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 examine the constructs of culture and tradition, focusing on how these concepts are shaped by government policy, market dynamics, international organizations, historical narratives, and personal agency. From city markets in Copenhagen to seaside tavernas in Greece, we will employ ethnographic methods and our own bodies as instruments in studying the hidden forces that forge connections between food, identities, and geography.
Syllabus
Summer 2026 (Draft)
This is a draft syllabus. The final syllabus will be available here a few days prior to the new course’s first start date.
Tastings will be regularly conducted both in the classroom and out on excursions. Not all tastings will be able to accommodate every dietary restriction, 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 will visit.
Faculty
Aimee Placas
PhD in Anthropology from Rice University, 2009. Faculty at the College Year in Athens program of the International Center of Hellenic and Mediterranean Studies from 2002. Research and publication interests include the anthropology of consumption, economic anthropology, and gender and sexuality. Most recently co-edited the volume Living Under Austerity: Greek Society in Crisis (Berghahn 2018). With DIS since 2019.
Anders Larsen
Cand.Mag. (History and English Literature and Language, University of Copenhagen, 2008). Research focused on cultural history and visual culture. Teaches Meaning of Style, which is an introduction to semiotic analysis using fashion as a case study, as well as Visual Culture of Cities in the summer. Worked on various projects for DIS relating to cultural competencies and cultural engagement and staff training within the Housing & Student Affairs department. With DIS since 2007.
Long Study Tour
About this tour
On this Study Tour we explore the foodscapes of Athens. With a history that stretches back thousands of years, the Greek capital is also a contemporary globalized metropole with a diverse food scene. We will find spaces that locals would consider “traditional,” as well as experimental kitchens offering “traditional with a twist” and other new ways of eating that come to the city through the migration of people and food trends.
The tour will contextualize our observations from Denmark by providing another European perspective on food, one that is often posed as the “opposite” of a northern European diet. We will dive into the fascinating culinary cultures of Greece and how these have been shaped by factors such as tradition and terroir, while also paying attention to how globalization is impacting the way locals eat.
Learning outcomes
Gain a comparative perspective on European foodscapes, how to interpret them, and how discourses in tradition, locality, and culture shape our experiences of food.
Understand how the production and consumption of food in Greece is shaped by factors such as cultural history, medical discourses, and economic structures.
Improve your skills in tasting and assessing food
Possible activities
Train your ethnographic expertise through field work at the Athens central food market
Meet with local merchants of olive oil, honey, and wine for tastings and discussions around quality and the economics
Sail out on a day trip to the island of Aegina to meet with pistachio producers and examine how terroir is formalized through EU labeling system programs and branding
Looking for some advice? We’ll support you every step of the way.
