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Food and Culture

Code: 103248 ECTS Credits: 3
2025/2026
Degree Type Year
Food Science and Technology OB 2

Contact

Name:
Alice Marie Sophie Van Den Bogaert
Email:
alicemarie.vandenbogaert@uab.cat

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites.


Objectives and Contextualisation

  • Understand the cultural diversity of food practices and their social meanings.

  • Develop a critical stance towards ethnocentrism and dominant food norms.

  • Analyze the social, economic, and environmental challenges of the current food system.

  • Reflect on alternative models and solutions for sustainable and inclusive food practices.

 

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Faced with the challenges facing different societies, in 2015 the United Nations (UN) set 17 goals for sustainable development (SDGs), which are broken down into 169 goals. The SDGs address issues affecting different areas, from poverty eradication to the preservation of marine life. These are the goals that must be achieved by the year 2030, and that challenge the whole of society.

The SDGs included in this subject are as follows:

SDG 1: Ending Poverty

ODS 2:  Zero hunger

SDG 3: Good Health and well-being

SDG 5: Gender equality

SDG 8: Decent work and economic growth

SDG 10: Reducing inequalities

SDG 11: Sustainable cities and communities

SDG 12: Responsible consumption and production

SDG 13: Climate action

SDG 14: Life below water

SDG 15: Life on Land

SDG 16: Peace and Justice Strong Institutions


Competences

  • Act with ethical responsibility and respect for fundamental rights and duties, diversity and democratic values. 
  • Analyse, summarise, resolve problems and make professional decisions.
  • Communicate effectively with both professional and non-professional audiences, orally and in writing, in the first language and/or in English.
  • Develop individual learning strategies and planning and organisation skills.
  • Display knowledge of the history and anthropology of nutrition and the underlying psychological and sociological causes of dietary behaviour.
  • Search for, manage and interpret information from different sources.
  • Show sensitivity to environmental, sanitary and social issues.
  • Stay abreast of new knowledge, adapt to new situations and develop creativity.
  • Take sex- or gender-based inequalities into consideration when operating within one's own area of knowledge. 
  • Take the initiative and display an entrepreneurial spirit.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Act with ethical responsibility and respect for fundamental rights and duties, diversity and democratic values. 
  2. Analyse, summarise, resolve problems and make professional decisions.
  3. Communicate effectively with both professional and non-professional audiences, orally and in writing, in the first language and/or in English.
  4. Develop individual learning strategies and planning and organisation skills.
  5. Identify the cultural causes of food preferences and aversions.
  6. Know the time periods and places that correspond to the various dietary cultures.
  7. Relate the availability of food resources and successive technological advances to the various dietary patterns.
  8. Search for, manage and interpret information from different sources.
  9. Show sensitivity to environmental, sanitary and social issues.
  10. Stay abreast of new knowledge, adapt to new situations and develop creativity
  11. Take sex- or gender-based inequalities into consideration when operating within one's own area of knowledge. 
  12. Take the initiative and display an entrepreneurial spirit.

Content

  • Major crises of the current world and food

  • Loss of biological and cultural diversity

  • Food waste

  • Creation of hunger

  • Control of seeds and traditional polycultures

  • Racism and gender in the global food system

  • Colonialism, deforestation, land grab, and armed violence

  • Extensive livestock farming and the environment

  • Fishing and seafood industry

  • Greenwashing

  • Food companies within the Social and Solidarity Economy


Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Analysis of documents and audiovisual materials 4 0.16 2, 8, 3, 9, 4, 5, 10, 6, 12, 7
Lectures 18 0.72 8, 3, 4, 5, 10, 6, 7
Type: Supervised      
Tutorial and monitoring of individual or group work 6 0.24 2, 9, 4, 12
Type: Autonomous      
Information research, reading, viewing 17 0.68 2, 8, 3, 9, 4, 5, 10, 6, 12, 7
Personal study and works production 18 0.72 8, 4, 5, 6, 7

The methodology of the course will be organized into different types of sessions. Specifically: 

- Master classes on the theoretical content of the course, at which different audiovisual media (ppt, multimedia material…) will be used.

- Reflexion activities (at full group and/or small groups) on case studies related to the course’s agenda.

- Reflection activities (at full group and/or small groups) on basic readings related to the course’s agenda.

The dynamics of the course will be participatory and the reflexive and critical implication of the students are expected.

 

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.


