Courses

This course focuses on the role design plays in framing the food environment, from production to consumption and explores how designers influence and shape stakeholders in the food system. Students investigate the interaction of users with designed places, objects, sensorial experiences as well as ideas, services, and systems and learn to analyze the built/material work.

Using a wide range of film genres, we examine food’s role in the human experience. Food and foodways in film portray food and cooking norms, but also provide subtle and overt messaging about culture, ethnicity, race, class and gender. Using a survey of international 20th and 21st century films where food and foodways function as a foundational aspect combined with related texts, students explore food as a visual
messenger. Employing film criticism and theory, students will develop an understanding of the performative aspect of food in art and in our daily lives.

This course will explore food messaging and representation in moments of crisis, both historically and also in our current COVID-19 moment. Employing multiple lenses including ethical, political, communal, and individual, we’ll examine such topics as medieval religious aestheticism/asceticism, World War II propaganda, global notions of food waste, the ethos of food sharing and commensality, and media messaging in the contemporary COVID moment.

The ways in which writers, artists, musicians, and filmmakers have used food as a theme or symbol for reasons of aesthetic, social, cultural, or political commentary.

The hands-on course introduces students to food styling, with dedicated time working in the NYU Food Lab where students develop practical skills and gain experience with styling food. The practical work is complemented by discussions of the history of food styling, current trends, and the varying formats food styling
takes in the food industry. Students will build a foundation of knowledge and practical skills as they learn the craft of food styling. Students should have basic, home level cooking skills.

This course will explore food messaging and representation in moments of crisis, both historically and also in our current COVID-19 moment. Employing multiple lenses including ethical, political, communal, and individual, we"ll examine such topics as medieval religious aestheticism/asceticism, World War II propaganda, global notions of food waste, the ethos of food sharing and commensality, and media messaging in the contemporary COVID moment.

This course critically analyzes foods" portrayal across media platforms. We unpack how the media influences taste, purchases, and food beliefs; how it develops characters by what they eat and drink; and how it creates trends and movements. We explore cooking as entertainment, food shopping as a personal statement, and how media intersects with class, gender and racial tropes. Beginning with theory and moving through print, television, film, and the internet, students have hands-on experience interacting with the messages that define American food culture.

Issues related to methods of food production, distribution, marketing, trade and politics, and the impact of these methods on foods intake and the environment in contemporary societies.

Overview of legal issues affecting food service management: laws- contracts- taxes- and relations with administrative and regulatory agencies- both domestic and international.

This course examines the legal and regulatory frameworks that underlie domestic food policy. Specific areas of emphasis are the jurisdictions of federal and state agencies, the role of the legislative bodies in creating policy, and the role of the judicial system in enforcing policies and regulations.

Organization and management of commercial and institutional food service facilities in hotels, restaurants, and educational and community program sites.

Explores the conceptual underpinnings of the distributive networks through which food travels from farm to table. Examines the relationships between markets, states, and society in their historical and contemporary forms. Employs case studies of how commodities travel through the food system at the local, national and international levels. Topics include mass markets and niche markets; the culture of markets; reciprocity, exchange and redistribution; conventional and alternative supply chains.

Food safety, processing, and regulatory issues related to the role of microorganisms in food processing and preservation. The use of Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) to prevent contamination of food, equipment, and personnel.

Demonstrations of techniques for photographing foods for use in print and other media formats.

Demonstration of techniques for photographing foods for use in print and other media formats.

Analysis of the economic and social causes and consequences of current trends in food production- marketing and product development.

The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed food system inequities that prioritize profits over public health. Students explore effects of unsustainable food production and consumption methods on food insecurity, obesity-influenced diseases and the environment and consider if food choices should be individual responsibility or government policy. Emphasis on roles for individuals, government, food industry, and civil society in determining food system goals and functions and how people can advocate for food systems that are healthier, more equitable, sustainable, and resilient.

Institutional and commercial food preparation and service, menu planning and pricing, recipe standardization integrated with techniques, methods, principles, standards of food purchasing, receiving, merchandising, and staff supervision.

Scientific and sensory principles of food evaluation; professional methods, quality assurance, and objective experiments in advanced food preparation.

Scientific and sensory principles of food evaluation; professional methods, quality assurance, and objective experiments in advanced food preparation.