SAGE 151: Food, Culture and Society

Credits 5
Quarter Offered
Winter

This course examines food production and consumption by analyzing the resource cycles and movement of food from seed to table. Students will discuss the economic and political decisions that frame our food sheds such as industrial agriculture, food justice, policy, health, school food systems, Community Supported Agriculture, and small scale farming. Students will also explore the opportunities and challenges in building community food projects that create lasting systems change. This class may include students from multiple sections. (Formerly GRBD 151)

  1. Define local and regional food sheds.
  2. Summarize the historical development of conventional industrial agriculture and its impacts on human society, land-use practices and resource management.
  3. Analyze differing viewpoints in the public discourse on US food politics.
  4. Identify basic principles of local and community-based alternatives to industrial food systems.
  5. Examine one's own food attitudes and choices, and articulate a value-based personal vision for food consumption and/or production.
  6. Realize potential to positively impact community by engaging in local food programs such as food policy councils, urban farming legislation, and community food systems.