Critical Food History Assignment Cookbook

These are excerpts of student assignments in a special topics course in postcolonial literature I taught "On Beauty." As a course that explored aesthetic philosophy, pleasure, taste, and the makings of race and racialization, this assignment asked students to explore a personally significant dish by providing its recipe and an exploration of its personal and critical history. Students were encouraged to weave personal/family history around the dish with its place in the world; allowing students to explore and weave together generic elements of the personal essay and critical writing.