Please note that most online Food Studies courses run on a 14-week schedule.
Refine Your Expertise in Food and Culture
Ideal for students and professionals who are considering a career change or seeking to enhance their credentials, the Online Graduate Certificate in Food Studies provides a solid foundation in food studies and valuable connections to a vibrant food-focused community of scholars and students.
A good choice for those who may not be in a position to commit to a full degree program, BU MET’s four-course Food Studies certificate program can be completed on a part-time basis in one year by taking two courses per semester. Additionally, Boston University’s Programs in Food & Wine include a variety of seminars, lectures, and certificates, including: Cheese Studies ; Culinary Arts ; Pastry Arts ; Seminars in Food & Wine ; and Wine Studies .
The Food Studies Graduate Certificate is also available on campus in Boston. Learn more.
Curriculum A total of 16 units is required.
Please note that most online Food studies courses run on a 14-week schedule.
Certificate Courses
(Four courses/16 units)
Choose two courses from the following:
MET ML 622 4 credits. Fall and Spring
History is part of a holistic, interdisciplinary approach to food studies. Knowing where our food comes from chronologically is just as important as knowing where it comes from geographically. Historical forces bring our food to the table and shape the agricultural practices, labor arrangements and cultural constructions that make meals possible. We will read, research, write and cook food history to explore the ways in which the history of food has shaped our world today, paying careful attention to structural inequalities that restrict food access. We will examine ways in which contemporary questions and problems inform historical inquiries and vice versa. Readings and projects in this course will typically focus on one geographic region but as a class we will be taking into account global connections and influences. The course material is organized both chronologically and thematically, with subthemes such as race, urbanization and industrialization. Students will learn about historical methodology and apply it to their own research.
Section E1, FALL 2026 Sep 2nd to Dec 10th
Figueroa
Independent
ARR
12:00:00 AM–12:00:00 AM
MET ML 641 4 credits. Fall and Spring
BU Hub Learn More Ethical Reasoning Research and Information Literacy Social Inquiry I
This course introduces students to the anthropological study of food and to the concept of food as a cultural system. In this cross-cultural exploration, we will examine the role of food and drink in ritual, reciprocity and exchange, social display, symbolism, and the construction of identity. Food preferences and taboos will be considered. We will also look at the transformative role of food in the context of culture contact, the relationship between food and ideas of bodily health and body image, food and memory, and the globalization of food as it relates to politics, power, and identity. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Ethical Reasoning, Social Inquiry I, Research and Information Literacy.
Section E1, FALL 2026 Sep 2nd to Dec 10th
Lopez Ganem
Independent
ARR
12:00:00 AM–12:00:00 AM
MET ML 701 4 credits. Fall and Spring
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 credits.
Section A1, FALL 2026 Sep 2nd to Dec 10th
Duckworth
Independent
W
06:00:00 PM–08:45:00 PM
FLR 123
MET ML 715 4 credits. Fall and Spring
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.
Section A1, FALL 2026 Sep 2nd to Dec 10th
Lopez Ganem
Independent
R
06:00:00 PM–08:45:00 PM
FLR 131
And two additional courses from the following (please note that not all courses are available in the online format):
MET ML 565 4 credits. Fall and Spring
The course applies the fundamental concepts and tools of marketing and brand management to the food industry, with a particular focus on the burgeoning New England culinary scene. This class will focus on marketing throughout key stages of the food-to-table supply chain, from raw ingredients and processing equipment in early production stages, through immersive culinary experiences targeted to distinct consumer segments. An additional emphasis of the course will be on marketing food products vs. services, and the strategic challenges and strategies that each portion of the food industry requires.
MET ML 623 4 credits. Fall and Spring
Students will examine interpretive foodways programs from museums, living history museums, folklore/folklife programs, culinary tourism offerings, "historical" food festivals, and food tours to compare different approaches to public histories of food. Through several case studies, students will examine mission statements, interpretive goals, and different methods of communicating with the public. Guest lectures and field trips lay the groundwork for a final project in which students develop a proposal for an interpretive food history program for an area museum, tour program, or public history program. The course offers opportunities for focused inquiry, hands-on research, and creative thinking.
MET ML 625 4 credits. Fall and Spring
Humans have been foraging for food since prehistoric times, but the recent interest in wild and foraged foods raises interesting issues about our connection to nature amid the panorama of industrially oriented food systems. From the political economy to Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), this course explores how we interact with, perceive, and know our world through the procurement of food. Students take part in foraging activities and hands-on culinary labs to engage the senses and reflect on the connections between humans, food, and the environment.
