AMST106B
Fall 2014
Food and Farming in America
Brian Donahue bdonahue@brandeis.edu
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 our food 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
Other readings will be posted on latte
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 Brandeis University
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.
2
Course Schedule
Wed Sep 3
Course 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 8
Field trip to Land’s Sake Farm, Weston
Wed Sep 10
Native 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 15
Waltham Fields Community Farm
Wed Sep 17
Colonial 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 22
Land’s Sake
Wed Sep 24
New England Colonial farming
Brian Donahue, The Great Meadow, Ch 7
Mon Sep 29
Field Trip to Minute Man National Historical Park, Concord
Wed Oct 1
Agrarian Nation, 1775-1860
Hagenstein, American Georgics, Sections 1-3
Vileisis, Kitchen Literacy, Intro and Ch 2
Mon Oct 6
Waltham Fields Community Farm
3
Wed Oct 8
Farming and Diet in Industrializing America
American Georgics, Section 4
Vileisis, Kitchen Literacy, Ch 3-5
First exam due—10% of course grade
Mon Oct 13
No class – Brandeis Thursday
Wed Oct 15
American Fish
Greenberg, American Catch -- Intro, Oysters
Sat Oct 18 Field Trip to Appleton Farm & Glouchester
Mon Oct 20
Land’s Sake
Wed Oct 22
American 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 27
Waltham Fields Community Farm
Wed Oct 29
20th Century Revolution in American Diet
Vileisis, Kitchen Literacy, Ch 6-7
Mon Nov 3 Land’s Sake – or Boston?
Wed Nov 5 Post-WWII Changes in American Diet
Vileisis, Kitchen Literacy, Ch 8
Greenberg, American Catch -- Shrimp
Mon Nov 10 Field trip: Pete & Jenn’s Birds
Wed Nov 12 Sustainable Farming
American Georgics, Section 7
Land Institute 50 Year Farm Bill
Second exam due – 10% of course grade
4
Mon Nov 17 Film: “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 24 Class dinner
Mon Dec 1
Food and crop presentations
Wed Dec 3
Community 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 8
Food and crop presentations
Dec 18 Final draft of paper due – 20% of course grade