AAS 223/ENG 326/GSS 223

Spring 2015

Instructor: Prof. Anne A. Cheng

Literature, Food, and the American Racial Diet

We first encounter the Chinese through the dinner table and

plates -- George Washington
I think about what black writers do as having a quality of
hunger and disturbance that never ends. --Toni Morrison

Lecture: Mon/Wed 10:00pm-10:50 am. Location TBA.

Precept Sections (in progress):
1. M 12:30 - 1:20 PM P01 Caitlin Charos
2. M 1:30 - 2:20 PM P02 Rebecca Rosen
3. M 2:30 - 3:20 PM P03 Patrick Schwemmer
4. M 3:30 - 4:20 PM P04 Rebecca Rosen
5. T 11:00 - 11:50 AM P05 Javier Padilla
6. T 2:30 - 3:20 PM P06 Javier Padilla
7. W 11:00 - 11:50 AM P07 Professor Cheng
8. W 12:30 - 1:20 PM P08 Matthew Krumholtz
9. W1:30 - 2:20 PM P09 Jessi O'Rourke-Suchof
10. W 2:30 - 3:20 PM P10 Matthew Krumholtz
11. Th 11:00 - 11:50 AM P11 Lily Zhang
12. Th 12:30 - 1:20 PM P12 Jennifer Minnen
13. Th 1:30 - 2:20 PM P13 Tomoko Slutsky
14. Th 1:30 - 2:20 PM P14 Jennifer Minnen
15. Th 3:30 - 4:20 PM P15 Caitlin Charos

Course Description
Food, like books, can sustain and celebrate life. But also like books, food can serve as an
agent and expression for discipline, fear, hunger, and loss. It is the site of our greatest
consumption of and yet also most vulnerable encounter with otherness. This course
explores both the joyful and the dark sides of eating and traces how taste informs the
various ways in which we ingest the world and specifically racial otherness. We will
explore the various connections, both philosophically and materially, between food and
race. We will study how American consumption (domestic and abroad) can be avid and
stingy. We will consider how the meeting of food and word (in novels, poems, plays, and
the cinema) inform large social categories such as the nation, gender, race, ecology,
internationalism, family, and, finally, the elusive yet endlessly seductive notion of
sophistication.
This course approaches the American diet through a comparative racial-ethnic
framework, including works from Asian American, African American, Jewish American,
and Latino cultural producers. We will also venture into some World Literature,
representing the Asian and African diaspora.
Writing requirements include both analytical and creative experiments with food
writing. At the end of the semester, we will have a cook-off and invite the faculty and
staff of the Center for African American Studies and the Department of English to join us.

Syllabus
American Menus: beef, woodchucks, and omelets
Wk 1 (2/2, 2/4)

Transcendental Primitivism
Economy (pp. 45-59) & Higher Laws, from Walden, Henry
David Thoreau
Song of Myself, Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman, (Sect 20)
Narrative of the Life of, chapt IX, Frederick Douglass

Wk 2 (2/9, 2/11)

What Do Modernists Eat, or Modernist Orientalism

The Book of Salt, Monique Truong (novel)
The Alice B. Toklas Cookbook, Alice B. Toklas
Excerpts:
Dishes for Artists, pp.29-33 (re: Picasso and his diet)
Murder in the Kitchen, pp. 37-46 (re. the tenderness of
killing)

Food in the U.S. in 1934-1935, pp. 123-124(re: a ref.

to Princeton)

Servants in France, pp. 186-199 (re: Indo-Chine servants in

Paris)
Recommended:
YouTube clips of Top Chef Hung Huynh

American Racial Indigestion: mary janes, watermelons, fish, and pets

Wk 3 (2/16, 2/18)

The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison

Racial Indigestion, selections, Kyla Thompson

Wk 4 (2/23, 2/25)

Bottles of Beaujolais, David Wong Louie

Race, Species, Culture, Claire Jean Kim

Wk 5 (3/02, 3/04)

