In addition to being necessary for survival, food is part of a number of interdependent system-water, transportation, labor, gender, politics, and aesthetics. This course will use texts from several disciplines to examine the fundamentally cultural questions underlying the production and consumption of food, and to consider food as a constructor of contemporary space and identity. We will examine places of food exchange and food knowledge-supermarkets, farmers' markets, convenience stores, kitchens, and nutrition counseling services - as well as slaughterhouses, greenhouses, and farms. Our goal will be to map the ways by which food reaches those who consume it, and to think through the social realms in which food operates.