13467 - History of Food Habits (1)

Learning outcomes

By the end of this course, students should know the essential lines of food history in an economic, social and cultural perspective, based on reading documentary, narrative, literary and scientific sources, by way of examples of document interpretation and an introduction to proper historical work. Students will write on such subjects using specific terminology. Working independently and in an orderly fashion, they will have acquired self-criticism and an ability to learn from mingling with others; they will also know how to choose the learning tools best suited to their own skills and purposes.

Course contents

The course provides the general outlines of food history and food cultures, with special emphasis on Italian and European history between the Middle Ages and the Modern Age. Its fifteen lectures are structured in such a way that each of them includes a frontal part and one of analysis of one or more sources relevant to the topic covered in the first part. In the last lectures, these analyses will be carried out by attending students who choose to expose their exegesis to the class. The source to be analyzed will be agreed in advance with the lecturer. The list of topics is as follows:

1. Introduction to the course and to food history: Birth of the discipline - Main lines of research
2. Sources for food history and culinary history and methodology for their use.
3. Birth and evolution of dietetic science in the West - Influence of medicine for a social history of food - Analysis of medical sources with reference to nutrition.
4. Food between Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages - The intersection of Romans and invaders - The influence of Christianity - Analysis of narrative and biographical sources.
5. Toward a Food Europe - Analysis of biographical and epistolary sources
6. Food production and rural land management - Analysis of agricultural contracts.
7. City supply and markets - Analysis of regulatory sources.
8. Codes of eating behavior in the Middle Ages - Analysis of narrative sources
9. Food and social identities between the late Middle Ages and the early Modern Age - Analysis of narrative sources and chroniclers' narratives.
10. Birth of written cookery - Manuscript recipe books and their use as sources: analysis of the Italian case.
11. From manuscript to print - Structural evolution of recipe books from the 15th to the 16th century - Analysis of manuscript and printed recipe books
12. The European dissemination of gastronomic culture between identities and exchanges - Analysis of printed recipe books the 16th to the 19th century.
13. The Colombian exchange and the European reception of products from the Americas - Analysis of narrative sources and travel accounts. Analysis of sources chosen by attending students.
14. Italian identity in the kitchen - Fundamental elements of persistence through the centuries. Analysis of sources chosen by attending students.
15. History and Myth - How and why some food and gastronomic myths arise - Analysis of sources of the attending students' choice.

Readings/Bibliography

M. Montanari, La fame e l'abbondanza. Storia dell'alimentazione in Europa, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1993.

A. Campanini, Dalla tavola alla cucina. Scrittori e cibo nel Medioevo italiano, Roma, Carocci, 2012.

M. Montanari, L'identità italiana in cucina, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2011.

The contents of these books will be supplemented by materials presented in class and downloadable from Virtuale.

 

Non-attending students are required, in lieu of the materials presented in class, to read a book of their choice from:

M. Montanari, Il formaggio con le pere. La storia in un proverbio, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2010.

A. Campanini, I volti della cucina. Dispute antiche e moderne tra arte e natura, Roma, Carocci, 2021.

F. Quellier, La civiltà del cibo. Storia culturale dell’alimentazione in Età moderna, Roma, Carocci, 2022.

G. Frosini, S. Lubello, L'italiano del cibo, Roma, Carocci, 2023.

Teaching methods

Lectures, with exposition of topics and readings of documents.

Assessment methods

Oral test. For attending students who will have presented the exegesis of a source to the class, the test will cover the three volumes in the syllabus and the topics covered in class. Attending students who will not have made in-class presentations will additionally be required to submit one source from among those reviewed in class, or a similar source. Non-attending students will need to demonstrate a thorough knowledge of the three texts common to all and the fourth text they have chosen from the list above.

Are evaluated: the property of language, the understanding of the topics discussed, the ability to propose connections between different themes.The vote is expressed in 30/30. At discretion of the teacher, a mention of "lode" can be added.

Evaluation criteria and degrees. The achievement by the student of a full critical knowledge of the topics taught in the course and mastery of the specific language will be evaluated with excellence marks. A mnemonic knowledge of the matter and synthesis and analysis skills articulated in a language not always appropriate will lead to discrete evaluations. Inappropriate formative and/or inappropriate language will lead to just sufficient marks. Serious formative errors, inappropriate language, lack of orientation within the bibliographic materials provided by the course will be negatively evaluated.

Teaching tools

Reproductions or editions of the sources analysed in class will be made available to students.

Office hours

See the website of Antonella Campanini