Such a Full Sea, Chang-rae Lee (esp. 1-33; 114-125; 196-262)

Ponyo (film), Miyazaki
Recommended (for race, ecology, intimacy):
My Year of Meats, Ruth Ozeki
Edible Matter, Jane Bennet, from Vibrant Matter (pp.39-51)
The Dinner Party, from The New Yorker (8/11/08), Joshua Ferris

Women/Men on the Edge: honey, katsu, and rats

Wk 6 (3/09, 3/11)

Food & Vermin (potential guest speaker)

Native Son, Richard Wright
!!!Midterm Paper Dues in Precept in Hardcopy!!!

Spring Break (3/14-3/22)

Women/Men on the Edge: honey, katsu, and rats (cont)
Wk 7 (3/23, 3/25)

Food & Grief

Kitchen, Banana Yoshimoto
Recommended: Mourning and Melancholia, Sigmund Freud
The Last Chinese Chef, Nicole Mones
Note: Patrick Schwemmers Precept (Section #3) should attend one of the other
Sections this week. See above for schedule of all sections.

Sophistication and Disgust: amuse-bouche and devouring bite-size

Wk 8 (3/30, 4/1)

Tastes Good/Good Taste

Fantastic Mr. Fox, dir. Wes Anderson (film, 2009)
Tampopo, dir. Jz Itami (film, 1985)
The Physiology of Taste, J. A. Brillat-Savarin
Excerpts: Meditations 2 & 3: pp. 38-48, and 121-122
Recommended: Taste and Pig by Roald Dahl
The Rituals of Dinner, Margaret Visser

Wk 9 (4/6, 4/8)

(tentative special schedule TBA)

Wit as Diet
Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
Distinction, Pierre Bourdieu (Introduction)
Episode of Posh Nosh:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzjR0yL4f0Y
Recommended: Conspicuous Consumption, from The Theory of the Leisure
Class, Thorstein Veblen, 68-101

Race and Affect: cherries, soups, and tortillas

Wk 10 (4/13, 4/15)

A Lump in My Throat
Tortilla Soup, dir. Mara Ripoll (film)
Recommended: Eat Drink Man Woman, dir. Ang Lee (film)
The 72 Oz. Steak Challenge, Dika Lam, from This Is Not Chick Lit

Wk 11 (4/20, 4/22)

Hungry Bodies
Survival in Auschwitz, Primo Levi (The Journey, 13-21;
Initiation, 38-41; and Our Nights, 56-64)
Daddy, Sylvia Plath

Parenting/Consuming: cakes, wines, and the last course

Wk 12 (4/27)

The Wedding Banquet, dir. Ang Lee (film, 1993)

Recommended:
A Family Supper, Kazuo Ishiguro (short story)
Maus I, Art Speigleman (graphic novel)

(4/29)

Top Chef: a Celebration & Tasting Event

!!!Final Paper Due: FRIDAY May 8th (follow AI instructions for

submission of papers)
Have a great summer!

Summary of Required Course Materials

Books to Purchase:
Book of Salt, Monique Truong
The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison
Such a Full Sea, Chang-rae Lee
Native Son, Richard Wright
Kitchen, Banana Yoshimoto
Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
E-reserve on Blackboard:
Walden, David Henry Thoreau. Excerpt: Economy (pp. 45-59) & Higher Laws
Song of Myself, Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman. Excerpt: Section 20
Excerpt from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas, Frederick Douglass
The Alice B. Toklas Cookbook, Alice B. Toklas. Excerpts:
Dishes for Artists, pp.29-33 (re: Picasso and his diet)
Murder in the Kitchen, pp. 37-46 (re. the tenderness of killing)
Food in the U.S. in 1934-1935, pp. 123-124(re: a ref. to Princeton)
Servants in France, pp. 186-199 (re: Indo-Chine servants in Paris)
Racial Indigestion, Kyla Thompson. Excerpts: 1-14, 15-52, 89-122.
Bottles of Beaujolais, David Wong Louie (short story from Pangs of Love)
Race, Species, Culture, Claire Jean Kim
New York Before Chinatown, John Kuo Tchen. Excerpts: A Pioneer Settlement, 63-96.
The Physiology of Taste, J. A. Brillat-Savarin. Excerpts: Meditations 2 & 3: pp. 38-48, and 121122
Distinction, Pierre Bourdieu. Excerpt: Introduction
Survival in Auschwitz, Primo Levi. Excerpt: The Journey, 13-21;Initiation, 38-41; and Our
Nights, 56-64)
Daddy, Sylvia Plath
Video-Reserve on Blackboard:
Ponyo, dir. H. Miyazaki (2008)
Fantastic Mr. Fox, dir. Wes Anderson (2009)
Tampopo, dir. Jz Itami (1985)
Tortilla Soup, dir. Mara Ripoll (2001)
Eat Drink Man Woman, dir. Ang Lee (1994)
The Wedding Banquet, dir. Ang Lee (1993)

