Week1

Aug. 23

• Comparative Images of the Food and Possessions of People all over the world
• Introduction of Classmates
• How History of Food Preparation differs from other types of history: a) largely an oral tradition b) taught as a craft--apprenticeships in the kitchen c) usually women's work. All three are reasons why the subject rarely gets the attention or respect it deserves from traditional historians.
  Prof. Seed's Intro (pdf format)
• Collecting written material on the subject is relatively new. Few libraries

Week 2.

Aug. 30

Why the History of Staples

• What food would your family consider indispensable? If they could only purchase one item what would it be? Class Multiple Choice Answers from 2003

• Grain Industry News

Litle-Known Facts: In Dutch ""Ben-je stapel?" means "Are you crazy?" And while the word and concept exist in Swedish and Danish, no contemporary Norwegians are familiar with the word or the meaning.

No class (Labor Day)

Week 3.

Sept. 13

Culturally typical staple food of your family of origin (or your current household). Examples from 2003's fall semester class

Week 4.

Sept 20

Student conferences

Week 5.

Sept. 27

Rice History Of the two main types of rice japonica originated in China, and indica in China, India, and Southeast Asia.. (Japonica cultivation origin: YangtzeeRiver, & Hunan region 6,000-5,000 B.C.; Proposed Indica origin: Non Nok Tha in the Korat area of Thailand. 4000 B.C Mohenjo-Daro (Pakistan) 2500 BC, the Kanniyakumari district of Tamil Nadu.
Rice cultivation moved to the Philippines during the second millennium B.C., and to Indonesia about 1500 B.C., Sri Lanka, 1000 B.C. Japan was one of the latest Asian countries to acquire rice, no later than 100 B.C.
Rice: Then and Now by R.E. Huke and E.H. Huke, International Rice Research Institute, 1990; Rocky Mohan Kohinoor of Rice and Spice, Roli Books, 2003. Khush GS. "Origin, dispersal, cultivation and variation of rice," Plant Mol Biol. 1997 Sep;35(1-2):25-34.

Because Arab traders acquired the grain in India, it has become known throughout most of the world by the Arabic version of the Tamil/Malayam word for rice "arici." Thus 'ris', 'riz', 'rice', arroz, and 'arrazz' all are European versions of the Arabic pronunciation of 'arici.'

Tambo is rice field and Kome is rice in Japanese; " ek dhan" means "a grain of rice" in Hindi; so what is it in Korean? what is it in Chinese?

Do Honda and Toyota mean rice field? (sort of; they are associated with rice, but they aren't pronounced that way, and they aren't commonly used.)

Current regions and species cultivated. Patent controversy

The Rice Genome. Yes, japonica and indica both originated in wild rice.

Red Yeast Rice is chemically similar to a statin!

Rice Growing in Indonesia; Balinese irrigated rice fields; Debra Black
Armenian Rice Pilaf; Saudi Arabia (imports rice from the U.S.) Kelli Lilienstern, Margaret Bedikian

Texmati; Katy Red Rice (aka "weeds") Kristen Lindsay, Kimberly Ellison, Stephen Davis, Andrew Schaefer
But the US imports most of its rice from Thailand and India.

Italian Rice Caroline Glendenning, Kelli DesRochers, Ashley Rodriguez, Sharel Ongchin, Karla Sussman

Thailand Ian Wittman, David

English Pudding Rice ; Scandinavian Rice Fuzz Norelid;

Eating Rice in South Africa

Litle-Known Facts: On what building at Rice (U) is there an architectural element from Mohenjo-Dar? Answer in 2d row, 2d column.

Week 6:.

Oct 4

Cooking a dish from your family's past or an accompaniment to a staple.

Week 7:

Oct. 13

(This week Wednesday is Monday.)

Millet /Sorghum /Origin: MIDDLE EAST/ CHINA
Barley Origin: EGYPT

Sorghum is relatively drought-tolerant crop. To see why Ross's grandmother fed sorghum syrup to her children see this map of sorghum production. Other Sorghum uses (includes ethanol) Sorghum Genome

Projects to develop sorghum and millet cultivation in poor countries
Note the drawback to using these is the high fertilizer input needed to produce high yields. Where culttivated without fertilizer (e.g. Africa) yields are quite low.

Barley is largely used for making beer, secondarily for animal feed. It is also a good source of dietary fiber. Its genome is being sequenced at Oregon State. Growing in a field; Package for eating ; Cooking tips for barley

Week 8:

Oct. 18

Small Cereal Grains: Teff (Africa), Quinoa (S America), Buckwheat (China)

Teff is one of the world's smallest cereal grains, only about 1/32 of an inch in diameter. One cup of cooked teff contains more calcium than a cup of milk (387 milligrams). It also contains trace elements: boron,* copper, phosphorus, zinc.

Quinoa [KEEN-wah] is four times the size of teff, about 1/8 inch in diameter. However it is a complete protein containing all eight essential amino acids. Sixteen percent of quinoa is protein, the next highest protein cereal is wheat (14%).

Buckwheat seeds are three-cornered, and like African teff, and South American Quinoa, it flourishes in poor soils. Diseases or insects rarely disturb it. It is high in calories and a flavenoid called rutin. It originated in Central Asia and perhaps Northern Europe.

Dietary boron improves metabolism of steroid hormones as well as that of calcium, magnesium, and vitamin D. Boron supplementation in rats and chicks has been shown to increase bone strength.
Devirian, Tara A.& Volpe, Stella L."The Physiological Effects of Dietary Boron" Critical Reviews in Food Science & Nutrition; Mar2003, Vol. 43 Issue 2, pp. 219-32.
Flavonoids have a diphenol structure

Taste Test | Need someone from your college to work witth? Check out the Roster

Week 9:

Oct. 25

Poor People's Food | Class experiments with Starches

 Week 10:

Nov. 1

Potato/Bolivia, Peruvian Altiplano Variedades | Varieties

Corn/ Mexico, Central and North America (celebramos el Dia de los Muertos) And on the other hand, there is the issue of avoiding corn . . . .

Week 11:

Nov. 8

Cooking an unrelated starch dish | What a Blog is and How It Works | History of Blogging | More Formal History

Week 12:

Nov.15

Fermented Plant Foods--miso and soy sauce, Wine, Bread (most breads) Sake, Chicha, Tempe (fermented mold (no yeast)

Week 13:

Nov. 22

Fermented Animal products: Yak's milk, Fermented honey--mead, tej, Yoghurt and Cheese

Week 14:

Nov. 29

Traveling Foods (pilgrimages) including Haj

Week 15: (?)

Dec. 4

Final Food Fest