Study-Unit Description

Study-Unit Description


CODE IMS1000

 
TITLE The Cultural Dimension of Food

 
UM LEVEL 01 - Year 1 in Modular Undergraduate Course

 
MQF LEVEL 5

 
ECTS CREDITS 4

 
DEPARTMENT Institute of Maltese Studies

 
DESCRIPTION This study-unit explores food as a cultural expression, with a particular focus on Maltese foods. Students will be introduced to key historical and anthropological perspectives that examine food from a cultural standpoint, discussing how food practices shape and are shaped by social identities, beliefs, traditions, and power structures. Special attention will be given to the symbolic meanings embedded in traditional Maltese foods, from the festive dishes that mark religious holidays to everyday staples that reflect the island's history and geography.

Throughout the study-unit, students will analyze food’s role as a cultural marker, discussing how traditional Maltese foods represent continuity with the past while also adapting to changing economic and social conditions. The study-unit will also explore the effects of globalization and industrialization on local food traditions, considering the tensions between artisanal, small-scale food production and the rise of mass-produced, standardized food products. This dichotomy will be a central theme, raising questions about the preservation of cultural identity in the face of global food trends.

As part of the study-unit, the students will be discussing, amongst others, specific examples of cultural foods and exogenous cultural influences which contributed to their evolution within malta's gastronomic traditions. These will include: the Maltese ħobża/ftira, ġbejniet, fenkata, mazzit and zalzett tal-Malti, the role of potato in maltese cousine, Maltese deserts and local beverages amongst others.

Study-Unit Aims:

The study-unit will help the students enhance their appreciation of the multi-faceted reality of the cultural dimension of food as well as its real world implications, and in particular:

- Evaluate and apply anthropological and historical theories that look at food as a cultural and social practice;
- Help students analyse the cultural and historical significance of traditional Maltese foods amongst others through discussions on how these foods reflect Maltese history, including its Mediterranean influences, religious practices, and agricultural heritage.
- Explore the symbolic meanings attached to food, such as how certain dishes or ingredients can evoke collective memory, religious devotion, and community or national identity.
- Critically reflect on the impact of industrialization and globalization on traditional food cultures, with a specific focus on Malta. Discussions will cover how modern food systems affect local traditions, alter production methods, and shift consumer preferences. Students will explore the tension between artisanal, slow-food movements and the mass production and commercialization of food, asking how these forces shape contemporary food practices in Malta.
- Engage in debates on the preservation of culinary heritage, including efforts to protect traditional Maltese foods from the pressures of globalization. Students will consider questions of authenticity, innovation, and cultural sustainability in the context of a globalized food economy.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Knowledge & Understanding:

By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

- Critique the cultural and symbolic significance of food;
- Investigate the role of food as a marker as well as an expression of identity;
- Examine the relationship between territory/geography, society and cultural expressions through food;
- Estimate the impact of food industrialization on food culture as well as production and consumption patterns;
- Evaluate the role and meanings of small scale artisinal food production as well as its wider economic, environmental and social significance;
- Question the ongoing evolution of food culture/s including the impacts of cross-cultural influences and cultural hybridization and its impact on food culture, as well as issues of identity and marketability of food;
- Appraise own experience and practical real world scenarios based on learnings from the course and formulate recommendations on how these could be tackled.

2. Skills:

By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

- Collect data/information including from historical, archival and oral sources, locating and identifying such information, and synthesize it.
- Apply acquired learning and theoretical frameworks to various case studies discussed during the lectures/seminars. Critically reflect on the cultural significance of food.
- Recognise historical, social, and religious significance of food; recognise the implications thereof and provide practical illustrations of real world application of such significations
- Articulate ideas clearly and coherently in both written and spoken formats.
- Identify and recognise a basic evaluation of interdisciplinary knowledge from related subjects primarily anthropology, history, sociology, and food studies in order to help identify food as a cultural phenomenon.
- Draw connections between different fields of study.
- Employ a variety of tools that help address the tension between traditional food practices and industrialization. Establish the role played by the preservation of cultural foods from the perspective of sustainability and modern hygiene requirements.
- Describe and explain cultural sensitivities in an increasingly multicultural context, and extrapolate real world applicability in sectors like tourism, hospitality, and public service apart from direct agri-food sectors.
- Persuade others through well-structured arguments and evidence.

Main Text/s and any supplementary readings:

Main Texts:

- Counihan, C., Van Esterik, P., & Julier, A. (Eds.). (2017). Food and Culture: A Reader (4th ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315680347
- Gambin, K., & Buttigieg, N. (2003). Storja tal-kultura ta'lkel f'Malta. Pubblikazzjonijiet Indipendenza.
- Buttigieg, N. (2014). Towards a Maltese culinary identity: Some considerations.
- Cassar, C. (1994). Fenkata: an emblem of Maltese peasant resistance?. Ministry for Youth and the Arts.
- Cassar, C. (2016). Maltese food habits. Valletta: Arts Council Malta.
- Cassar, C. & Cachia, S. (2022). It-tumminija. Il-qamħ l-aktar popolari għall-ħobż ta’ Malta fil-passat. Nisget Artna, 30(Summer), 18.

Supplementary Readings:

- Buttigieg N.: (2024) Bread & Bakers in Eighteenth-Century Malta. MidSea Books.
-Cassar, C. (2019). From reluctant acceptance to staple cash crop : the potato in nineteenth-century Malta. In M. A. Falzon (Ed.), The examined life – writings in honour of Guido Lanfranco (pp. 89-95). Malta: Midsea Books Ltd.
- Cassar, C. (2024). Cibo Mediterraneo Modi alimentari mediterranei: Tendenze e sviluppi storici [Mediterranean Food. Mediterranean Foodways: Historic Trends and Developments]. Perugia: Graphe.it.
- Goody, J. (1998). Food and Love: A cultural history of East and West. Verso.
- Goody, Jack. "Industrial food: towards the development of a world cuisine." In Food and culture, pp. 263-282. Routledge, 2018.

 
STUDY-UNIT TYPE Lecture, Fieldwork and Seminar

 
METHOD OF ASSESSMENT
Assessment Component/s Assessment Due Sept. Asst Session Weighting
Case Study (Take Home) SEM2 Yes 100%

 
LECTURER/S Paul P. Borg
Noel Buttigieg
Stefan Cachia
Carmel Cassar

 

 
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The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints.
Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice.
It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2024/5. It may be subject to change in subsequent years.

https://www.um.edu.mt/course/studyunit