Requirements
Students are expected to attend every lecture and precept; to complete assigned reading for each week, and
to be prepared to participate in precept discussion on a regular basis. More than one unexcused absence
from precept will adversely affect the attendance and participation grade. Please arrive on time to all class
meetings. The following are also required:
Weekly Response Papers due in precept
One In-class presentation due in precept
Precept Participation (attendance and participation)
Midterm Paper (5 pages)
Cook-off Participation
Final Paper (7-8 pages; in lieu of exam)

10%
15%
15%
20%
15%
25%

More on Grading: To receive full credit, assignments must be turned in on time. Extensions, given only
under special or emergency circumstances, must be arranged by speaking with one of the professors for the
course, preferably in advance of the due date. Without an approved extension, late assignments will be
marked down. With approved extension, no grade mark down will be taken, but you forfeit written
responses on your work from your preceptor.
No extensions beyond Deans Date. In order to pass this course, all assignments and exams must be
completed. No exceptions. For letter grade definitions see Appendix B of this syllabus. As a matter of
course, students are expected to abide by the Princeton University Honor System.

Assignments Instructions
Weekly Response Papers
See preceptor for details on submission procedure and preferences. First one due the third week
of classes, which is also the second precept (because we do not have precepts on wk 1).
For those in Prof. Chengs precept: please email responses to aacheng@Princeton.edu by
5pm on Mondays. 250 words limit. Put text in email, not in attachments. For me: do a close
reading of a specific passage or trope or image or word. Avoid summaries or stating the obvious.
Remember you will be graded for these: for turning them in as well as for the quality.
In-Precept Presentation
This is an exercise in creative and intellectual engagement with food. Please select an item of
food, drink , or spice that holds special significance for you. You are to do something with this
item to show your engagement with it and vice versa: you can write an expository and/or
creative narrative about it; you can paint with it or build around itanything. You can
incorporate the personal, the historical, the cultural, the familial, the industrialwhatever, but
above all, be thoughtful. You then have 10 minutes during precept to present your item to the
class. Your presentation should explain, explicitly or implicitly, why you have chosen the item
that you did, and what that item means to you. (If you end up writing a narrative, you may read it
in precept.) Prof. Cheng will have continued communication with the preceptors throughout the
semester, and we may select a few notable presentations for presenting in the lecture.
Class Participation
You will be graded for the quantity and quality of contribution to seminar discussions.
Midterm Paper
5 pages, hardcopy due in class. (See Paper Writing Guidelines)
Final Paper
7-8 pages, hardcopy due in your preceptors mailbox Noon on TBA.
(Include a self-addressed stamped (proper amount please) envelope to where you want the paper
sent over break if you want the paper and comments back.) Again, see Paper Writing Guidelines
below.
Top Chef Celebration & Tasting
For the last day of classes, we will have a cooking, tasting, and sharing celebration. You may
choose to embark on this individually or with a couple of friends from class as a small group.
(We will organize this within each precept.)
Your task is to bring to class a dish based on the following two alternatives:
1. A dish based on a literary recipe. This can be a recipe found in or mentioned
by a novel or by a literary figure or belonging to a particular historical period. The

