This document outlines the structure and assignments for a course on how food has shaped the world. The final grade is based on a final project (50%), class assignments (40%), and weekly quizzes (10%). For the final project, students work in groups to create a plan and video to enact change related to food. Assignments include exploring new cuisines, writing business plans, cooking videos, researching food science, designing policy proposals, and more. The course aims to show students how food connects to many aspects of life and society.

1. How Food has Shaped the World
• Why are you taking this course?
• Whatever you are studying you can make a
connection to food.
• Whatever you end up doing you can make a
difference through food.

2. Course Structure
• Final Project 50% of the grade
• In a group of five come up with a plan of action to effect
change around food.
• Document your project in a video
• Portfolio of Class Assignments 40% of grade
• First class assignment is done by everybody
• Pick two additional assignments one of which must be
a group project
• There are limited numbers for each assignment
• Weekly quizzes 10% of the grade
• Quizzes will be on the required readings and videos in
preparation for each class

3. Assignment 1: Food Adventure
• In a group of five leave your comfort zone
• Research and experience
• New neighborhood
• New cuisine
• New restaurant
• Write a blog entry on the class blog site

4. 2. Food as an Industry
• Guest Speaker: Danny Meyer
• Highly Acclaimed NY restaurateur
• Author of best-selling book Setting the Table, The
Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business

5. -Restaurants in the U.S
alone employ 13.1
million people – one of
the largest private
sector employers
-Global hospitality
industry generates 3.5
trillion annually
-More than 10% of the
global workforce is
involved in the
hospitality industry
-Restaurant industry job
growth has outpaced
national growth for 13
consecutive years

6. Hospitality & tourism generate 9% of global GDP and 8% of world employment

9. Assignment 2: Business Plan
• Write a business plan. (min 3 pages)
• Your company should be related to food in any
way
• Restaurant, Catering
• Food Store, Kitchen Equipment Store
• Composting company
• Farm, Vegetable, Fish
• PR agency
• NGO

10. 3. Craft of Cooking
GW Faculty: José Andrés

17. Assignment 3: Cooking Video
• In a group of 5, select a cooking technique.
• Create a 5-10 minute video segment for a
cooking show.

18. 4. Science of Food
• Guest Speaker: Harold McGee
• Harvard Professor
• Author of On Food and Cooking
• Guest Speaker: Michael Brenner
• Harvard Professor

19. Nicolas Appert
1749-1841

21. Louis Camille Maillard
1878 - 1936

22. The Queen of Ice Cream
Agnes B. Marshall
1855-1905

23. Assignment 4: Science of Food
• Pick a recipe or cooking technique
• Research the science that explains what is
happening.
• Write up your findings in an essay.

24. 5. Food Supply Chain
• Guest Speaker: Warren Belasco
• UMBC Professor of American Studies
• Author of Food: The Key Concepts
• GW Faculty: James Foster
• GW Department of Economics and International Affairs

31. Assignment 5: Action Plan
• How do your food choices impact others and the
world around you?
• Design a support system to help people make
ethical decisions with regard to food.

32. 6. Food and Government
• Guest Speaker: Alice Kamps
• Curator of the National Archives
• GW faculty: John Banzhaf
• GW Law School

34. Frank Nicholas Meyer
(1875-1918)

35. National School Lunch
Program 1946

42. Assignment 6: Legislative Proposal
• Research and design an action plan to deal with
an issue related to food
• Write up your plan as a proposal
• Send your proposal to a local government
representative

43. 7. History of Food
• Guest Speaker: Christopher Kimball
• Editor and Publisher of Cook’s Illustrated
• Host of America’s Test Kitchen
• GW faculty: Caroline Smith
• GW Department of Writing

44. Fire began 1.8 million years ago

46. It is theorized that sugarcane
was first domesticated as a crop
in New Guinea around 6,000
B.C. Crystallized sugar was
reported 5,000 years before the
present in the Indus Valley
Civilization, located in modern-
day Pakistan and north India

47. Spanish conquistador Hernán
Cortés may have been the
first to transfer the small
yellow tomato to Europe after
he captured the Aztec city of
Tenochtítlan, now Mexico
City, in 1521, although
Christopher Columbus, a
Genoese working for the
Spanish monarchy, may have
taken them back as early as
1493.

48. Mahatma Gandhi
1869-1948

49. Gin & Tonic!

50. Assignment 7: Recipe Comparison
• Compare and contrast two different recipes from
different times or different cultures.
• Discuss what they reveal about the time or place
they originate from.
• Create a timeline for one of the ingredients.

51. 8. Food and Public Health
• Guest Speaker: Phillip Derfler
• USDA
• GW Faculty: Uri Colon-Ramos
• GW School of Public Health

53. Non-pasteurized cheese &
un-refrigerated eggs

55. Assignment 8: Public Safety Research
• Select a public safety debate
• Raw milk
• E. coli contamination
• Recalls of food
• Research the events surrounding the public
safety debate within the last ten years.

56. 9. Food and National Security
• Guest Speaker: Rear Admiral Jamie Barnett
• Mission Readiness
• Guest Speaker: Jonathan Shrier
• Department of State’s Special Representative for
Global Food Security

61. Assignment 9: National Security
• How does insecurity or conflict worldwide
influence or contribute to national security
issues?
• Research current events
• Write an essay on your findings

62. 10. Hunger and Obesity
• Guest Speaker: Ellen Gustafson
• Co-founded FEED Projects
• Launched The 30 Project
• GW Faculty: Kim Robien
• GW School of Public Heatlh

68. Assignment 10: Food Habits
• Determine your current BMI.
• Determine the number of calories you need to
maintain your current weight.
• Keep a food and drink journal for a day.
• Review your calories from beverages, is there a
way to reduce this calorie-intake?

69. 11. Food and Pop Culture
• Guest Speaker: Andrew Zimmern
• Co-creator and host of Bizarre Foods with Andrew
Zimmern on Travel Channel
• GW Faculty: Clay Warren
• GW Department of Communication

70. Assignment 11: Food Advertising
• Find a food ad and discuss its properties along
straight (persuasion) or crooked (subconscious)
dimensions.
• Include reasons for why you have come to your
conclusion in your essay.

71. 12. Food Crisis and International Aid
• Guest Speaker: Michael Elliott
• CEO of ONE campaign
• GW Faculty: John Forrer
• GW School of Public Policy and Administration

75. Assignment 12: Governance Networks
• As a group, interview a member of a governance
network.
• What are the issues facing this organization?
• What are some potential solutions?
• In a governance network you are set up not to
care about yourselves, is that possible?

76. Make a Change Through Food

77. Final Project
• This is 50% of your grade
• As a group make a plan to make a difference
through food.
• Put your plan into action.
• Make a video where you explain your project
• Use rule-making proceedings to effect change
• Start a business
• Start a non-profit