Dear International Institute/English Department Colleagues:

I want to share an idea to help students better understand how they might approach discussing—in a cultural/historical context—the recipes they are submitting for the International Cookbook.

I am going to show the PBS documentary Food for the Ancestors in class. While telling the story of the Days for the Dead, the documentary “focuses on the special foods that are made for this time of the year: Sugar Skill candies; pulque; Bread of the Dead; and Mole Poblano. And viewers can share in eating the oldest Mexican ‘meat:’ grasshoppers, ant eggs, mosquitoes and their eggs and beetle larvae.” A history of these foods as well as their cultural significance is given in this well made documentary.

Because she is the point person for the International Cookbook project, after showing the film in class tomorrow, I am going to give my copy of Food for the Ancestors to Professor Rybicka. Please see her if you want to borrow it for your class. Even if you do not want to use the entire 60 minute documentary, you might want to show just one section where a specific food is discussed or you might want to direct students to the web site that supports the film.

Steven Berg

Steven L. Berg, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of English and History
Schoolcraft College, 18600 Haggerty
Livonia, MI 48152
734-462-4400
sberg@schoolcraft.edu

This page was last updated on 19 June 2007.