novel or author can come from outside of this syllabus. You may need to do some
research. For example, what might a dish from the Canterbury Tales look like? Or
what would dinner guests at a Jane Austen party eat? There are also lots of online
guides to literary recipes.
Or,
2. A dish from your childhood.
Bring a 5 x 7 note card with your personal notes about your creation to accompany each entry.
We will open our classroom that day and invite the faculty of the Department of English and
the staff to join us for tasting, reading (the cards), and conversing.
Your participation is required and constitutes part of your grade (see above for grade distribution)

Course Organization
Two one-hour lectures + precept per week.
Preceptors office hours and contact information will be posted on Blackboard during the first week of
class. Please note: There are no precepts the first week of classes.

Course Etiquette
Please refrain from using cell phones or other handheld devices during lecture and precept; put all devices
on silent during these times. Laptops may be used in lecture only for the purpose of taking notes or
accessing online material specified by the professor or preceptor. Out of respect for your professors,
preceptors, and fellow students, please do not check e-mail or go to any non-course website during lecture
or precept.

Appendix A
Paper Writing Guidelines and Advise
What Is A Thesis
* You may incorporate the critical and theoretical texts, but the point of the paper is
to develop and argument based on close reading of a text. (What is a close reading?
See section below).
So, what is a thesis? A thesis is a contestable claim that must be argued using
appropriate evidence. A simple test: if no one can argue with your thesis statement,
then it is more likely to be a summary rather than a thesis.
Examples:
Thesis #1: The Waste Land is a poem about the human condition.
Diagnosis: weak thesis, too general; one can say this about almost all works
of literature and
the humanities in general.
Thesis #2: The Waste Land is a tribute to the literary past by quoting and
drawing from a
wide range of literary sources.
Diagnosis: not an argument but a summary and description of the poem in
question. No one will argue with this statement, nor will anyone need your paper in
order to know or
understand this fact.
Thesis # 3: The Waste Lands relationship to its literary sources reveals past
literary
traditions to be
both central to and yet debilitating for the
modern literary project.
Diagnosis: better. The reader thinks, oh, that is interesting, but how so, and
how does this
paradox show itself in the text? In other words, a good thesis
provokes interest and further
questions on the part of the reader. Your paper
will then sustain that interest by
demonstrating how you come to this insight.
Moreover, your paper will explore the
implications of such a claimthe so-called
so what factor.
* Though you are free to draw on any material introduced in lecture and
discussions, try to avoid simply repeating it. Use and reorganize the material to
your own critical ends. The point of writing a paper is to show the reader how you
have processed the material.
*Rely on close readings to make your points and build your argument.
* Persuasive argument comes from demonstration and proof. Support your
observations with concrete illustrations drawn from the text(s) under your analysis.
Quote relevant passages; analyze the quotes you call forth; show how they support
your claims.
-- Use citations productively, especially in such a short paper. Do not cite
from the text in order to prove a plot point. (Assume your reader has read the text

or seen the With any given word or line in the text, or image or sequence in the film,
pay attention not just to what it says but how it says what it says.
-- Presents your evidence in a logical and persuasive way. If you have, say,
five parts to your argument, ask yourself which part should you present first and so
on in order to achieve the maximum clarity and force. (Here is where you must be
strategic and think like a lawyer or a detective building his case.)
*Revise! No paper can be good on first draft because the writing is itself part of the
process of thinking. So you will need to go back, revise, re-order, etc.
* Use precise language. (Ask yourself all the time, Is this the best word or
formulation for what I mean to say?) Avoid passive constructions. Make your
writing itself a goal, too.
* If you use secondary materials, please acknowledge them. Failing to note sources
to which you are substantially indebted is grounds for failing the course.
* Do not forget the Honor Code.

What is Close Reading?

