commensality will add a layer of direct experience, and force reflections on learning and knowledge that cannot be obtained in the classroom. One might say it will add ‘flesh to the bones’ of abstract academic learning. We are seeking funds to defray the cost of rental fees for a demonstration kitchen, and for professionals from the food industry to lead the demonstration and cooking exercises.