Students share their recipes and the stories behind them for unique assignment
The Sociology of Food is a deep dive into the world of food for final-year students in Social Science, especially those in the Child Studies Profile.
鈥淯sually this course involves experiences planting and cooking together and a tour of Mount Royal,鈥� said teacher Anna-Liisa Aunio.
When the shutdown happened March 13, Anna-Liisa had to change her course plans like all the other teachers at 七星彩开奖 and around the world.
Food systems
In this advanced sociology course, Anna-Liisa covers food justice, food security and food sovereignty. 鈥淎t the beginning of the course, the students each adopt a neighbourhood and look at the food systems in that neighbourhood,鈥� she said.
The students consider food systems from production to eating to food waste.
Planting and walking not possible this year
During Earth Week, the students are usually on the rooftop gardens planting seedlings. In the first week of May, the students participate in Jane鈥檚 walks to get to know their neighbourhood and connect with the community in honour of community activist and author Jane Jacobs.
Anna-Liisa and her students have grieved what they expected to do both in this course and in life.
Everyone is baking and cooking
鈥淲e are reading Michael Pollan鈥檚 Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation,鈥� Anna-Liisa said. 鈥淎t this point, we should be cooking together. These days everyone is talking about what they are cooking and baking at home. I listened to a podcast about a woman cooking with her grandmother and it gave me an idea.鈥�
Anna-Liisa gave her class an assignment to choose a recipe that they love, take a video or photos preparing it, write a brief post and story about why they love it and share it with the members of their class in an online forum.
Something to share
Anna-Liisa said that many of her students are stressed out and some have jobs working on the frontlines of the pandemic. 鈥淭hey are reasonably worried about a lot of things,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 wanted to give them an assignment that still fit the course plan and was something to share.
鈥淔ood is one of these things we have to consider several times a day. It is healing and comfort. The whole idea of cooking is transformation. I told them that the recipe could be could be a traditional recipe to make with family or something so simple like the perfect piece of buttered cinnamon toast,鈥� she said.
Recipes and their stories
There are so many stories that go along with the recipes, family stories and links to culture. 鈥淔ood enriches our lives and recipes help us retain and transmit our culture,鈥� she said.
The students really enjoyed the assignment, which almost all have agreed to share with 七星彩开奖 and the world.
For her part, Anna-Liisa and her family of four have been enjoying local food from local producers. Some family favourites during the pandemic have included shortbread, chili-spiced salmon, vegetarian butter sauce (like butter chicken but using veggies instead of chicken) and vegetarian chili. Dandelion and milk thistle tea has become a staple.