MET ML 626 4 credits. Fall and Spring
Food waste is a hot topic but not a new one. Some wasted food is the sign of a healthy system - if there were exactly enough calories produced to meet each of our needs, there would be mass starvation, riots, and hoarding as we all scrambled to get our share. But by some estimates, food loss and waste account for nearly 40% of the food produced. How much wasted food is too much? At the same time this food is wasted, food insecurity is everywhere, even on BU's campus. Is all wasted food "trash"? Need it be? Why is food wasted and where along the supply chain is it wasted? What are the ethics of donating surplus food/waste/trash of those who have too much to those who don't have enough? This hybrid course explores the history, culture, rhetoric, and practicalities of wasted food, from farm, through fork, to gut (is overeating a form of food waste? What about wasting micronutrients by converting them to ultraprocessed foods?). Each week includes readings, discussion, application activity; and several weeks will include a guest lecture from a food system practitioner. Students will develop practical solutions in a final project.
MET ML 629 4 credits.
The foodways of the people displaced from the African continent are interwoven with many societies, cultures, and cuisines across the globe. In this course, we will study five geographic regions of Africa; north, central, east, west and south. The list of the countries that encompass each region will follow. Cookbooks, maps, songs, poems, and even some folklore will be used as texts to analyze and add context to the history of the people of the diaspora. This course will have real, and courageous, and respectful conversations including race and power and how those two elements are embedded into the food systems in North America, Central America, South America, the Caribbean and Europe. We will trace ingredients that came with the enslaved people and track their integration into cuisines and cultures (agriculture, pop culture, aquaculture etc.) as a collective group and then independently as a capstone course project.
Section E1, FALL 2026 Sep 2nd to Dec 10th
DaCosta
Independent
ARR
12:00:00 AM–12:00:00 AM
MET ML 630 4 credits. Fall and Spring
What can cookbooks and recipes tell us about an individual? A community? A culture? What does the language of the recipe say about systems of knowledge and ways of thinking about the world? The movement of ingredients and food technology? The transmission of cooking knowledge? Does the analysis of historical cookbooks have contemporary applications? In this course, students will consider these questions through a survey of historical cooking texts and in-class exercises. We will examine cookbooks as a source of culinary history and a window into the changing material culture, practices, spaces, and relationships associated with food preparation and consumption. In addition, students will examine cookbooks and recipes as social documents that reveal the presence of social and economic hierarchies, networks and alliances, and political, economic, and religious structures. We will also examine these documents as cultural texts that reveal the construction of ethnic, gendered, and other identities. Students will study and analyze a selection of cookbooks from different historical periods and geographic regions leading to a final project and paper.
MET ML 655 4 credits. Fall and Spring
Whatever type of food-related business you want to start, you will need expert advice to plan and launch. This course will guide you through the process of developing and realizing your business idea. Guest speakers from the food industry will share hands- on knowledge and insights. In this section you will focus on writing a business plan. Grading is based on attendance, participation and completing a business plan.
Section E1, FALL 2026 Sep 2nd to Dec 10th
Shmulik
Independent
ARR
12:00:00 AM–12:00:00 AM
MET ML 671 4 credits. Fall and Spring
Examine depictions of food and cooking within visual culture and analyze the ways in which they reflect and shape our understanding of the meaning of food. You will explore how food and cooking are depicted as expressions of culture, politics, and group or personal identity via a multitude of visual materials, including, but not limited to: TV programs, magazines, cookbooks, food packaging, advertising, photography, online and digital media, and works of art. A good portion of class time is given to discussing the readings in combination with participatory, in-depth analysis of the visual material.
Section E1, FALL 2026 Sep 2nd to Dec 10th
Palmer
Independent
ARR
12:00:00 AM–12:00:00 AM
MET ML 681 4 credits. Fall and Spring
Students will develop and improve food-writing skills through the study of journalistic ethics; advertising; scientific and technological matters; recipe writing; food criticism; anthropological and historical writing about food; food in fiction, magazines and newspapers.
Section A1, FALL 2026 Sep 2nd to Dec 10th
Julian
Independent
M
06:00:00 PM–08:45:00 PM
FLR 131
MET ML 698 4 credits. Fall and Spring
This hands-on class is designed for beginners and aspiring cooks alike and guides you through the fundamentals of meal preparation, ingredient selection, and proper seasoning. You’ll learn how to master essential techniques, from handling a knife like a pro to chopping and sautéing to baking and plating, all while developing good kitchen practices and habits. Classes take place in our state-of-the-art kitchen and are taught by the same team of highly acclaimed chefs who teach in our professional culinary program. While completion of this class does not result in a certificate, it offers a scaled-down version of our professional culinary program. The class covers all the basic core skills with a focus on key recipes and techniques.
MET ML 699 4 credits. Fall and Spring
This hands-on Pastry class is designed for students of all levels. Our Pastry Chefs will guide you through the fundamentals of the craft. You’ll learn to master essential techniques, from handling piping bags to making doughs and creating beautiful, delicious pastries & baked goods, all while developing good kitchen practices and habits. Chefs will address time management and how it can help you with baked goods and pastries. Classes take place in our state-of-the-art kitchen and are taught by the same team of highly acclaimed pastry chefs who teach in our professional programs. While completion of this class does not result in a certificate, it offers a scaled-down version of our professional pastry arts program. The class covers all the basic core skills with a focus on key recipes and techniques.