The skill called "close reading" is fundamental for interpreting literature and other
textual materials. "Reading closely" means developing a deep understanding and a
precise interpretation of a textual passage that is based first and foremost on the
words themselves. But a close reading does not stop there; rather, it embraces
larger themes and ideas evoked and/or implied by the passage itself. First, doing a
close reading involves a thought process that moves from small details to larger
issues. Then, when it comes to writing your paper, your thesis will derive from the
larger issues and use the relevant details as evidence.
I.

Doing a close reading

1. Getting Started: Treat the passage as if it were complete in itself. Read it a few
times, at least once aloud. Concentrate on all its details and assume that
everything is significant. Determine what the passage is about and try to
paraphrase it. Make sure that you begin with a general sense of the passages
meaning.
2. Word meaning: Determine the meanings of words and references. Also, note
(and verify) interesting connotations of words. Look up any words you do not
know or which are used in unfamiliar ways. (Laziness in this step will inevitably
result in diminished comprehension.) Consider the diction of the passage. What
is the source of the language, i.e., out of what kind of discourse does the
language seem to come? Did the author coin any words? Are there any slang
words, innuendoes, puns, ambiguities? Do the words have interesting
etymologies?
3. Structure: Examine the structure of the passage. How does it develop its themes
and ideas? How is the passage organized? Are there climaxes and turning
points?
4. Sound and Rhythm: Acquire a feel for the sound, meter, and rhythm; note any
aural clues that may affect the meaning. Even punctuation may be significant. Be
alert to devices such as alliteration, assonance, rhyme, consonance, euphony,
cacophony, onomatopoeia. See a dictionary of poetics or rhetoric for precise
definitions of these and other terms. Examine the meter of the passage in the
same way. Is it regular or not? Determine whether the lines breaks compliment
or complicate the meanings of the sentences.
5. Syntax: Examine the syntax and the arrangement of words in the sentences.
Does the syntax call attention to itself? Are the sentences simple or complex?
What is the rhythm of the sentences? How do subordinate clauses work in the
passage? Are there interesting suspensions, inversions, parallels, oppositions,
repetitions? Does the syntax allow for ambiguity or double meanings?
6. Textual Context: In what specific and general dramatic and/or narrative contexts
does the passage appear? How do these contexts modify the meaning of the
passage? What role does the passage play in the overall movement/moment of
the text?
7. Irony: How does irony operate in the passage, if at all?
8. Tone and Narrative Voice: What is the speakers (as distinct from the narrators
and authors) attitude towards his or her subject and hearers? How is this
reflected in the tone? What does the passage reveal about the speaker? Who is
the narrator? What is the relationship between the narrator and the speaker? Is
there more than one speaker?
9. Imagery: What sort of imagery is invoked? How do the images relate to those in
the rest of the text? How do the images work in the particular passage and
throughout the text? What happens to the imagery over the course of the
passage? Does the passage noticeably lack imagery? If so, why?

