Courses

NOTE: This site is an archive of 2012–2013 programs and policies at Boston University Metropolitan College. If you are looking for current information about Metropolitan College and its programs, please go to our official website: www.bu.edu/met.

• MET ML 699: Laboratory in the Culinary Arts: Baking
  Exposes students to a craft-based understanding of the culinary arts from which to better understand how food and cuisine fit into the liberal arts and other disciplines and cultures. The course integrates personal experience and theory through discipline by training students in the classic and modern techniques and theories of food production, through pastry and baking methods as well as working efficiently, effectively, and safely, and by introducing students to baking techniques from various cultures and cuisines from around the world. Open only to matriculated gastronomy students. Cannot be taken in addition to ML 700.
• MET ML 700: Culinary Arts Laboratory
  The Laboratory in the Culinary Arts for Spring 2012, 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 $6,080 plus a $4,000 lab fee.
  
  The following persons have been the instructors for fall 2011 and most of them will be teaching in winter/spring 2012. The core instructors, are comprised of those who teach more than 5 meeting times during the semester are: 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; Jamie Bissonnette, chef/co-owner Toro, Coppa, past executive chef Eastern Standard; 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. The following instructors will have taught this semester either one or more times: Deborah Hansen, Taberna de Hara; Ihsan Gurdal, Formaggio Kitchen; Warren Belasco, on meat; Sam Huang, Super Fusion; Ellen Messer, on sugar; Sandy Block; Master of Wine; Jim Dodge, world famous baker; Nina Simonds, Chinese culture and Cuisine; Walter Willett, nutritionist; 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; Jeff Fournier, executive chef 51 Lincoln; Bill Nesto, Master of Wine; Judith Jones, food editor and cookbook author; 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; Charles Grandon, former executive chef, Boston Harbor Hotel, Boston University catering, Pillar House, presently executive chef Winchester Country Club; Claudia Roden, world expert on foods of the Mediterranean countries; 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; Ana Sortun, executive chef/owner Oleana Restaurant and expert on food of Turkey; Garrett Harker, owner Eastern Standard and Island Creek Oyster Bar and Grill; Sam Mendlinger, on agriculture in Africa and sustainability. Unfortunately Jacques Pepin could not make it teaching this semester because of illness but he has not missed a semester teaching in over 21 years.
  
  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 student and kitchen supervisor for this particular program. She will be instructing you along with the visiting chefs as well as being in charge of the overall curriculum.
• MET ML 701: Understanding Food: 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 702: Special Topic: Concepts in Economics and Political Dimensions of Food Production
  Course covers basic concepts in economic and political dimensions of food production, consumption and trade, with emphasis on the global food system.Topics include market and consumption analysis, types of food policy instruments and how these affect consumer food choices, environment, diet, nutrition and health.
• MET ML 704: Special Topic: Cookbooks and History
  Seminar on the use of cookbooks and recipes as historical documents unique to food history. Cookbooks and recipes will be examined from a variety of perspectives: cultural, culinary, social, economic, agricultural, geographical, and comparative.
• 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: Representations of Food and Gender in the Media
  This course examines the relationship between food and gender (and gender roles) through an interdisciplinary examination of representations of food in visual culture. It looks at films and TV programs as well as other forms of visual culture (i.e. magazines, cookbooks, advertisements, photography, web pages, etc.). The investigation of these materials is guided by two main objectives: 1) to examine how these visual texts depict the relationship between food and gender; and then, 2) to analyze how these meanings are produced. In class, we watch relevant films and TV programs as well as look at other forms of visual culture. Assigned readings are designed to illuminate both the topics discussed as well as the specific visual material examined. A good portion of class time is given to discussing the readings in combination with a hands-on, in-depth analysis of the visual material.
• MET ML 707: Directed Study
  Students may work with a full-time Boston University faculty member to complete a Directed Study project on a topic relevant to the program. Directed study may also take the form of an internship. This may be completed off campus. These projects must be arranged with and approved by Gastronomy program coordinator.
• MET ML 708: Directed Study
  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
  Course will examine the work of producing food, from agriculture to domestic consumption and everything in between. It will focus on sociological frameworks for thinking about the labor of growing food, transporting it, transforming it into comestibles, and finally serving and cleaning related to food consumption. With some emphasis on the Americas, the course will also consider the way global labor shapes the availability of food for different populations. It will also include a substantial analysis of gender, race, and social class as factors in the division of food labor. Readings and discussion will touch on migrant labor, domestic cooking, waiting and serving, growing and butchering, cooks and chefs, and more. Course is structured around three meetings and online instruction.
• MET ML 713: Agricultural History: a Survey of Agriculture from the Pre-Historic Period to the Modern Period
  This course examines the history of agriculture within a broad interdisciplinary context with discussion of the relationships between the environment, populations, cultures, technologies, economics, and politics as they shape agricultural history. Emphasis on food production within different civilizations and continents from the prehistoric period to the modern era. 4 cr
• 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
  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.

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