Section A1, FALL 2026 Sep 2nd to Dec 10th
Palmer
Independent
T
06:00:00 PM–08:45:00 PM
FLR 128
MET ML 706 4 credits. Fall and Spring
In Food, Gender and Sexuality, we will explore ways in which language and behaviors around food both reinforce and challenge gender hierarchies and restrictive norms around sexuality. Using frameworks developed in gender and sexuality studies, we will interrogate our contemporary foodscape through close readings of many media, including food blogs, magazines, TV shows and advertisements. The course will include reading, research, field work, discussion, and cooking to help us understand why and how food has been gendered and how the process differs across place, time, and culture.
MET ML 714 4 credits. Fall and Spring
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 716 4 credits. Fall and Spring
Taste has an undeniable personal immediacy: producing visceral feelings ranging from delight to disgust. As a result, in our everyday lives we tend to think about taste as purely a matter of individual preference. However, for sociologists, our tastes are not only socially meaningful, they are also socially determined, organized, and constructed. This course will introduce students to the variety of questions sociologists have asked about taste. What is a need? Where do preferences come from? What social functions might our tastes serve? Major theoretical perspectives for answering these questions will be considered, examining the influence of societal institutions, status seeking behaviors, internalized dispositions, and systems of meaning on not only what we enjoy - but what we find most revolting.
Section E1, FALL 2026 Sep 2nd to Dec 10th
Fitzmaurice
Independent
ARR
12:00:00 AM–12:00:00 AM
MET ML 720 4 credits. Fall and Spring
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 4 credits. Fall and Spring
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.
Section A1, FALL 2026 Sep 2nd to Dec 10th
Messer
Independent
T
06:00:00 PM–08:45:00 PM
CAS 320
With advisor approval, students may choose to take courses outside of the electives list.
View BU MET’s academic calendar for online programs, including important dates and deadlines.
Learn about application requirements for BU MET graduate degree and certificate programs.
How You Benefit from a
A BU credential can help lay the foundation for career advancement and personal success.
Benefit from a 24:1 average student-to-instructor ratio. Food Studies courses offer interplay between academic research and critical thinking as well as exploring food through the senses—providing rare and exceptional range and depth to food studies scholarship. Courses are enhanced by regular guest lectures and special events. Benefit from working closely with highly qualified Boston University faculty who draw from active research and extensive field experience in all aspects of food studies: policy, history, anthropology, marketing, entrepreneurship, hospitality, journalism, and science. Experience one of the only programs in which you can earn academic credit by completing hands-on culinary courses in Cheese Studies, Pastry Arts, and Wine Studies. BU MET’s legacy in food studies goes back to 1991, when the Gastronomy Master’s degree program was founded by Jacques Pépin and Julia Child, two legends of the culinary world. Graduate with Expertise
Students who complete the Food Studies graduate certificate will be able to demonstrate:
Interdisciplinary and holistic approaches to the study of food through a liberal arts perspective. Advanced knowledge of social theory applicable to food studies. An ability to critically analyze current and foundational issues in food studies and food systems. Research skills in food studies and knowledge of qualitative and quantitative methodologies for interdisciplinary food studies research. Competence in the written and oral presentation of complex ideas and arguments in scholarly and professional contexts.
“I feel so lucky to be a part of the food studies community, and to have had the opportunity to grow as a researcher and writer during my time in the Gastronomy program.” Read more.
Dana Ferrante (MET’23) Writer, Editor, Producer, and Independent Food Studies Scholar MA, Gastronomy
Advance Your Career
BU MET’s Food Studies Graduate Certificate program prepares graduates who are insightful, adaptable, and creative. BU’s Food Studies and Gastronomy alumni hold positions in academia, food writing and publications, media and communications, policy, tourism, marketing, food enterprise and distribution, and many other areas. Their range of professions and endeavors is as unusual, exciting, and diverse as they come.
Recent graduates have found job opportunities and career paths in companies such as:
Johnson & Wales University America’s Test Kitchen The Pioneer Woman and Food Network Magazines Food Tours at Intrepid Travel PepsiCo Oceania Cruises Legal Sea Foods Amazon Oldways Trust Culture Brewing Co.
The Boston Globe Allrecipes.com Datassential culture: the word on cheese magazine Clean Plates OmniMedia Aramark Whetstone Media Cornell University Oxfam America New England Culinary Institute
Food Studies Faculty
Master Lecturer
Director of Food & Wine Programs
Lecturer
Lead Culinary Instructor, Certificate Program in the Culinary Arts
Interested in Learning More?
