Food studies class spurs discussions on consumerism, sustainability, ancient cultures and more

Ashna Madni | May 21, 2025

In a new UCLA Humanities course, the saying “You are what you eat” takes on a whole new meaning.

The class, Global Food Studies: Ecocultural Diversity and Sustainability, brings together students from a wide range of academic majors to explore the history, cultural impact and personal connections to a subject that links all human beings: food. It is led by Vetri Nathan, a UCLA associate professor of European languages and transcultural studies.

“Food is not just nutrition,” Nathan told students during an early-May lecture. “It is a system of communication, a body of images, a protocol of usages, situations and behaviors. Food is culture.”

For many students, the course is an introduction to the humanities. That’s important to Nathan, who asserts that no subject or discipline exists in isolation; the humanities, he said, are critical for tying together the messy connections among interconnected disciplines. (The course grew out of his Multispecies Futures Lab, which incubates research and teaching projects in the environmental and multispecies humanities.)

“The humanities are really great at training students to make sense of and better respond to a complex world,” he said. “Approaching food studies through a humanities lens is key to understanding why, how and what we eat. Our food habits, traditions, local-to-global food systems and even our relations with other species we eat are shaped by cultural norms, emotions, desires and imaginations.”

The course, which is cross-listed with UCLA’s food studies minor, demonstrates the power of interdisciplinary scholarship, said Amy Rowat, faculty director of the Rothman Family Institute for Food Studies.

“Providing a much-needed global lens, Professor Nathan’s innovative course expands and enriches the UCLA Food Studies curriculum, and offers an exciting opportunity for students to engage with food issues across global scales,” said Rowat, UCLA’s Marcie H. Rothman Presidential Chair in Food Studies and professor and vice chair of integrative biology and physiology.

From marketing to history to social justice

The interdisciplinary scope has also made the material accessible and relatable for students.

“Each week, we’re diving into a breadth of topics, from marketing and branding in consumer psychology, to historical analyses of past and present injustices, to glimpses into the day-to-day lives of the ancient civilizations that preceded us,” said Jerome Teo, a third-year computer science major.

With each lecture, Nathan zeroes in on a “food in focus” — a specific food item or recipe — as the basis for discussing cultural and conceptual themes throughout history.

By the end of the quarter, students will have explored topics ranging from timballo to molasses, and from Los Angeles street tacos to tanka-me-a-lo, a Cherokee buffalo stew. Using those foods as anchors, lectures have covered the role of food in ancient empires, the transatlantic slave trade, gender roles within and beyond the family and the rise of brand culture.

For many students, Nathan’s global food studies course is an introduction to the humanities.

“It’s really useful when you’re studying these broader concepts to have the food in focus to come back to as a concrete example,” said Elliot Heywood, a first-year history major and food studies minor. “But it’s also helpful as a jumping off point to explore other examples that we find interesting and lean into those discussions.”

Exploring family narratives

One of the course assignments, for example, encourages students to study global food-related narratives from their own lives.

Heywood delved into the history of a cookie recipe that her family makes every year for Christmas Eve. She called her grandmother to learn more about its origins.

“It turns out it’s derived from a German cookie recipe called speculatti,” said Heywood. “But no other speculatti follow the same recipe. So I’ve been looking at the adaptations of the recipe, how the recipe came to the U.S., how it has evolved and how it was eventually passed down to me. It’s been a cool way to connect with my grandma and understand my identity and culture in a more tangible way.”

The course will culminate with an exploration of solutions for a more sustainable future for the planet’s food systems. Through cultivating the art of attentiveness in students, Nathan hopes they will be better equipped to live, eat, cook and share food with more intention, and with care for themselves and the common good.

“By engaging in this kind of humanistic training, I hope students will notice that every dish or food item they eat is also the final product of a distinct global interplay of multispecies cultures, lives, bodies and ecosystems,” he said. “And perhaps that will allow them to create more joyful and ecoculturally sustainable food experiences.”