Minor in Food Studies:
Dig in to an Emerging and Exciting Field of Study
Hofstra University offers an interdisciplinary minor in Food Studies. This emerging and exciting field is directly applicable to many academic and professional endeavors and occupations.
Hofstra's minor in Food Studies is unique to Long Island and one of few in the New York metropolitan area. Food Studies is about more than food. It is about culture, human rights, race, and class. It is about business, labor, and international relations. Food Studies is also about science, sustainability, and health — what is good for the environment and for our bodies.
Food plays an integral role in our daily lives, from the nutrition and calories that sustain us, to the representations and cultures of food. Food is intertwined in our past and present societies. Students will study foodways across cultures and historically, representations of food, and culinary traditions, as well as current controversies and food-based social movements.
A minor in Food Studies would complement majors in anthropology, biology, business, communications, community health, economics, English, environmental resources, global studies, Italian studies, journalism, Latin America and Caribbean studies, philosophy, sociology, and sustainability, among other areas of study.
Food Studies courses raise a range of questions, such as:
- What are the ethics of food production and eating?
- What are the causes of and responses to obesity, hunger, and food insecurity?
- How do different food production systems affect the environment?
- What is the relationship between food and inequality?
- How do different cultural eating practices influence nutrition and diet?
- How does government policy shape food practices?
- How can food open a window to large-scale historical and geographical processes, such as globalization?
- What can iconic representations of food in writing and film teach us about colonialism, race, and gender?
Program Requirements
A minor in Food Studies involves the successful completion of 18 semester hours (s.h.). At least 9 of those hours must be in residence at Hofstra. Consult with your academic advisor. Courses must come from at least three different academic departments, and 12 s.h. must be taken in Hofstra College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
Required course:
- FS 01 (IS) - Food Studies
Choose from the following electives:
- FS 150 - Independent Readings in Food Studies
- FS 190 - Practicum in Food Studies
- ANTH 003 - (BH, CC) Cultural Anthropology
- ANTH 133 - (CC) Food and Culture
- BIO 050 - Biology of Human Nutrition
- GS 105 - (CC, IS) The Globalization of Food Cultures
- HPR 113 - Food and Culture
- HPR 114 - Applied Nutrition, Diet, and Exercise
- HPR 119 - Introduction to Nutrition Science
- HPR 126 - Current Issues and Controversies in Human Nutrition
- ITST 144 - (IS) Italian Food Culture
- JRNL 071 - Health, Science, and Environmental Reporting
- PHI 093 - (HP) Philosophy and Ethics of Food
- PHI 131 - (HP) Ethics and Animals
- SBLY 001 - (IS) Our Sustainable World