Courses

• MET ML 700: Culinary Arts Laboratory
  Founded in 1989 by Julia Child and Jacques Pépin--who continues to teach in the program each semester--the Certificate Program in the Culinary Arts at Boston University's Metropolitan College is a unique course of study that introduces participants to the essential techniques, knowledge, and hands- on experience necessary to excel in the food industry.
  
  The Laboratory in the Culinary Arts for Spring 2014, is an 8 credit course that meets Mondays through Thursdays, 10:30 until 6 pm, depending on evaluating your work and cleanup time. Morning class is usually a lecture, a food demonstration or a field trip. The afternoon session, which begins at 1 pm, sharp, is hands-on cooking. You will learn the cooking skills and techniques of France, the Americas, and Italy, as well as other ethnic techniques of food preparation. Tuition is $6,240 plus a $4,000 lab fee. The program is taught entirely by working chefs and industry professionals from Boston and beyond-- serving as an ideal entrée to hundreds of food-related careers, from culinary writing to restaurant management to working as a chef. Our skilled team of core instructors comprises esteemed local restaurant owners, chefs, and consultants, while our visiting instructors include renowned chefs and restaurateurs from around the nation.
  
  Some of our faculty for Spring 2014 are: Jacques Pepin, John Vyhnanek, author, past owner of Harvard Street Grill, past executive chef at the Ritz Carlton Hotel, Boston, restaurant consultant; Jean Jacques Paimblanc, past executive chef Legal Sea Foods, Pavilion, Howard Johnsons, Panera Bread, Signature Breads; Janine Sciarappa, pastry chef; Chris Douglass, owner/chef Ashmont Grill, Tavolo, past owner Icarus; Jeremy Sewall, executive chef/co-owner Eastern Standard, Island Creek Oyster Bar and Grill, Lineage; Michael Leviton, executive chef/owner Lumiere, Area Four, Jeff Fournier, 51 Lincoln, Barry Maiden, Hungry Mother. The following instructors will have taught this semester either one or more times: Deborah Hansen, Taberna de Hara; Ihsan Gurdal, Formaggio Kitchen; Sam Huang, Super Fusion; Sandy Block; Master of Wine; Jim Dodge, world famous baker; Max Harvey, Jasper White's Summer Shack; Bess Emanuel, food consultant; Fabrizia Lanza, consultant and owner Anna Tasca Lanza Culinary School, Sicily; Nina Gallant, food photographer; Bill Nesto, Master of Wine; Irene Costello and Joan Mac Isaac, food product producers; Raymond Ost, chef/owner Sandrine's Restaurant; Joseph Polak, Rabbi and expert on Kosher foods, Boston University Hillel; Patrick Dubsky, owner Winestone and former sommelier; Jean --Claude Szurdak on French pastries; Sheryl Julian, food editor of the Boston Globe; Joseph Carlin, food historian; Priscilla Martel, baker; Mary Ann Esposito, expert on foods of Italy, Leo Romero, expert on culture and cuisine of Mexico, owner/chef Casa Romero; Jackson Cannon, mixologist and sommelier; Garrett Harker, owner Eastern Standard and Island Creek Oyster Bar and Grill; and many others.
  
  This intensive, four-month Program in the Culinary Arts provides a strong foundation in classic French and modern cooking techniques, along with exposure to international cuisines. Under the tutelage of professional working chefs and food industry experts, you will engage in lectures and demonstrations, and acquire hands-on experience in our state-of-the-art laboratory kitchen--one of the finest in the country. From simple techniques to more difficult and complex preparations, you will develop valuable cooking skills through discipline and practice. The program also provides a broader understanding of the past, present, and future of the global food economy, and the principles of small- and large-scale food production.
  
