ESSAY 1: Thick Description: A Food Story
Students will embark on a search for information regarding how a food item comes to be and chronicle its journey from “field to plate” in a “travelogue” style paper (likely about four to five pages in length). The goal is to practice “thick description” as shown in the example essays by Warren Belasco (Food: The Key Concepts [REQUIRED READING]) Kevin Ashton (“What Coke Contains”), and Leonard Read (“I, Pencil”). For writing help, the Purdue OWL provides a host of excellent resources.
The purpose of this assignment is help students hone their research skills by gathering information from scholarly sources. Further, at each “stop” in the process, there are a web of questions to be asked (both disciplinary and interdisciplinary). Good questions should flow from this process. Be sure to note important concepts that must be defined and discussed to fully understand the findings. Employ what “thick description” by looking at the food through various lenses and from various points of view. Note which lenses were used and what was discovered by thinking this way.
This essay will likely be four to five pages in length. Take great care to PROPERLY DOCUMENT ALL SOURCES. Use scholarly sources (not popular news sources, DotComs, DotInfos, or similar sources). That said, some sources may come from company web sites or a food label in this section.
Specific details, interdisciplinarity, and complexity via “thick description” should be developed in this story. DOCUMENT SOURCES using proper format (MLA, APA, or Chicago style) and include a works cited page at the end of the paper. Students may tell this story in various ways, but use the language of this course (see Repko, Ruggiero, and Belasco readings). While students have a lot of creative freedom on this assignment, please write with the following sections and questions in mind:
SECTION 1: Origins (about two pages)
1. Why is this food important? What is its essence?
2. Why does this food matter?
3. How did it come to be?
4. Why do people eat it? Which people? Why does it qualify as food?
SECTION 2: Identifying Interdisciplinarity (about one page)
5. What disciplines were most recognizable during this process (focus on two or three)? Which were intentionally selected? Why? What scholarly insights were gained from the most recognizable disciplines present in this story? Cite and discuss them.
SECTION 3: Making Connections to IDST (about one page)
6. What major implications does this research this have on how to better understand this food? How do these insights affect thinking about other “stuff” purchased on a regular basis?
SECTION 4: Next Questions and the Contribution of IDST Thinking (about one page)
7. What are the most important questions to ask about food and other “stuff”?
8. What might an IDST student see here that disciplinary majors might miss?
WORKS CITED PAGE
*There should be at least two scholarly sources from two different disciplines in addition to any other sources needed to tell this object’s story.
EXAMPLE OF PROPER CITATION
…end of quote” (Belasco 47).
EXAMPLE OF PROPER WORKS CITED ENTRY
Belasco, Warren. Food: the Key Concepts. New York: Berg, 2008.
IDST means Interdisciplinarity studies
