Updated on 20190902

Course title: Food: Technology, Trade and Culture Course code: CCGL9017

Course Instructors: Dr. Tanja Sobko (Course Coordinator)

tsobko@hku.hk
Dr. Karen Mak (Course Manager**)
mkwkaren@hku.hk
Dr. Evan Pickett epickett@hku.hk
Dr. Lawrence Ramsden ramsdenl@hku.hk
**
Please address any questions about the course to Dr. Mak

Lecture Schedule: Every Wednesday 12:30-14:20 Venue: MB217

23 Nov Saturday 11:00-12:50 Venue: MB217

Laboratory and tutorial sessions ** Please refer to Moodle

End of Semester group presentation: times and groups ** Please refer to Moodle

Course description: https://commoncore.hku.hk/ccgl9017/

Theme of the course:

Why do we eat what we eat? Where does the food come from? What makes for
“desirability” or sensory quality in food? How and why did global trade develop
around the production and shipping of food? What are the historical roots of the
modern-day globalized food industry? This course will offer an in-depth look at key
issues in the economic history of global trade in food, in processing foods for
optimum quality, and the development of markets for new products. Examples will
be drawn from commodities – such as salt, sugar or spices; major beverages – such
as wine or coffee; and newly globalized products – such as pizza or chocolate. The
major themes of the course are:
• The historical development of food commodity trading
• The globalization of food preferences
• The definition, development and spread of “new” products
• The understanding of some basic underlying technology/science in the
production and processing of major foods.

Course Contents & Topics:

Topics are subject to variation from year to year.
1. Food in a cultural context. Producers, traders, and markets.
2. Basic sensory science – what do we like and why?
3. Salt - Mining, purifying and processing salt. Physiological necessity. Salt in
history and politics. Roman ‘salarium’, Chinese imperial taxation, oppression
and the Siberian salt mine.
4. Sugar - The origin and growth of sugar cane. Sugar beet. Sugar consumption
and health. Sugar as a commodity. Development of commodity markets.