  There is no other course of this kind offered anywhere. It is a perfect fit to the interdisciplinary approach to food studies in the Gastronomy Program. Only 12 students are admitted into this course each semester. Lisa Falso is the exclusive supervisor for this program. She will guide you throughout the four-months. Students have access to our extensive collection of historic cookbooks, which includes seminal literature on gastronomy, cuisine, and wine studies.
• MET ML 701: Introduction to Gastronomy: Theory and Methodology
  This course is designed to introduce students to current and foundational issues in food studies and gastronomy. Through this focus on central topics, students will engage directly in the interdisciplinary method that is central to food studies. Each week will introduce a unique view of the holistic approach that is central to a liberal arts approach to studying food and a new research technique will be presented and put into practice through the readings and course exercises. This course will give Gastronomy students a better understanding of the field as a whole. While providing an overview and methodological toolbox, it will act as a springboard in to areas of specialization of the course. 4 cr.
• MET ML 704: Special Topics
  Fall 2014 - MET ML704 C1 - Special Topic: "Beer & Spirits."
  In this course we will explore the great variety of beer styles and spirit categories currently available and the role each plays in our culture. We will survey significant developments in the historical evolution, production, distribution, consumption and cultural usage of these alcoholic beverages in the US. We will taste beer and spirits extensively to demonstrate examples of the most important categories and classifications. 2 credits.
  
  Fall 2014 - MET ML704 S1 - Special Topic: "Starting Your Own Food Business."
  No matter what type of food business one wants to start, a plan and expert advice on how to go about it is necessary. The goal of this course is to introduce the fundamentals of food service business planning, focusing on restaurants, cafes, bistros and personal chef businesses. Topics from food safety to employee management to finances and operations will be covered by instructors experienced in many aspects of successful food businesses, along with guest speakers from the industry. The culmination of the course is a working business plan to aid the student in the realization of their concept. 2 credits.
  
