Creating the Master of Liberal Arts with a Concentration in Gastronomy

Boston University's involvement in creating a concentration in Gastronomy developed because of several factors: the physical atmosphere of the new facilities, interests by a large number of people actively engaged in the food world living in the Boston area, and the growing acceptance of food studies as appropriate in academia. Here is an abbreviated history of the evolution of the MLA degree with a concentration in Gastronomy.

In 1985, I was asked to create cooking seminars in the newly built, underutilized kitchens for the Hotel and Food Management Program (HOFO) at MET College. Since I was already working for MET College as the Director of Continuing Education in the Humanities and organizing non-credit seminars for the public, these newly authorized programs were designed to attract those interested in food, wine, and spirits programs, resulting in seminars, conferences, institutes, and short- and long-term classes. These educational endeavors were taught by people engaged in the food industry who I would invite to demonstrate their skills and to instruct in hands-on classes in the kitchens. Some of these chefs, most notably Julia Child, Jacques Pépin, Jasper White, John Vyhnanek, and Odette Bery, expressed their desire to see a formal program in the Culinary Arts much like programs in the study of the formal arts (music, painting, theater, film, dance, artisanry) that were already part of the University curriculum. I had already been engaged in presenting many of these programs for Evergreen and other units within BU.

So, in 1989, we placed the culinary arts in a league with music, painting, theater, film, and dance and decided to try a model non-credit program awarding a Certificate in Continuing Education, which I was to administer. This semester-long, four-day-a-week program was designed to teach the basic skills of cooking and baking, as well as the interdisciplinary skills of nutrition, food writing, culinary history, anthropology, oenology, recipe development, food styling, restaurant organization, food criticism, public health, catering, and so on. Students were sent on field trips to bakeries, butcher shops, produce handlers, wineries, and more. Since its inception, more than 90% of the graduates have become chefs, cooks, restaurant owners, food writers, caterers, recipe testers, retailers and wholesalers in the food business, or have gone on to teach. Already established professionals in the food industry taught seminars in this program, hiring students to work for them or even sending some of their own workers to the program, giving their workforce an interdisciplinary, more sophisticated education and knowledge of the food industry both local, national, and international. The Certificate Program was, and still is, over 30 years later, highly respected in the Boston area.

Within a year or two, there was a need to further educate those wanting to go into the industry. By utilizing the facilities at the university, expanding the offerings of subjects that go beyond experiential hands-on food preparation, and using the topics that the certificate students were learning when they weren’t cooking, I had to find a venue within MET College where the non-hands-on classes could fit. Fortunately, there was the Master of Liberal Arts degree, designed for study of the humanities and the issues of world civilization. What a perfect place for the study of gastronomy with its impact on the past, present, and future and its influence on the disciplines of history, anthropology, geography, politics, the visual arts, nutrition, medicine, and writing.

 

The person I reported to at MET College was Nicholas Washienko, Director of Professional Development and the Master of Liberal Arts Degree. Nick was not optimistic that the study of food would make it. I had discussion about creating this concentration with deans, department administrators, and faculty members who were already teaching courses on food and had shown an interest in food within their disciplines. Generally, they were enthusiastic about becoming involved in the Gastronomy Program. I took Jacques Pépin, Julia Child, and Mary Beaudry, a professor of archaeology and anthropology, to meet with Washienko. The enthusiastic responses from Jacques and Julia were rewarding. Julia had been awarded an honorary degree from Boston University in 1976. She always wanted to have some sort of degree-granting department in food studies at a university. Jacques had been a doctoral graduate student at Columbia University and had his dissertation about "the history of French food presented in the context of French literature" turned down by his advisor because "cuisine is not a serious art form. It's far too trivial for academic study. Not intellectual enough to form the basis of a PhD thesis."

