Professor Sue Alcock
Susan_Alcock@brown.edu
Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World
101 Rhode Island Hall 
 863-3710
Office Hours: TBA
Teaching Assistant: Catie Steidl
Catherine_Steidl@brown.edu
Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World
Rhode Island Hall
Office Hours: TBA
Class wiki: http://proteus.brown.edu/foodanddrink2013/Home pwd: fooddrinkprivate
Class meetings: 
 MWF 11:00 - 11:50 (D Hour)
Rhode Island Hall 108
Everybody eats - but patterns of eating (and drinking) vary dramatically from culture to culture. This course traces the mechanics of food production and consumption in the ancient Mediterranean world, considers how diet marked symbolic boundaries, gender differences, and in general explores the extent to which the ancient Greeks and Romans ‘were what they ate’.
Required readings:
(available as e-book via Josiah, or via Amazon.com or other vendors)
Peter Garnsey, Food and Society in Classical Antiquity (Cambridge: University
Press, 1999)
Course Requirements:
Three in-class exams
45% Hourly (50 minute) Exams, 15% each
(M, September 30th (on material from 9/4 to 9/27); M, October 28th (on material from 10/2 to 10/23), W, December 10th (cumulative)
Writing about food
30% Short but polished papers (2-3 pages each); 10% each
(1.5 spacing; 11-12 pt. font)
• Food reviews: dining and shopping in Divine Providence
Due: M, September 16th
• ‘What did she just say?’: follow up on an issue raised in class
Due W, October 16th
• Object analysis, Rhode Island School of Design Museum
Due: M, November 11th

Ancient food meets the ‘real world’
25% Individual (or small group) project that links food in the ancient world to the complexities of food (production, consumption, symbolism) in modern society.
Due: M, December 2nd
Total: 100%

More Detail on Course Requirements
Hourly Examinations
Identification of terms, names, or images seen in class and in the readings; short answer questions.
Writing about food
1) Food Reviews: Dining and Shopping in Divine Providence
A short (two-three page) critique of any aspect of your local food scene:
Brown or Providence, supermarkets, farmers markets, restaurants, bars, the
Ratty, any drinking and dining experiences. Form and style up to you: sound like an epicurean or social reformer, make like a food critic, emote from the perspective of an alien or a pet…
2) ‘What did she just say?’: follow up on an issue raised in class
Listen in class or watch in your readings for a topic that intrigues or puzzles you regarding food in the ancient world, and about which you would like to learn more. Pick someone other than Professor Alcock or Catie to address your two to three page essay to (your mother, President Obama,
Julius Caesar, the Pope) and adjust level, style and tone accordingly.
3) Object Analysis, Rhode Island School of Design Museum
Pick any ancient object (or group of objects) with ‘food connotations’ in the Rhode Island School of Design Museum, and produce a short (two to three page) description and interpretation, setting the piece in context and explaining its significance in understanding processes of dining or drinking. Draw on class readings and ask, as necessary, for supplemental bibliography from Professor Alcock and Catie.
Note: If these short papers are not suitably polished (spelling, grammar, care about expression), resubmission will be required. This isn’t a heavy writing commitment, so let’s Do It Right.
Ancient food meets the ‘real world’
Requires the intersection of our understanding of food in the ancient world, and its relevance to modern concerns about food, diet, health, inequality, sustainability, education, cultural heritage, animal rights, eating disorders, resource pollution, or just about anything else you can think of…
Examples: Designing a virtual museum exhibit from the collections of local area museums; preparing teaching materials for K-12 education; examining the

ancient roots of modern homeopathic medicine; exploring ancient insights into childhood nutrition and quality of life; designing, cooking and explaining a meal to a (serious) group; research, write and submit an op-ed piece; work with local organizations or NGOs; locate and interview relevant individuals (scholars, chefs, authors); creating an animation or other form of online content that conveys an important point or story, to a broad audience, write a straightforward research paper… Other ideas very welcome.
Note: Projects should involve significant effort, the equivalent of ca. 15-20 page paper. Material drawn from the ancient world (Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Near
Eastern) must be a significant part of this exercise for full credit.
Course Outline:
Part I: Complicating food
W, September 4
Playing with Food I
F, September 6
Playing with Food II
M, September 9
Background check: do people eat mountain lions?
Part II: Food facts, from antiquity
W, September 11
Background check: Greeks and Romans, and the Mediterranean world
F, September 13
The mechanics of production and of diet
M, September 16
Food categories and their symbolic baggage
Due: Dining and Shopping in Divine Providence
W, September 18
Liquid refreshment
F, September 20
Home cooking and feeding the gods
M, September 23
Food insecurity: going hungry…
W, September 25
… and getting hungrier: famine and starvation
F, September 27
Teeth, bones and stomach contents
M, September 30
Hourly Examination

Part III: The ‘meanings’ of food
W, October 2
‘Normality’ vs. watching ‘the other’ feed
F, October 4
Deviant diets and table manners
M, October 7
Status and the rituals of dinner
W, October 9
Food and status: you are what you eat (and how!)
F, October 11
Food and gender: the edible woman
M, October 14
NO CLASS – Fall Break
W, October 16
Food and 'inferiority': women and children last
Due: What did she just say?
F, October 18
Food and Sex
M, October 21
More Food and Sex
W, October 23
Food and ‘Morality’
F, October 25
Review
M, October 28
Hourly Examination
Part IV: What can we do with all this?
W, October 30
Exploring project possibilities
F, November 1
Exploring project possibilities
M, November 4
Taking food into a Museum
W, November 6
Taking food into a Museum

F, November 8
Taking food into a Museum
M, November 11
The Omnivore’s Dilemma
Due: Object analysis, RISD Museum
W, November 13
Cinematic Food
F, November 15
Cinematic and Online Food
M, November 18
Check in on project progress
W, November 20
TBA
F, November 22
TBA
M, November 25
Feasts and feasting
W, November 27
Analyzing Thanksgiving
F, November 29 - Thanksgiving Break
M, December 2 – M, December 9
Class presentations
Due: Ancient food meets the ‘real world’
W, December 11
Hourly Examination