SYLLABUS
FSTA02: Food Futures: Confront Crises, Improving Lives
Summer F-Term May 4-June 16, 2026
Instructor: Jeffrey Pilcher
Office Hours: Usually Tuesdays 9:00 - 10:00 or by appointment. See Quercus to confirm time
and find Zoom link
Graders
Bradley Dunseith
Haihan Jiang
Bavan Pushpalingam
Jingshu Yao
Course Description
Welcome to Food Studies! This online class teaches food literacy, a set of skills and knowledge
to help you feed yourself healthy, flavorful, and sustainable food; to understand the sociopolitical
and ecological dynamics around food; and to work toward more just and sustainable food
futures. Assignments will ask you to explore your own personal foodshed, the global and local
sources of the foods you eat, from the perspectives of food cultures, healthy foods, flavour,
sustainability, and food justice. Course projects are structured to help you identify problems of
food quality and access for yourself and your community and to design potential solutions to
those problems. The class is completely online. The final essay and all assignments will be
uploaded to Quercus.
Learning Outcomes
• Gain a basic knowledge of global food cultures, healthy foods, flavour, sustainability,
and food justice. You will be assessed on this content through weekly quizzes, course
projects, and the final essay.
• Practice experiential learning by interpreting sensory experiences in individual and
social context. You will be assessed on this goal through course projects and the final
essay.
• Improve digital literacy by learning multimedia presentation skills. You will be assessed
on this skill through course projects.
• Develop research skills by locating appropriate sources to answer questions. You will be
assessed through the library research quiz and course projects.
• Improve communication skills of listening and reading comprehension as well as
composing persuasive verbal and written arguments. You will be assessed on these skills
through weekly quizzes, course projects, and the final reflective essay.
Grade
Weekly Quizzes 10 percent, due each Monday at 11am, Toronto time, except May 18
Flavour Narrative and Visualization Project, 25 percent, due Tuesday, May 19 at 11am
Family Recipe and Commodity Mapping Project, 30 percent, due Monday, June 1 at 11am
Final Exam and Reflective Essay, 35 percent, June 17-20, according to the university schedule
Note: All assignments are due on Monday at 11am, Toronto time, except for May 18, Victoria
Day, and the Final Essay, which will be determined by the university exam schedule. If you are
not in Toronto, make sure that you submit your work by the deadline according to Toronto
time, not in whatever time zone you may be residing.
Please do not wait until the last minute to submit your work. Especially if your internet
access is unreliable, plan ahead to ensure that you can finish the quizzes and upload
assignments before the window closes.
Warning: Quercus grade averages are not weighted and may not accurately reflect your course
grade.
Class Readings
All class readings are available on the library course readings list on Quercus.
Weekly Quizzes
For each module, there will be a ten-question online quiz to help you master the course material.
You will have twenty minutes to complete the quiz.* You can take the quiz twice, and Quercus
will record the higher grade. You can take the quiz at any time during the week, but we
encourage you to take it immediately after completing the readings and lectures. All quizzes for
each module must be completed by the following Monday at 11 am, Toronto time. No late work
will be accepted.
There will also be library research tutorial and quiz. Quizzes will count for a total of 10 percent
of your course grade.
*Students registered with the accessibility office must provide official notification to gain
additional time on quizzes.
Food Analysis Projects
Two assignments will give you the opportunity to apply course concepts to a topic of interest to
you and to practice for the final essay. You will pick a food with personal meaning to you and
(1) describe and visualize its flavour profile; and (2) discuss its social and cultural context
through a family recipe and commodity map. Detailed instructions, grading rubrics, and sample
answers are available on Quercus. Read the instructions and rubrics carefully before you
start. Projects will count for 25 percent and 30 percent, respectively, of the course grade.
Final Exam and Reflective Essay
The final will have two parts, a multiple-choice exam and a reflective essay. The multiple-choice
exam will follow the same format as the weekly quizzes except that you will only get one
attempt to complete. You will have twenty minutes*, and you must complete the exam during
the 24-hour window.
