Gastronomy & Food Studies

Metropolitan College

  • Special Topics in Gastronomy

    MET ML 610

    Topic for summer 2025: The Language of Wine. If you've ever heard someone offer elaborate tasting notes on a glass of wine, you've probably also heard someone scoffing at the idea of tasting chocolate mint or a fresh tennis ball in a glass of fermented grape juice. But students of wine know that tasting notes and other ways of talking about wine are not just made up: talking about wine this way is crucial to the business of wine and it represents verbally the broad sensory range that tasters experience. Wine Talk is a particular kind of speech genre, a special way of speaking for specific tasks - like drinking, buying, and selling wine - and knowing how to Wine Talk is critical for someone looking to build a career or hobby in wine. In this class, we will peer behind the curtain and ask, Why do people talk about wine the way they do? Linguistic Anthropology, the study of language-in-use, can help us answer this question, by focusing on how Wine Talk operates socially, how language itself works, and how language builds social worlds. We will conduct our own linguistic anthropological fieldwork by going on field trips to wine businesses, by recording and transcribing interviews, and by tasting and talking about wine, empowering students who of the wine industry to understand the social and cultural impacts of talk in their work. 4 cr. Tuition: $3900

    Summer 2 (June 30-August 8)

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  • Fundamentals of Wine

    MET ML 649

    For students without previous knowledge of wine, this introductory survey explores the world of wine through discussions, tastings, food and wine pairing, assigned readings, and student presentations. By the end of the course, students will be able to exhibit fundamental knowledge of the principal categories of wine, including major grape varieties, wine styles, and regions; correctly taste and classify wine attributes; and demonstrate an understanding of general principles of food and wine pairing. 4 cr. Tuition: $3900; lab fee: $325; total charge: $4225

    Twelve-week course (May 20-August 8)

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  • Studies in Food Activism

    MET ML 722

    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' 4 cr. Tuition: $3900

    Dynamic course (June 30-August 8)

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