AMST106B

Fall 2015

Food and Farming in America

Brian Donahue bdonahue@brandeis.edu
Rabb 348
781-736-3091
Office Hours: Monday 11-1, Wednesday 11-1
Eating is an agricultural act. Eat responsibly, writes Wendell Berry. This course
will examine the responsibilities of eating and growing food, along with the pleasures. In
America, food is available in great abundance and variety in all seasons of the year, at
prices that most can afford. Yet many Americans eat poorly, good food is not available to
all, and some believe that our food poses health risks and is produced by methods that are
environmentally damaging and unsustainable. Others disagree, and hold that our food
system is the foundation of our prosperity, and offers the best hope of freedom from
hunger for the rest of the world.
The course will explore the development of farming and eating in America.
Research projects will explore the history, social and environmental impact, and possible
healthy and sustainable future of various crops and foods. It will include weekly field trips
to Lands Sake community farm in Weston, Waltham Fields Community Farm, and other
farms and historical sites. About half of these trips will be devoted to experiential learning
by helping with farm tasks such as planting and cultivation of crops.
Required Books
Edwin Hagenstein et al, American Georgics
Ann Vileseis, Kitchen Literacy
Paul Greenberg, American Catch
Other readings will be posted on latte
Course Requirements
1) Class participation. Based on attendance, participating in discussions,
presentation, and field work. 25%
2) Experiential learning assignment. 5%
2) Exams. 20%
3) Food research paper. 50%
If you are a student with a documented disability on record at Brandeis University
and wish to have a reasonable accommodation made for you in this class, please see me
immediately. You are expected to be honest in all your academic work. The University
policy on academic honesty is distributed annually as section 5 of the Rights and
Responsibilities handbook. Instances of alleged dishonesty will be forwarded to the
Office of Campus Life for possible referral to the Student Judicial System. Potential
sanctions include failure in the course and suspension from the University. If you have any
questions about my expectations, please ask.

Course Schedule

Mon Aug 31 Course introduction

Reading: Wendell Berry, The Pleasures of Eating
Michael Pollan, The Omnivores Dilemma, Our National Eating Disorder
Brian Donahue et al, A New England Food Vision
Wed Sep 2

Native Diet and Farming

Howard Russell, The Family Meals, in Indian New England Before the
Mayflower
Kathleen Bragdon, Native People of Southern New England, 1500-1650, Ch 1,
55-62, Ch 3, 102-29.
Wed Sep 9

Colonial Food, 1600~1800

Sarah MacMahon, A Comfortable Subsistence: The Changing Composition of

Diet in Rural New England, 1620-1840, William and MaryQuarterly 42
Vileisis, Kitchen Literacy, Intro and Ch 1
Thur Sep 10

Lands Sake Farm, Weston (Brandeis Monday)

Wed Sep 16

New England Colonial farming

Brian Donahue, The Great Meadow, Ch 7

Mon Sep 21

Waltham Fields Community Farm

Tue Sep 29

Field Trip to Minute Man National Historical Park, Concord

Wed Sep 30

Agrarian Nation, 1775-1860

Hagenstein, American Georgics, Sections 1-3

Vileisis, Kitchen Literacy, Intro and Ch 2
Wed Oct 7

Farming and Diet in Industrializing America

American Georgics, Section 4

3
Vileisis, Kitchen Literacy, Ch 3-5
First exam due10% of course grade
Sat Oct 10

Appleton Farm & Glouchester (or Sun 11, Sun 18, Sep 19/20?)

Mon Oct 12

Lands Sake

Wed Oct 14

American Fish

Greenberg, American Catch -- Intro, Oysters

Mon Oct 19

Waltham Fields Community Farm

Wed Oct 21

American Farming: Golden Age to Great Depression

American Georgics, Section 5, 6

Stoll, Fruits of Natural Advantage, The Conservation of the Countryside
Mon Oct 26

Lands Sake

First checkpoint paper due15% of course grade

Wed Oct 28

th

20 Century Changes in American Diet

Vileisis, Kitchen Literacy, Ch 6-8

Mon Nov 2

The Food Project -- Boston

Wed Nov 4

Industrial Farming

American Georgics, Section 7 Intro, Butz, Hanson, Carruth

Greenberg, American Catch -- Shrimp
Mon Nov 9

Field trip: Pete & Jenns Birds -- Concord (???)

Wed Nov 11

Film: King Corn

Mon Nov 16

Film: A Place at the Table

Molly Anderson, Beyond Food Security

Wed Nov 18 Sustainable Food and Fish
Greenberg, American Catch Salmon, Conclusion

4
Ruhf & Clancy, It Takes a region
Land Institute -- 50 Year Farm Bill
NE Food Vision
Second exam due10% of course grade
Mon Nov 23 Class dinner
Mon Nov 30 Food and crop presentations
Wed Dec 2

Community Farming and New Agrarianism

Brian Donahue, Reclaiming the Commons, in New Agrarianism

American Georgics, Section 7 -- Leopold, Berry; Conclusion
Second checkpoint paper due15% of course grade
Mon Dec 7

Food and crop presentations

Wed Dec 9

Last class

Dec 18

Final draft of paper due 20% of course grade