Course Syllabus

Course Title

Semester & Location:	Summer Session 2 - 2026 - DIS Copenhagen
Credits:	3 credits
Study Tours:	Athens, Greece
Major Disciplines:	Anthropology, sociology, history
Prerequisite(s):	None
Faculty Members:	Aimee Placas & Anders Larsen

A taste of place: food, locality, and culture

Course description.

This course looks at the many ties between food and place. What links a particular food to a particular region? How do people come to think of foods as “ours” or “theirs”? Why do certain foods seem more meaningful, more enjoyable, or more ethical, because of their local identity?

To explore these questions, we will critically examine the constructs of culture and tradition, focusing on how these concepts are shaped by governmental policies, market dynamics, international organizations, historical narratives, and personal agency, and more. We’ll be learning ethnographic methods to do research, and using our own bodies as instruments to analyze food and space. 

The course is based in Copenhagen, Denmark, the emergent capital of New Nordic Cuisine, where food tradition and locality is being reimagined at levels both every day and haute cuisine. To collect additional insights on how different countries and peoples define and defend their food traditions, we will embark on a study tour to Athens, Greece. The course is concluded back in Copenhagen. When not in the classroom, we will immerse ourselves in the city's urban foodscapes, and take trips outside of the city to explore other sites of the production and consumption of food. From city markets in Copenhagen to seaside tavernas in Greece, we will experientially be studying food’s connection to place, and making visible all of the hidden forces that forge that connection. 

 

Learning outcomes.

 

Through this course, you will:

• Broaden your palate with new textures and flavors
• Gain awareness of how cultural identities and concepts of tradition are constructed through food
• Develop a critical understanding of the discourses surrounding locality
• Learn more about how history specifically in Denmark and Greece have shaped food identity in those spaces
• Understand the theories that social scientists use to analyze food in society
• Apply social theories and ethnographic methodologies to your own research

 

 

 

 

FACULTY

Aimee Placas

Aimee Placas holds a PhD in Anthropology from Rice University. She has been a lecturer in the CYA program in Athens, Greece from 2003, where she teaches courses on the anthropology of food, political anthropology, Greek ethnography, and gender and sexuality. Her research and publication interests include the anthropology of consumption, economic anthropology, political anthropology, and gender and sexuality.

Anders Larsen

Anders Larsen holds a Canditatus Magisterii in History and English from the University of Copenhagen (2008). His research has focused on cultural history, material and visual culture. Anders has been teaching at DIS since 2011. He teaches classes on food, fashion, and urban design.  Anders has most recently contributed to the anthrology ‘Copenhagen Chic: A sartorial History of Copenhagen’, and ‘Bøssernes Danmarkshistorie’, a cultural history of gay men in Denmark 1900-2020. 

STUDY TOUR

The class will spend five nights in Athens. Here we will focus on local food scapes, practices around the production and consumption of food, and food history in order to be able to compare this context to Copenhagen. Hotel and two meals per day are covered.

Study Tour Objectives

• You will gain an understanding of how the production and consumption of food in Greece is shaped by factors such as cultural history, medical discourses, and economic structures.
• You will gain a comparative perspective on European foodscapes and how to interpret them.
• You will gain a critical understanding of how discourses such as tradition, locality, and culture shape our experiences of food.
• You will improve your skills in tasting and assessing foods.

 

APPROACH TO TEACHING

Classes are conducted as a combination of lectures, group discussions and interactive exercises. Active student participation is expected. Class sessions will be complemented by field studies and independent field work.

 

EXPECTATIONS OF STUDENTS AND ACCOMMODATIONS

Students are expected to show up for class prepared and participate actively. 

Computers and tablets are allowed in class PURELY for note taking purposes and class activities, unless they have an accommodation. Cases of other uses such as Facebook, emails, or internet surfing will have a negative impact on your participation grade. Cell phones are to be shut off or silenced during class and texting etc. during class will have a negative impact on your participation grade.

Tastings of foods are regularly conducted both in the classroom and on our excursions; note that not all tastings will be able to accommodate all dietary restrictions, and dietary alternatives may not exist in some contexts. We also cannot guarantee the lack of cross-contamination for food allergies in many of the places we visit. 

Students should be aware that this course takes us to locations where there is hilly and uneven terrain, where temperatures may be high with no shade, and where there are loud noises and strong smells.

Students are expected to conduct field work among locals. This requires a willingness to engage with people of a different culture, and be ready for situations where English is not the dominant language.

 

EVALUATION

Grade calculation

Assignment	Percent
ASSIGNMENT 1: Visual research methods	20%
ASSIGNMENT 2: Ethnographic methods	20%
ASSIGNMENT 3: Interview Assignment	20%
FIELD NOTEBOOK	20%
PARTICIPATION	20%

 

Participation is evaluated as follows:

• Do you participate actively during class sessions and excursions?
• Were you timely and prepared?
• Do you show respect to classmates and the learning environment?
• Do you show respect to guest lecturers and the environments we visit?

Active class participation throughout the course: A=96 / Occasional participation: B=86 / Little or no participation: C=76. Fine-tuning of percentage points may occur, reflecting student performance.

Note that attendance at all classes and field studies is required and expected and is not credited as participation. Failure to attend will have a negative influence on the participation grade, however.

 

Notebooks are evaluated as follows:

• Do you complete the homework and notebook prompts?
• Do you use your journal in and out of class?
• Do your notes show detail and reflection?
• Are you both observing and analyzing?

