Spectacle of Eating

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

In this high-brain-calorie course, we will explore intersections between food/eating and performance/theatre. Readings include literary texts (Shakespeare, Proust, Wallace Stevens), literary criticism, critical theory (Barthes, Foucault), and popular/ journalistic texts (recipes, food writings from a wide range of cultures and historical periods). Our concerns range from the theoretical (when is eating “performative”?) to the artistic (what are ways of staging the act of “eating”?); from the historical (how do we stage the human-mea-banquet in Titus Andronicus?) to the contemporary (how do we craft performances adapted from food blogs?); from the local (how is food “performed” in Washington DC?) to the global (how does a culture construct its identity through food preparation and eating?), and more. The course includes other experiential components—such as a field trip to local restaurant kitchens, and preparation of “performative feasts."