The final essay will ask you to reflect on what you have learned from the course. You will be
graded on the how thoughtfully you discuss course lectures and readings. You must include
supporting evidence from course materials, including page numbers for readings, urls for
websites, and lecture names when appropriate. The best way to assure the clarity of your writing
is to begin with a sentence (called a thesis statement) that directly answers the question. If you
include material from outside sources, you must provide a full citation or you will be liable for
plagiarism (see academic honesty below).
The final will count for 35 percent of the course grade, 90 percent of which will be the essay and
10 percent for the multiple-choice exam.
The final essay should take about three hours to write, but because some of you may be in
different time zones, which would make it difficult to complete the assignment in the time given
in Toronto, you will have 24 hours to complete it. The due date and time will be determined by
the University Final Exam Schedule. The question will be posted 24 hours before the scheduled
completion time.
Please do not wait until the last minute to take the multiple-choice exam and to submit your
essay. Especially if your internet access is unreliable, plan ahead to ensure that you finish
before the window closes. There will be no extensions.
Schedule of Lectures, Readings, and Assignments
Module 1 Defining Food, May 4-11
Readings Mike Berniers-Lee, “Food”
Jeffrey Pilcher and Valeria Mantilla-Morales, “Is That Grapefruit in My Beer?”
Lectures Food Culture and Health
Taste
Sustainability and Food Justice
Case Study: Italian Food
Module 2 Growing Food, May 11-18
Readings David R. Montgomery, “Life Spans of Civilizations”
Margaret Mellon, “Savior or Monster?”
Michael Pollan, “The Feedlot”
Lectures Industrial Agriculture
Agroecology
Livestock
Case Study: Plant Breeding
Project Flavour Essay and Visualization, Due May 19 at 11am
Module 3 Distributing Food, May 18-25
Readings Robin Kimmerer, “The Gift of Strawberries”
William Friedland, “The New Globalization”
Ashanté M. Reese, “In the Food Justice World but Not of It”
Lectures Commodities
Markets
Eating Out
Case Study: Food Waste
Module 4 Preparing Food, May 25-June 1
Readings Michael Moss, “The Company Jewels”
Fuchsia Dunlop, “Tasting the Invisible”
Laurie Colwin, “Starting Out in the Kitchen”
Amy Bentley, “The Gift of Deliciousness”
Lectures Industrial Processing
Home Cooking
Mapping Flavour
Case Study: Fermentation
Project Family Recipe and Commodity Map, Due June 1 at 11am
Module 5 Contesting Food, June 1-8
Readings
Barry Estabrook, “An Unfair Fight”
Laura Anne Minkoff-Zern and Teresa M. Mares, “Deskilling the Assembly Line”
Marion Nestle, “Conclusion: The Politics of Food Choice”
Lectures Food Policy
Food Workers
Food Security
Case Study: Zero Hunger
Module 6 Transforming Food, June 8-15
Readings
Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch, Intuitive Eating
Jancee Dunn, “Are the Foods in Your Cart Ultraprocessed?”
Kathleen Belew, “The Crunchy to Alt-Right Pipeline”
Dan Barber, “Epilogue”
Lectures Healthy Food
Social Food
Case Study: Robot Farms
Final Exam Review
Final Exam June 17-20, according to the University schedule
COURSE POLICIES
Late Assignments
Weekly quizzes will close each week on Monday at 11am, Toronto time, except for May 18,
Victoria Day, when the quiz will be due on May 19. They will not reopen. Course projects that
are uploaded late will be graded down 5 percent for the first day late, and 1 additional point off
for each subsequent day it is late. If you ask for an extension in advance, you will get it, but you
must contact the instructor before the due date. All assignments must be completed by the end of
classes, June 16. In keeping with university policy, no extensions will be given beyond this date.
Grading Questions
If you have questions about your grade, first ask the grader. If you are not satisfied with the
answer, you can consult the instructor, but his first question will be, “what did the grader say?”
Academic Honesty
According to university policy, all students are expected to behave honestly in class. Plagiarism,
meaning stealing the words or ideas of someone else, is an extremely serious academic offense.
Typical examples include:
1. Using someone else’s (this could be a scholar, or another student) ideas or words without
acknowledging that those ideas and words are not your own.
2. Obtaining unauthorized assistance on any assignment. This might include asking a
relative or close friend of you, hiring an agent to write your assignment, or using a
Generative AI system like ChatGPT.