Jacques had been invited to give lectures by Henry Barbour, who was in charge of the Cooking Center at the Hotel and Food Management Program, which later became known as the School of Hospitality Management when it broke away from Metropolitan College and became its own school.  He was the person who introduced me to Jacques in 1984. Henry knew all about the food industry and was one of the founders of the Culinary Institute of America. I occupied his office for 30 years after he left Boston University. Jacques began planning and preparing to teach hands-on short- and long-term seminars for me in 1985 and 1986 and Julia followed within a year. Their national popularity, I believe, encouraged the growth of the seminars, the Certificate Program, and the MLA with a concentration in Gastronomy.

Members of the MET Academic Policy Committee were initially reluctant to accept the discipline of Gastronomy as legitimate in the academic world. It was a difficult fight to win. Three courses were approved for credit before the whole program was approved. "Culture and Cuisine: France" was taught by Pépin in Fall 1991; and Mary Beaudry taught "Anthropology of Food" in Spring 1992; "Nutrition and Diet," was taught by Roberta Durschlag of Sargent College of Allied Health in Fall 1992.

Courses followed in the History of Food, the Geography of Poverty and Hunger, Food Writing and the Language of Food, Culture and Cuisine: North Africa/Mediterranean, History of Food, Archaeology of Food, Human Nutrition Science, Culture and Cuisine/Mexico and Italy, Food and the Visual Arts, Culture and Cuisine: Russia, History of Wine, Cultural Tourism, Culture and Cuisine: Spain, Culture and Cuisine: New England, Culture and Cuisine: US, Introduction to the Liberal Arts, Culture and Cuisine: Italy, Readings in Food History, Culture and Cuisine: France (online), Agricultural History, Concepts in Economics and Political Dimensions of Food Production, Food and the Visual Arts, Culture and Cuisine: The Regions of France, Representations of Food and Gender in the Media, Sociology of Food and Eating, Culture and Cuisine: Asia, and Culture and Cuisine: Sicily.

The Academic Policy Committee finally approved the MLA with a Concentration in Gastronomy in 1995. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, The Elizabeth Bishop Wine Research Center courses were approved by the Committee, as well as the Laboratory in Culinary Arts, A Comprehensive Survey of Wine, Spirits, and Beer, Mastering Wine & Skill Development, The Wine Trade: Global, National and Local Perspectives, Food Writing for Print Media, Artisan Cheeses of the World, and Sociology of Food and Labor (Blended/Hybrid). Many new courses have been added to the curriculum. Many classes were cross-registered with faculty who were full-time faculty in other departments and permitted the Gastronomy students to receive credit if approved by me as Director.

Here is a list of faculty members who graciously and with enthusiasm helped me formulate and continue to support the MLA in Gastronomy from its beginnings: Jacques Pépin, Julia Child, Roberta Durschlag, Kathy Neustadt, Syed Hasnath, Kristy Hendricks, John Willoughby (Doc), Stephen Meuse, Mary Beaudry, Moncef Meddeb, Nancy Jenkins, Sheryl Julian, Deborah Schafer, Katherine O'Connor, Daniele Baliani, Amy Trubek, Syed Hasnath, Karen Metheny, Abigail Carroll, Ken Albala, Thomas Glick, Kyri Claflin, Joan Salge Blake, Robyn Metcalfe, Sam Medlinger, Sysen Tanyeri-Abur, Potter Palmer, Alice Julier, Merry White, Warren Belasco, Sandy Block, Alex Murray, Bill Nesto, Bob Russell, Ihsan Gurdal, Louis Ferleger, James McCann, Ellen Messer, Carole Counihan, Stacy Woods, and Tanya Zlateva.

In the United States alone, the food industry is a $6 trillion dollar industry with little having to do with cooking. Within the "global village" and global reliance on politics, economics, technological developments, markets, sales, natural resources, communications, labor patterns, currency exchanges, worldwide government regulations, the world requires highly educated professionals in the food space who are open minded and fully respect and appreciate cultural diversities. We also need food studies teachers to educate the professionals. I congratulate you who are celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Gastronomy Program.  You are continuing the spirit and vision of what it was meant to be.

© 2021 Rebecca Alssid, Founding Director Culinary Arts and MLA in Gastronomy, retired 2015