Food Studies Minor
Environment, Ecology, and Energy Program
3202 Murray Hall, CB# 3275
(919) 962-1270
James Ferguson, Program Advisor
Amy Cooke, Program Advisor
Paul W. Leslie, Chair
Amy E. Cooke, Director of Undergraduate Studies
Violet Anderson, Student Services Manager
Food studies is an interdisciplinary field that examines the relationship between food and all aspects of the human experience, including culture and biology, individuals and society, global pathways and local contexts. The minor invites the growing number of students interested in food to advance their studies across a broad range of curricula. The program provides a curricular offering and intellectual framework to complement the co-curricular energy around food on campus, increasing the rigor and discipline with which students use food as a lens for exploration and critical thinking.
The minor is available to students accepted into Honors Carolina and to any undergraduate student who has achieved and maintains a grade point average of 3.00 or better.
Department Programs
Majors
Minors
Graduate Programs
Requirements
In addition to the program requirements listed below, students must:
- take at least nine hours of their minor "core" requirements at UNC–Chapel Hill
- earn a minimum of 12 hours of C or better in the minor (some minors require more)
For more information, please consult the degree requirements section of the catalog.
The minor requires five (5) courses.
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Core Requirements | ||
| NUTR 175 | Introduction to Food Studies: From Science to Society | 3 |
| Select four (4) electives from the following list: 1 | 12 | |
| On the Question of the Animal: Contemporary Animal Studies | ||
| Food and American Culture: What We Eat and Who We Are | ||
| Southern Food Studies: Beyond the Plate | ||
| Senior Seminar in Southern Studies | ||
| First-Year Seminar: Humans and Animals: Anthropological Perspectives | ||
| Anthropological Perspectives on Food and Culture | ||
| Archaeology of Food | ||
| Origins of Agriculture in the Ancient World | ||
| First-Year Seminar: Food in Chinese Culture | ||
| First-Year Seminar: Biotechnology: Genetically Modified Foods to the Sequence of the Human Genome | ||
| Seafood Forensics and Seafood Forensics Laboratory | ||
| Food, Environment, and Sustainability | ||
| Agriculture and the Environment H | ||
| Literature and Cultural Diversity H | ||
| Sports Nutrition | ||
| Food for Thought: The Culture of Cuisine in Modern France | ||
| Agriculture, Food, and Society | ||
| Food and History: The Local and Global, the United Kingdom and the United States | ||
| Seminar in Social Behavioral Sciences (Non-History) (Eats 101, section 001) | ||
| Italian Food and Culture | ||
| Food and Culture in Japan | ||
| Introduction to Human Nutrition | ||
| Sustainable Local Food Systems: Intersection of Local Foods and Public Health | ||
| Nutrition Communication and Culture | ||
| The Political Economy of Food H | ||
| Total Hours | 15 | |
| H | Honors version available. An honors course fulfills the same requirements as the nonhonors version of that course. Enrollment and GPA restrictions may apply. |
| 1 | Some courses may require a prerequisite(s). See course description for details. |
Additional courses can be applied to the requirements with the approval of the program advisor.
Graduate School and Career Opportunities
The minor in food studies, in combination with a student’s major of interest, prepares students for a variety of careers in health and nutrition, arts and culture, media and journalism, health affairs policy and program management, social services, the academy, entrepreneurship and intraprenuership, environmental work and sustainability, and consulting. The minor may also be of value for those planning postgraduate studies.