 

Rubrics for the assignment grades are distributed with the assignment descriptions.

 

How to Get a Good Grade

• Involve yourself! Allow yourself the luxury of taking a genuine interest in the course, i.e. in ‘food’. It may not be your core field or interest, but why not join the many students who have been surprised at how interesting it actually is to suddenly understand the history and nutrition we consume.
• Get organized! Enter all due dates in a calendar and set aside time to work on assignments and prepare for class.
• Prepare for class! Every class!
• Take good notes! You will be graded on your analytical thinking.
• Participate! Sharing your thoughts and ideas in class is not just important for the participation grade, it is one of the best tools for developing your analytical skills.
• Follow the directions! A detailed description and assessment rubric will be distributed for each assignment.

COURSE BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bibliography.

 

Augé, Marc, Non-Places. An introduction to Supermodernity, Verso 1992

 

Barthes, Roland. 2012. “Toward a Psychosociology of Contemporary Food Consumption.” In Food and Culture: A Reader, edited by Carole Counihan and Penny Van Esterik, 23–30. Routledge.

 

Bourdieu, Pierre. 1984. Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. Harvard University Press.

 

Brown, Samantha Ruth. 2025. “Pork. It’s What’s for Lunch: Food, Race, and the Politics of Migration in Denmark.” Annals of the American Association of Geographers 115 (3): 535–58. https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2024.2431296.

 

Certeau, Michel de, Luce Giard, and Pierre Mayol. 1998. The Practice of Everyday Life. Volume 2: Living and Cooking. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

 

DeSoucey, Michaela. 2010. “Gastronationalism Food Traditions and Authenticity Politics in the European Union.” American Sociological Review 75 (3): 432–55. https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122410372226.

 

Douglas, Mary. 1972. “Deciphering a Meal.” Daedalus 101 (1): 61–81.

 

Eric Ball. 2003. “Greek Food After Mousaka: Cookbooks," Local" Culture, and the Cretan Diet.” Journal of Modern Greek Studies 21 (1): 1–36.

 

Halkier, Bente. 2017. “Normalising Convenience Food?: The Expectable and Acceptable Places of Convenient Food in Everyday Life among Young Danes.” Food, Culture & Society 20 (1): 133–51. https://doi.org/10.1080/15528014.2016.1243768.

 

Leer, Jonatan. 2016. “The Rise and Fall of the New Nordic Cuisine.” Journal of Aesthetics & Culture 8 (1): 33494. https://doi.org/10.3402/jac.v8.33494.

 

Neuman, Nicklas, and Jonatan Leer. 2018. “Nordic Cuisine but National Identities.‘New Nordic Cuisine’ and the Gastronationalist Projects of Denmark and Sweden.” Anthropology of Food, no. 13. https://journals.openedition.org/aof/8723.

 

O Connor, Bernard, and Irina Kireeva. 2003. “What’s in a Name? The" Feta" Cheese Saga.” International Trade Law and Regulation 9 (4): 110–20.

 

Örs, İlay Romain. 2024. “Culinary Complexities in Turkey and Greece: On Food, Nation, and Identity in the Aegean.” Journal of Modern Greek Studies 42 (2): 225–56.

 

Parrott, N., N. Wilson, and J. Murdoch. 2002. “Spatializing Quality: Regional Protection and the Alternative Geography of Food.” European Urban and Regional Studies 9 (3): 241–61. https://doi.org/10.1177/096977640200900304.

 

Petridou, Elia. 2012. “What’s in a Place Name? Branding and Labeling Cheese in Greece.” Food, Culture and Society 15 (1): 29–34.

 

Seremetakis, C. Nadia. 1996. The Senses Still: Perception and Memory as Material Culture in Modernity. University of Chicago Press Ed edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

 

Tresidder, Richard. 2015. “Eating Ants: Understanding the Terroir Restaurant as a Form of Destination Tourism.” Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change 13 (4): 344–60. https://doi.org/10.1080/14766825.2014.956751.

 

Trichopoulou, A, S Soukara, and E Vasilopoulou. 2007. “Traditional Foods: A Science and Society Perspective.” Trends in Food Science & Technology 18 (8): 420–27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tifs.2007.03.007.

 

Urry, John, and Jonas Larsen. 2011. The Tourist Gaze 3.0. 3. ed. Theory, Culture & Society. Los Angeles: Sage.

 

West, Harry. 2016. “Artisanal Foods and the Cultural Economy: Perspectives on Craft, Heritage, Authenticity and Reconnection.” In The Handbook of Food and Anthropology, edited by Jakob Klein and James L. Watson, 406–34. London: Bloomsbury Academic.

 

Yiakoumaki, Vassiliki. 2006. “‘Local,’ ‘Ethnic,’ and ‘Rural’ Food: On the Emergence of ‘Cultural Diversity’ in Greece since Its Integration in the European Union.” Journal of Modern Greek Studies 24 (2): 415–45. https://doi.org/10.1353/mgs.2006.0030.

 

DIS Accommodations Statement 

Your learning experience in this class is important to your faculty.  If you have approved academic accommodations with DIS, please make sure that your faculty receive your DIS accommodations letter within two weeks from the start of classes. If you can think of other ways your faculty can support your learning, please don't hesitate to talk to them. If you have any further questions about your academic accommodations, contact Academic Support acadsupp@dis.dk. 

Academic Regulations  

Please make sure to read the Academic Regulations on the DIS website. There you will find regulations on: 

• Course Enrollment and Grading
• Academic Expectations and Honor Code

 

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