Since my dissertation research is also about the cultural significance of food, I’ve often thought about how I might teach a course on the subject. When Professor Cho asked if I had any other ideas for her Food, Self, and Society seminar, I mentioned that I’d always thought about including a video element. Between recent documentaries like Super Size Me and Food Inc., both of which she had on her syllabus, not to mention the deep history of TV cooking shows, it’s become pretty clear that there’s a real affinity between the kitchen and the screen. Professor Cho agreed, so we set out to design a food documentary project.
The goal of the project was for the students to adapt the content of their research papers into a new, visual form. Since the class size was small, and each student had focused on a related– but not overlapping– issue related to food, they decided to work together to produce the documentary. At home, each student story-boarded his or her segment. Then, we sat around a desktop with a very big screen, and began to put the pieces together.
To be continued…
