4 pages
1. Foods: Select an individual foodstuff (i.e., sugar, maize, oranges, coffee, etc.) and trace its origins and development through time. Explain how this food has influenced culinary cultures. Your research might take into consideration nutritional and medical ideas about the food; how the food moved from its place of origin to its contemporary dispersion; cultural stories, controversies, or mythologies surrounding the food; its importance in contemporary foodways; whether the food played a critical role in war, enslavement, or other large historical events.
(I Chose Rice)
2. People: Select a chef or person (this could be a scientist, scholar, politician/governmental figure, activist, author, farmer, etc.) who has influenced foodways significantly. Explain their lasting contribution to our foodways, putting their contributions into historical context.
3. Time-Travel Feast: Imagine you are a chef to a very important person in history. You have been asked to create a feast for a large group to celebrate an important occasion. Identify the historical period (it must be at least 100 years in the past) in which you are working and describe in detail how you will arrange the feast. Your description should include foodstuffs and references to recipes that you will prepare, how you will acquire provisions for the meal and the technologies you can use, how the meal will be served (service style, tablewares, decorations), and any other details to bring your historical feast to life. Finally, suggest ways in which aspects of your historical feast might be incorporated into a feast today.
