Week 1

Jan 25: Post to Instagram #QueensFoodways 3 photos introducing yourself through food. Also, an introduction to the course, #TacoLiteracy (also follow @tacoliteracy in Instagram and Twitter!): Taco Literacy on The Splendid Table https://www.splendidtable.org/story/mexington-taco-literacy-and-foods-social-connection-in-the-south.

 

Homework: Review syllabus. Open a WordPress account. Also, email me your WordPress URL alvares1@stjohns.edu, also the name you would like used on the link to your website.

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Week 2

Jan 29: “Follow” your classmates on Instagram, leave two comments for each person.

 

Homework: Read Kuo “When Little Island Cuisine Encountered Chinese Food” (available on Blackboard under course readings). Also listen to The Splendid Table: “There’s More to Korean Food than Barbecue and Kimche”: https://www.splendidtable.org/story/theres-more-to-korean-food-than-barbecue-and-kimchee  

 

Feb 1: Reviewing syllabus, web access, questions for the course. Discussion of Kuo’s article about Flushing, Queens.

 

Homework: Compose a blog post focusing on the food you identify with, and how that food is part of your identity. It is important for you to also the consider the people you know who you associate with these foods, and those folks you may currently know who would be considered “experts” about the foods. I would also like you to include two images of the foods, with links to the sources. Also please embed a YouTube video relating to the food.

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Week 3

Feb 5: Discussing Kuo’s article further. Linking Instagram and WordPress. Also listening to Gravy “Kimchi and Cornbread”: https://www.southernfoodways.org/gravy/kimchi-and-cornbread/

 

Homework: Read “Bourdain Parts Unknown Queens Recap”: https://www.eater.com/2017/5/21/15660382/anthony-bourdain-parts-unknown-queens-recap. Also review the two reviews by Pete Wells, both on Blackboard.  

 

Feb 8: Watching Parts Unknown Queens episode. Connecting back to Kuo’s article. Also reviewing Wells reviews, as mentor texts and examples for your first assignment.

 

Homework: Check out the website for the Queens episode of the show: https://explorepartsunknown.com/destination/queens/. Read also “From the Art of Dim Sum to the Art of Sculpture: Master Chef Kai Tai Chan and His Dough Evolution in New York” by Clarence Chan and Ting Man Tsao.

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Week 4

Feb 12: Reviewing the stories from Parts Unknown, Chan and Tsao’s article,  and the representations of culture through food. Also: what are foodways?

 

Homework: Six blog posts due next class. Also first set of Instagram posts due, use hashtag #QueensFoodways, due before beginning of next class. Also read “The Secret Momo Shack Hidden in a Cell Phone Store” from Eater: https://www.eater.com/2015/12/15/10213880/tibetan-momo-nyc-cell-phone-store

 

Feb 15: Discussion of article from Eater. First set of six blog posts on WordPress and 15 Instagram posts due before class.  

 

Homework: Start reading Bourdain Kitchen Confidential (“Appetizer,” “First Course,” and “Second Course”). Also Assignment 1 due Feb. 22.

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Week 5

Feb 19: Discussion of Kitchen Confidential. 

 

Homework: Complete Assignment 1. To be published as a page on your blog.

 

Feb 22: Continue with Chan and Tsao article and linking with Bourdain’s book. Assignment 1 due.

 

Homework: Continue with Bourdain (“Third Course,” “Dessert,” and “Coffee and Cigarette.” Also listen to the history of Sriracha on The Salt: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2019/01/16/681944292/in-home-of-original-sriracha-sauce-thais-say-rooster-brand-is-nothing-to-crow-ab.

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Week 6

Feb. 26: Southern Foodways Alliance and foodways storytelling. Continuing with Bourdain, and linking with previous readings and foodways.

 

Homework: Six WordPress posts due beginning of next class. Also begin reading “There’s No Escaping the Gentrification of Chai” from Eater: https://www.eater.com/2018/11/5/17937472/karachi-chai-wala-dhaba-parathas-gentrification.

 

Mar 1: Discussion of the Eater article. 

Homework: Next set of Instagram posts due, use hashtag #QueensFoodways, due before beginning of next class. Also begin reading Grimes Appetite City (Chapters 1-8).

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Week 7

Mar 5: SPRING BREAK

Mar 8: SPRING BREAK

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Week 8

Mar 12: Next set of WordPress posts and IG posts due, before class. Also discussion of the Eater article. Discussion of Appetite City. Final review for Assignment 2.  

 

Homework: Assignment 2 due next class. Continue with Grimes Appetite City (Chapters 9-12).

 

Mar 15: No Class. Assignment 2 due 12pm, March 17 (Sunday).

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Week 9

Mar 19: Discussion of Appetite City, and linking history with current contexts and stories in Queens.    

 

Homework: Continue with Grimes Appetite City (Chapters 13-16).  

 

Mar 22: Discussion of Grimes. 

 

Homework: Begin reading Taco USA (Chapters 1-4).

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Week 10

Mar 25: Discussing Mexican food and history of chain restaurants.

Homework: Next set of six WordPress posts and 15 Instagram posts due before beginning of next class.

 

Mar 29: Next set of WordPress posts and IG posts due, before class.

In exchange for class, and more time to work on your IG and WordPress posts, no class meeting, but please also watch this episode of Ugly Delicious. 

Homework: Taco USA (Chapters 5-10).

 

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Week 11

Apr 2: Continue discussion of Arellano’s book, the history of salsa, sit-down restaurants, and newer chains.  

 

Homework: Continue with Taco USA (Chapters 11-14, Conclusion).

 

Apr 5: The mass-production of US-style fast food in Taco USA, final discussion of the book. 

 

Homework: Be prepared for the next assignment due April 10th.

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Week 12

Apr 9: Assignment 3 Due, 12 pm April 10th. Also introducing Michael Twitty with this episode from The Sporkful: http://www.sporkful.com/a-brief-history-of-american-barbecue/

 

Homework: Next set of Instagram posts due, use hashtag #QueensFoodways, due before beginning of next class. Begin reading Twitty’s The Cooking Gene (Chapters 1-7).

 

Apr 12: Discussion of The Cooking Gene. Next set of 15 Instagram posts due before class.

 

Homework: Continue with Twitty’s The Cooking Gene (Chapters 8-13).

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Week 13

Apr 16: Continue with The Cooking Gene.

 

Homework: Twitty’s The Cooking Gene (Chapters 8-19). Assignment 4 due, 4/23.

 

Apr 19: NO CLASS. 

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Week 14

Apr 23: Assignment 4 due. Finishing up with Twitty’s The Cooking Gene.

 

Homework: Begin reading Sietsema’s New York in a Dozen Dishes (Chapters 1-4).

 

Apr 26: Begin discussing Sietsema’s book, also on The Splendid Table: https://www.splendidtable.org/story/can-you-define-new-york-city-through-its-food.

 

Homework: Sietsema’s New York in a Dozen Dishes (Chapters 5-8).

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Week 15

Apr 30: Class visitor: Robert Sietsema of Eater.

 

Homework: Last set of Instagram posts due, use hashtag #QueensFoodways, due before beginning of next class. Sietsema’s New York in a Dozen Dishes (Chapters 9-12, and “Dessert”).

 

May 3: Last class. Finishing with Sietsema and semester of study.

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Celebration into finals: Taco camino de Queens. We will be meeting in Jackson Heights.

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Final projects Assignment 5 due May 10, 12pm.