Descriptif

This course offers to analyze the main trends around food and lifestyle from the 1990s onwards. It will take the development of positive thinking as a starting point. It is the continuation of “Beyond the Mundane: Analyzing Food Practices part I” which went back to the roots of the literary and artistic depiction of food choices in France since the second half of the 19^th century.

As studied in part I, food always reveals attitudes and details about the characters who consume or refuse it, and about the artists who choose to make it central. Depicted in various media, food can have a symbolic meaning or even serve as a narrative tool.

We will use various media and documents to understand the depiction of food since the late 20th century. With the development of the internet and social networks, representations of food took a different turn as the promotion or ban of certain food choices reached an even larger audience, sometimes leading to the creation of online communities. This course will help you to understand how these changes impacted todays’ food practices and mindsets around diet.