English course whets students’ appetites to understand culture through cuisine
In Professor Joseph Litvak's English class, students have the opportunity to explore food writing. "I want them to experience the joy of writing,” Litvak said. “I have made the point that good writing and good criticism can do what good cooking can do, namely surprise you, even shock you a bit.” Illustration: Carole Henaff
Professor Joseph Litvak believes that food is never really just food. “Food is not happening in a vacuum,” he said. “It’s always political or it’s always about something else. It's never just itself.”
In his English class Writing about Food, the Harriet H. Fay Professor of Literature helps students discover how food writing as a literary genre touches cultural and political issues.
Through writing restaurant reviews, learning about the food industry, and reading cookbooks, the 22 students in the class get the opportunity to learn about all the different facets of food writing—and how it is reflective of more than just taste.
The class is open to all undergraduates, regardless of major. Litvak said students came into the class with different levels of knowledge about the dining and food industry. Some previously worked in restaurants, while others have a scientific interest in nutrition.
Embracing Unique Perspectives
It’s those varieties of perspectives that Litvak aims to teach his students to embrace. One in-class writing assignment was to describe what they bring to the table as a restaurant critic.
“I wanted them to give me a kind of manifesto as a restaurant critic before they did the actual review,” he said. “I also wanted them to feel empowered. I think it’s hard for college students to feel they have a right to criticize.”
Each week, students take turns hosting discussions about weekly reading and assignments. Early on, they learned about the restaurant industry through the late chef and television personality Anthony Bourdain’s memoir Kitchen Confidential. They also watched the film City of Gold, a documentary about food critic Jonathan Gold and how he put Los Angelas on the map as a major food city, by featuring its authentic cuisines, often prepared by immigrants in casual settings.
Using LA as a starting point led the class to discussions about current events as well, like how ICE raids are devastating parts of the food scene there. Students looked at the culture site L.A. Taco, which covers not just cuisine, but also how immigrants in the community are being targeted.
Learning to be Critics
Vania Ramadhan, a senior studying engineering psychology, said the course has made her think about food differently.
“This has always been an interest to me, food as a vehicle of exploring relationships between people,” she said. “You have this image of the family eating dinner, you converse over a meal, or you go out to dinner for a date.”
The midterm assignment for the class was to write a review of a restaurant of the students’ choice.
Some students stayed local, reviewing spots around Medford and in the Boston area. Others reviewed restaurants in places like Houston and Burlington, Vermont.
Ramadhan went to Queens, New York, and reviewed Taiwanese Gourmet, which is on The New York Times list of 100 best restaurants in the city. She said the class has helped her see how food can be a way to think about a variety of issues in the world.
“The division of domestic labor is a big one,” she said. “Policy is another big one. Industrialization. It’s interesting to me, how food is the one thing that kind of touches upon so many different aspects of life, religion, culture.”
Professor Joseph Litvak said he wanted students in his Writing about Food class to feel "empowered" as restaurant reviewers. “I think it’s hard for college students to feel they have a right to criticize.” Photo: Paul Rutherford
Behind the Curtain of the Food Industry
A central reading in the class is The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, by Michael Pollan, which investigates the effects the food industry has on animals and the environment.
“It’s a devastating critique of the food industry in America, of the way in which we’ve all become addicted to corn,” Litvak said. “[Pollan] argues essentially we’re all walking corn chips. [Almost] everything we eat is made of corn; 80% of the products in average American supermarkets, including the walls, floor, and plaster, are derived from corn.”
Lucas Mack, a junior studying biopsychology, said the book made him think more about the ethics of the industry and where his food comes from.
“It really kind of opens your perspective on how different authors think about privilege when writing about food, but also problems with the food system,” Mack said. “All the processed food and the realities on the farm of these tasty, advertised products.”
Alix Erlij, a junior who studies English and film and media studies, knew she was interested in the food industry from her time in high school working in restaurants. Now, she enjoys getting to study food through an academic lens.
“I think that food is often regarded as a low-brow subject, and something that's trivial to write about, compared to politics or literary criticism,” Erlij said. “I was really excited [to take the class], because I have always thought that food is a benchmark of culture. It represents so much, and we talk a lot about it in this class, about how food is so political, it is a binder between communities.”
Erlij said in a time when originality is often in question because of AI and Chat GPT, she’s thankful to be in a class that asks her to write creatively.
“People can’t use AI to write about this genuine experience about being in a restaurant, and I think professors are constantly being tested right now on how to give assignments in this current, academic environment where people are being dishonest and using AI. I think that it was a really creative way to get around those barriers and obstacles.”
Litvak hopes that students consider themselves writers and critics by the conclusion of the class.
"I want them to experience the joy of writing,” Litvak said. “I have made the point that good writing and good criticism can do what good cooking can do, namely surprise you, even shock you a bit.”