  
• MET ML 705: Artisan Cheeses of the World
  An in-depth exploration of the styles and production of cheeses from regions around the world, from their beginnings on the farm to the finished products at the table. 2 cr
• MET ML 706: Food and Gender
  This course takes an anthropological, cross-cultural, and interdisciplinary approach to food and gender, looking at how masculinity and femininity are defined through beliefs and practices surrounding food and body. It explores theories of gender and methods for studying it and engages students in ethnographic research on gender and food.
• MET ML 707: Directed Study
  Graduate Prerequisites: consent of coordinator.
  Students may work with a full-time Boston University faculty member to complete a Directed Study project on a topic relevant to the program. These projects must be arranged with and approved by Gastronomy program coordinator.
• MET ML 708: Directed Study
  Graduate Prerequisites: consent of coordinator.
  Prereq: consent of coordinator.
• MET ML 709: Directed Study
  Directed Study - Permission Required.
• MET ML 711: The Many Meanings of Meat
  There is perhaps no foodstuff more prized than meat, and there is none more problematic. Long associated with power, masculinity, vitality, and progress, meat is also linked to imperialism, sexism, speciesism, environmental collapse, foodborne disease, and chronic illness. In this comprehensive overview we will examine meat's many historical, economic, ecological, ethical, and nutritional dimensions. Coursework will include a wide variety of readings, online discussions, written assignments, field trips, and other experiential opportunities. 4 credits
• MET ML 712: The Sociology of Food and Labor
  This course will bring a sociological perspective to the study of food and labor by exploring farming, farmers, and food production in the United States. Using an intersectional lens of class, race, gender, and sexuality, we will explore such questions as: How are social categories relevant to farming? What are the social and cultural narratives shaping our current understanding of farmers and farming? What is the relationship of this narrative to the recent upsurge of beginning farmers? How is food production influenced by, and influencing, social life? While much of the course reading is based in social science scholarship, material will include fiction, popular and visual media, memoir, and documentary film. Assignments include co-facilitation of one discussion, two short analytical papers, and a final paper/project.
• MET ML 713: Agricultural History
  This course surveys the history of American agriculture from the colonial era to the present. It examines how farmers understood markets, made crop choices, adopted new technologies, developed political identities, and sought government assistance. Emphasis on the environmental, ideological, and institutional impact of farm modernization and industrialization.
• MET ML 714: Urban Agriculture
  Growing food in urban contexts raises interesting questions about food access, nutrition education, perceptions of public spaces and the place of nature in the urban environment. This course focuses on urban agriculture in Boston and a number of case studies from around the globe. Students visit gardens, learn basic cultivation skills through hands-on activities, and study the social and cultural sides of urban agriculture, as well as the political and city planning aspects of urban agriculture projects. 4 cr.
• MET ML 715: Food and the Senses
  This course is an interdisciplinary exploration of the sensory foundations and implications of food. We will study the senses as physical and cultural phenomena, the evolving concepts of terroir and craft, human nutritional and behavioral science, sensory perception and function, and the sensory and scientific aspects of food preparation and consumption. Understanding these processes, constructions and theories is key to understanding a vast array of food-related topics; cheese-making, wine-tasting, fermentation, food preservation, culinary tools and methods, cravings and food avoidance, sustainability and terroir, to name just a few.
• MET ML 720: Food Policy and Food Systems
  This course presents frameworks and case studies that will advance participants' understandings of U.S. and global food systems and policies. Adopting food-systems and food-chain approaches, it provides historical, cultural, theoretical and practical perspectives on world food problems and patterns of dietary and nutritional change, so that participants acquire a working knowledge of the ecology and politics of world hunger and understand the evolution of global-to-local food systems and diets. Global overview of world food situations will be combined with more detailed national and local-level case studies and analysis that connect global to local food crisis and responses.
• MET ML 721: US Food Policy and Culture
  This course overviews the forces shaping U.S. food policies, cultural politics, diet, and nutrition situations in the twenty-first century. After reviewing the history of U.S. domestic food policy, course discussions consider globalization, new agricultural and food technologies, new nutrition knowledge, immigration, and "sustainable-food" ideology as drivers of American dietary and food-regulatory change. "Food systems," "food chains," and "dietary structure" provide the major analytical frameworks for tracing how food moves from farm to table, and the role of local through national government and non-government institutions in managing these food flows.
• MET ML 722: Studies in Food Activism
  In this class students will explore the work of anthropologists and other social scientists on food activism citizens' efforts to promote social and economic justice through food practices and challenge the global corporate agrifood system. The class will explore diverse individual and collective forms of food activism including veganism, gleaning, farmers' markets, organic farming, fair trade, CSAs, buying groups, school gardens, anti-GMO movements, Slow Food, Via Campesina, and others. It will address the questions: what is food activism, what are its goals, what is working and not working, and what are the results?
• MET ML 800: Masters Project
  Students nearing the completion of their degree requirement for the MLA in Gastronomy may register for the Masters Project. This graduation requirement is available for students who entered the MLA program during or after Fall 2009. The Masters Project must be completed under the direction of a full-time Boston University faculty member. The coordinator of the Gastronomy program must approve a topic, outline, bibliography and schedule for the project. Please contact the program coordinator for further details and guidelines. Students must also concurrently enroll in ML 802. 2 cr.
• MET ML 801: Masters Thesis
  Graduate Prerequisites: For M.L.A. students only.
  Students nearing the completion of their degree requirement for the MLA in Gastronomy may register for the Masters Project. This graduation requirement is required for students who entered the MLA program before Fall 2009. The Masters Thesis must be completed under the direction of a full-time Boston University faculty member. The coordinator of the Gastronomy program must approve a topic, outline, bibliography and schedule for the project. Please contact the program coordinator for further details and guidelines. 4 cr.
• MET PH 101: Basic Problems of Philosophy
  Introduction to classical philosophical problems concerning human nature and knowledge, freedom and morality, and reason and justice.
• MET PH 110: Great Philosophers
  Introduction to the life and thought of five preeminent philosophers from classical times through the modern era.