3. Providing unauthorized assistance to another student. This includes showing another
student completed work.
4. Submitting your work for credit in more than one course without the permission of the
instructor.
5. Falsifying or altering any documentation required by the university, including but not
limited to doctor’s notes.
6. Using an unauthorized aid in any test or exam.
7. Selling class notes.
Improper citations of sources may also be considered as plagiarism. Students who are caught in
plagiarism or academic offences will be penalized harshly, and in serious cases you might be
expelled from the university. Please make sure that all of your writings are original! This means
that every single word of your writing (except proper quotations from other sources) should be
your own. Copying text off the Internet is plagiarizing. It is just as easy for us to catch as it is for
you to cut and paste. Don’t do it! Please seek help from the Writing Center if you have problems
writing in English.
Not only is plagiarism an ethical and legal offense, it is also completely unnecessary. We do not
expect you to write like a senior scholar. Our goal as instructors is to help you improve from
where you already are. If you do not at least try to do your own work, we cannot help you to do
better.
You may be asked to explain your papers and other written work in a meeting with the course
instructor, your teaching assistant, and/or the undergraduate director of the Department of
Physical and Environmental Sciences; if so, your assignment is considered unfinished until this
meeting is held.
Generative Artificial Intelligence Policy
There is one question on the first project involving the use of generative artificial intelligence (or
as some people call it more properly, mechanical intelligence). All other use of such tools or
apps, including ChatGPT and other AI writing or coding assistants, is strictly prohibited.
University Land Acknowledgement
I wish to acknowledge this land on which the University of Toronto operates. For thousands of
years, it has been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and the Mississaugas of
the Credit. Today, this meeting place is still the home to many Indigenous people from across
Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this land.
Accessibility
AccessAbility Services at UT Scarborough is responsible for supporting students with
disabilities. Once a student requests accommodation and provides appropriate documentation for
their disabilities, staff in AccessAbility Services assess their needs and determine appropriate
and reasonable accommodations, consulting with faculty where appropriate. All information that
the Office collects from students about their disabilities is kept in strict confidence as prescribed
by law. AccessAbility Services staff (located in Rm AA142, Arts and Administration Building)
are available by appointment to assess specific needs, provide referrals and arrange appropriate
accommodations. Please contact 416-287-7560 (tel/TTY) or email [email protected] for
more information. For more information on the mission and services offered by AccessAbility
Services visit their website: http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/ability/.
Registration for Accessibility is particularly important to make sure that you get the right amount
of time to complete quizzes. Please provide documentation as soon as possible so we can adjust
the Quercus system properly.
Accessibility Note Taking
AccessAbility Services is recruiting volunteer note takers to assist students with disabilities.
Volunteers play an essential role in allowing students to access course materials, which they may
otherwise not have access to.
Co-Curricular Record (CCR) Approved Position
1.Go to https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/ability/myaims-0 and select myAIMSfor Volunteer
Notetakers
2.Follow the simple step-by-step process to register.
3.Upload notes files into the AccessAbilityServices myAIMSnote taking portal
If you have questions please contact AccessAbilityServices (416) 208-2662 or
Religious Observances
The University has a commitment concerning accommodation for religious observances. I will
make every reasonable effort to avoid scheduling tests, examinations, or other compulsory
activities on religious holy days not captured by statutory holidays. According to University
Policy, if you anticipate being absent from class or missing a major course activity (like a test, or
in-class assignment) due to a religious observance, please let me know as early in the course as
possible, and with sufficient notice (at least two to three weeks), so that we can work together to
make alternate arrangements.
Mental Health and Well-Being
The University provides a range of support services, including:
o Student Mental Health web portal
o HCS Embedded Counsellor Mental Health Supports
o Health and Wellness Peer Support
o UTSC International Student Centre (UTSC students)
o UTSC Health and Wellness Centre (UTSC students)
o Navi - Your mental health wayfinder
o Contacts to support you through different types of distress (24/7 Emergency,
mental health, academic, financial, housing, sexual assault/safety, equity offices
and communities of care on campus)
o My Student Support Program (MySSP) - Confidential mental health counselling
by online chat or phone is available from anywhere in the world, 24/7, in multiple
languages through
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