Assessment

Continous Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Group research exercise 30% 6 0.24 1, 11, 2, 8, 3, 9, 4, 5, 10, 6, 12, 7
Micro-exams 40% 2 0.08 1, 11, 2, 8, 3, 9, 4, 5, 10, 6, 7
Reading texts in the classroom 30% 4 0.16 1, 11, 2, 8, 3, 9, 4, 10, 6, 7

The assessment for the course will be continuous and will be carried out through three different modules:

Module 1: Micro-examination at each session [40%]

At the end of each session, the professor will reserve 10 minutes for questions aimed at verifying the note-taking of the content explained that day. This activity is non-recoverable.

Module 2: Reading and analysis of texts in class [30%]

In each session, approximately 20 minutes will be reserved for reading short texts and answering questions about the reading.

Module 3: Group work [30%]

Students, in groups of 4, must prepare a written paper on a specific topic proposed by the professor.

 

Recovery:

  1. To participate in the recovery, students must have been previously assessed in a set of activities whose weight equals at least two-thirds of the total grade for the course.

  2. To participate in the recovery process, the professor in charge of the course requires students to have obtained a minimum grade of 3.5 in the average course grade.

  3. The professor, with the approval of the study coordination and the department, excludes Module 1 from the recovery process.

  4. A student must participate in the recovery if:

  • The final grade of the course, calculated according to the explained weighting, is below 5.

  • Regardless of the overall grade, if any of the activities are graded below 3.

Conditions necessary for passing the course:

The final grade of the course will be "Fail" if, regardless of the final grade, the grade of any of the modules obtained after recovery is below 3.

Unique Assessment:

This course offers the possibility of a unique assessment for students who request it within the deadlines set by the Faculty.

According to the regulations established by the UAB, the Unique Assessment entails the renouncement of Continuous Assessment and requires the submission, on a single date, of sufficient evaluative evidence to prove that the student has acquired the competences and learning outcomes established in the course.

In no case does this mean that attendance is not required: it is the student's responsibility to obtain the content explained in each session.

The level of difficulty of each of the tests will be the same as in the case of Continuous Assessment.

Students will need to answer questions about the course content and write a paper.

The date of theassessment will be agreed with the students enrolled in this modality.

Regarding the recovery of the Unique Assessment, it will be governed by the following conditions:

  • To be eligible for recovery, the student must have previously taken the Unique Assessment test.

  • The student must participate in the recovery if:

    • The final grade of the course, calculated according to the explained weighting, is below 5.

    • Regardless of the overall grade, if any of the activities corresponding to Modules 1, 2, or 3 is graded below 3.

  • If the failed exercise is the exam, the student will have to retake it on the stipulated date.

  • If the failed exercise is an individual paper, the student will have to resubmit it with the corrections indicated by the professor.

  • The recovery date for the Unique Assessment will coincide in day and time with the date established for the recovery of the Continuous Assessment.


Bibliography

 

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-          Gracia, Mabel. (2002). Somos lo que comemos. Estudios de alimentación y cultura en España. Barcelona: Ariel.

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-          Gracia, Mabel (2014). Comer en tiempos de crisis: nuevos contextos alimentarios y de salud en España. Salud Pública de México, 56 (6), 648-656.

-          Gracia, Mabel (2019) "Comer en tiempos de 'crisis': (in)Seguridad alimentaria en la era de la abundancia" En: Álvarez, L.; Antón, F.; Esteban, C. (eds.) Alimentación humana: enfoque biocultural. Antrhopos Editorial. P. 129-142.

-          Gracia, Mabel (2019) "Itinerarios alimentarios en contextos de precarización: otras formes de comer, otras formes de vivir" En: Magalhães, Mabel; Donizete, S.; Amparo-Santos, L. (org.) Cidade, corpo e alimentaçao. Editora da Universidade Federal da Bahia. P. 257-277

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-          Gracia, Mabel., Garcia-Oliva, Montserrat & Campanera, Mireia. (2021). Food Itineraries in the Context of Crisis in Catalonia (Spain): Intersections between Precarization, Food Insecurity and Gender. Social Sciences, 10(10), 352. 

-          Gracia, Mabel; Kraemer, Fabiana (2015). Alimentarse o nutrirse en un comedor social en España: reflexiones sobre la comensalidad. Demetra, 10(3), 455-466.

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Software

There is no especfic software for this course.


Groups and Languages

Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.

Name Group Language Semester Turn
(PAUL) Classroom practices 1 Catalan second semester afternoon
(TE) Theory 1 Catalan/Spanish second semester afternoon