Gastronomic Studies in Higher Education – the Irish State of the Art

Description

Food, says Appadurai, is a “highly condensed social fact”. It comprises and refracts complex social, interpersonal and ecological relationships, while reaching us on a direct sensory and visceral level, and not least, satisfying a basic daily need.
In Ireland, the study of food in this complexity has been advanced since 2017 by a Masters-level course that rests on three pillars: History, Society and Practice. Seemingly distinct, these pillars are in fact principles that imbue all aspects of the programme, as it is understood that a full appreciation of the complexity of food can only be gained by plumbing the depth of its history, surveying the horizon of social consequences of food production and consumption, as well as personally experiencing and performing acts of taste, hospitality and creative expression.
In this paper, we will showcase two core pedagogical elements of the programme that apply these tripartite principles holistically: the “Global in the Local” assignment, and the Gastrocritical reading and writing activities.
The “Global in the Local” assignment challenges the students to organize a global food experience in a local manifestation. On the surface, it is a communal lunch, but the assignment prompts deep reflection about food’s global networks, as well as multilayered learning and creative bonding.
The Gastrocritical reading and writing activites cultivate the students’ perception on an aesthetic level. Gastrocriticism is a form of literary criticism that approaches literary texts with a culinary lens, honed by scholarship in Gastronomy and Food Studies. But students not only explore food writing and literature with this gastronomic perspective, they also develop their own creative writing, investigating their thoughts and experiences with and through food.
Through these and other educational activities, the programme promotes gastronomic literacy of great nuance, marking it as state-of-the-art in higher food education in Ireland, and possibly beyond.

Period	24 Sep 2022
Event title	Symposium toward the International Society of Gastronomic Sciences and Studies
Event type	Conference
Location	Turin, ItalyShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International