10. Rhetorical Devices: Note particularly interesting metaphors, similes, images, or

symbols especially ones that recur in the passage or that were important for the
entire text. How do they work with respect to the themes of the passage and the
text as a whole? Are there any other notable rhetorical devices? Are there any
classical, biblical or historical allusions? How do they work?
11. Themes: Relate all of these details to possible themes that are both explicitly and
implicitly evoked by the passage. Attempt to relate these themes to others
appearing outside the immediate passage. These other themes may be from the
larger story from which the passage is excerpted; or from other tales; or from
knowledge about the narrator; or from the work as a whole.
12. Gender: How does the passage construct gender? What issues of gender
identity does it evoke? How does it represent womens issues? Does it reveal
something interesting about womens writing?
13. History: How does the passage narrate history? How does it present "facts"
versus observations?
14. Construct a Thesis: Based on all of this information and observation, construct a
thesis that ties the details together. Determine how the passage illuminates the
concerns, themes, and issues of the entire text it is a part of. Ask yourself how
the passage provides insight into the text (and the context of the text). Try to
determine how the passage provides us a key to understanding the work as
whole.
Note that this process moves from the smallest bits of information (words, sound,
punctuation) to larger groupings (images, metaphors) to larger concepts (themes).
Also, the final argument is based on these smaller levels of the passage; this is why
it is called a close reading. Of course your thought processes may not follow such a
rigid order. Writing is full of detours and surpriseshence the necessity of
rewriting and re-organization after you have put down your thoughts in words.
II. Writing Up Your Findings/Readings
1. The paper should begin with a closely argued thesis, which is the result of the
last step above. Include a general orientation to the passage to be analyzed,
explaining the text of origin and the author.
2. The thesis depends on the analysis already done, and the point is to relate all of
the relevant details to that thesis. This means that some details may be omitted
in the paper because they do not support or concern the thesis being argued.
Too much detail about unimportant features will draw attention from your
thesis. However, you must be careful that you do not ignore details that
contradict your thesis; if you find these, this means that you need to reevaluate
your thesis and make it more complex (in other words, you dont necessarily
have to abandon it altogether).
3. Note that the order of the evidence presented should not follow the order of the
passage being discussed. Rather, the order of the evidence depends on how it
relates to your central argument. Dont let the passage walk you through your
analysis; instead, re- organize the passage to suit your discussion of it.
4. The body of the paper presents relevant textual evidence in a meaningful order.
Avoid being overly mechanical in the organization of your paper. That is, dont
write one paragraph on diction, one on sound, one on metaphor, etc. Instead try
to bring these observations together on the same words or phrases together.
Organize the paragraphs around issues of meaning rather than of technique.
5. Make sure you dont read so closely that you transform a clear though complex
passage into a bundle of nonsense.
6. If you relate the passage to text outside it, make sure your emphasis remains on
the passage itself; do not neglect it in favor of external textual evidence.

Helpful Links:
Key elements to close readings:
http://www.u.arizona.edu/~fvneill/e102/creadingg.html
Jack Lynchs keys to close reading:
http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/EngPaper/close.html
Guide to MLA documentation: http://webster.commnet.edu/mla.htm
Keys to understanding the passages location in the text:
http://web.reed.edu/academic/departments/Writing/close-reading.html
General guide with literary elements:
http://www.homeworkhelp.com/homeworkhelp/freemember/text/english/high/lessons
/rp004/03/main.htm
Steps for a close reading from literary Link:
http://theliterarylink.com/closereading.html

The above has been Adapted From Albert Sheen's site at:
http://www.sit.wisc.edu/~aesheen/Eng208-2-1999/closeread1.htm

Appendix B
Grading Guidelines
(as per University Rubrics)
An A or A- paper is one that is good enough to be read aloud in class. It is
clearly written, well organized, and logically coherent. It demonstrates that
the writer has conducted a close and critical reading of texts and presented
a compelling, independent argument with enough thoroughness and
cogency to command readers respect, in not their assent. An A or A- paper
complements its fresh thought with aptly chosen words and with sentences
not merely grammatically accurate but also rhetorically sophisticated.
A B+ or B paper meets all an assignments expectations with clear
competence. It demonstrates many aspects of A level work but falls short of
it in either the organization and clarity of its writing or the purposeful
development and presentation of its argument. B work nevertheless
demonstrates its authors ability to respond intelligently to an assignments
demands, to select significant details and examples, and to revise sentences
for conciseness and emphasis.
A B- paper demonstrates some aspects of B+ or B level work, but shows
critical weaknesses in writing, argument, organization, or use of evidence.
A C+, C, or C- paper is acceptable but not more. C work usually meets some
of the assignments specifications, but typically lacks the sharp focus, the
textual grounding, the full and purposeful development, or the stylistic
awareness necessary for a higher grade. C work may also demonstrate
repeated mechanical and/or grammatical problems.
A D paper demonstrates significant deficiencies or severe flaws in the
writing, organization, or argument.
An F paper demonstrates a completely inadequate response to the
assignment.