Food for Thought: Classes Face the Power of What’s on Our Plates

With a schedule so packed that it makes my Google Calendar beg for mercy, sometimes eating feels like it has lost all enjoyment — food instead becomes a mere means for energy to get me through the day.

But when you’re rushing around, scarfing down your meal, do you ever think about the deeper story behind your plate, like where your food came from or the cultural and political forces that shape it? In such an incredibly fast-paced society, it’s not a surprise that this question often gets ignored.

Fortunately, three courses at Amherst, “Food Politics,” “Food, Fiber, and Pharma,” and “Food and the Environment,” attempt to address this question. I sat down with the professors of these courses, whose teachings identify different ways to understand our relationship to food.

Drawing from her experiences growing up in Chigasaki, Japan, and her mother’s cooking, Assistant Professor of English Nozomi Nakaganeku Saito encourages students in her class, “Food Politics,” to look beyond taste to investigate food’s complex histories. For example, in our conversation, she explained that Goya Champuru — an Okinawan dish combining bitter melon, scrambled eggs, and Spam — reflects the legacy of U.S. military occupation by blending traditional Japanese cuisine with American ingredients.

“Food and Politics” draws from Grace Cho’s memoir Taste of War (2021), which connects food to trauma and family history during the Korean War. The course argues that even seemingly simple food choices are highly politicized, like how corn syrup has been incorporated into a lot of processed foods as a result of legislation lobbied for by giant agricultural businesses and multinational corporations.

Beyond the classroom, Saito’s students engage with local farmers and food advocates to better understand the relationships between food, land, and sustainability. Saito explains, “I wanted a community engagement component to be included … because, during my own research, some of the people who truly taught me about what the relationship to land looks like were farmers themselves.”

Assistant Professor of Sociology and Environmental Studies Professor Li Zhang approaches food from a different perspective, focusing on its connection to the environment. In her course, “Food and Environment,” Zhang explores how food production and consumption intersect with ecosystems, labor, and community health. The class encourages students to bridge the gap between consumers and the origins of their food, from analyzing supply chains to addressing food deserts and their impact on communities.

In our conversation, Zhang affirmed that food safety is a critical topic, particularly for immigrant-owned businesses. Having grown up in rural China, she explained that eating out often led to food poisoning for her due to differing safety regulations.

Zhang also discussed how the pandemic heightened the disconnect between consumers and producers, further stigmatizing farming and undervaluing its intellectual and societal importance. She contrasts today’s fast-paced environment with the patience required for practices like gardening, emphasizing that despite an abundance of food, most people remain unaware of its origins. “We perceive food as something just for us to survive or enjoy, but we forget who actually produced it,” she says. For Zhang, understanding these dynamics is essential to fostering sustainability and equity in food systems.

From its biological roots to its environmental implications, food connects us to the natural world while reflecting systemic challenges. Senior Lecturer in Biology & Environmental Studies Rachel Levin’s biology course, “Food, Fiber, and Pharma,” delves into these intersections. The course offers students a hands-on exploration of the plants that sustain us and highlights humanity’s deep dependence on them — from providing the air we breathe to the food we eat and the medicines we take. The course combines lectures, lab work, and even snacks to create a unique, interactive learning environment.

Levin emphasizes the environmental stakes of industrial agriculture, explaining how the push for monocultures — growing just one strain of a crop like bananas or wheat — is dangerous. “The overarching agribusiness continues to push one strain, threatening biodiversity,” Levin said. While industrial agriculture has streamlined food production, it has come at serious ecological costs, making the preservation of diverse crop strains critical for a sustainable future.

Levin’s class blends theoretical concepts with real-life practice, allowing students to engage and digest the information they're learning by literally eating it. Discussions about corn might include a tasting of popcorn, where students learn it’s the whole seed, embryo, and nutrient-packed endosperm they’re enjoying. Controlled experiments with taste-altering berries allow students to experience the science of taste receptors firsthand, while dissecting cucumbers give students insight into the structural and biological makeup of certain plants. By studying and eating food simultaneously, Levin creates a multidisciplinary environment that’s engaging for students from all academic backgrounds.

These interactive methods challenge students to rethink their relationship with food. As climate change and industrial agriculture reshape global food systems, Levin’s class underscores the importance of understanding these connections — not just for academic insight, but for the future of food.

Through classes like the ones mentioned above, we can use food as a lens to better understand our world, history, culture, environment, and ourselves — they serve as a reminder that food is never really just food. So, the next time you sit down to eat a meal, consider the deeper story behind what’s on your plate.

Below are two recipes shared by Saito and Zhang.

Li Zhang’s Juan Jian (Spring Egg Roll)

Ingredients:

• 1 pound pork shoulder (~30% fat)
• 12 free-range, organic eggs
• 8 to 10 organic green onions
• 30 mL glutinous rice (“sweet rice”) flour
• 30 mL water
• 2-inch piece organic fresh ginger, peeled
• Salt, to taste

Preparation:

1. Mince the pork, ginger, and green onion.
2. Mix the pork, ginger, and green onion with salt. Add two eggs to the seasoned pork and mix well.
3. In a separate bowl, mix the rice flour with water, then combine with the remaining eggs.
4. Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat, lightly drizzling vegetable oil. Pour a thin layer of the egg mixture into the skillet and cook until it forms a light-colored pancake. Remove carefully with a spatula.
5. Spread a portion of the pork mixture thinly onto each egg pancake, using the flat side of a knife.
6. Roll the egg pancake with the meat filling inside and steam for 15 to 20 minutes.
7. Slice the rolls into pieces, about 1 to 2 centimeters thick, and serve on their own or in a soup of your choice.

Nozomi Nakaganeku Saito’s Japanese Curry

Ingredients:

• 1 pound beef (from a local farmer's market if you can!), cubed
• 3 medium gold potatoes, cubed
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 3 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
• 1/2 bulb garlic, minced
• 1/2 package of S&B Golden Curry cubes
• Curry powder
• Turmeric
• 1/4 cup Mirin rice vinegar
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp ketchup (optional)
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Cooked white rice

Preparation:

1. Cut beef into 1-inch chunks and sautee on medium heat in a large saucepan.
2. When the beef reaches medium-rare, add chopped onion and minced garlic.
3. Add potatoes and carrots; season pan contents with curry powder, turmeric, and pepper.
4. When vegetables are cooked through, add enough water to cover the top of the ingredients.
5. Add 1/2 package of S&B Golden Curry. Stir frequently.
6. When curry cubes have dissolved, remove from heat for about 3 minutes. Place back on heat and stir frequently.
7. As the curry thickens, add mirin, soy sauce, and ketchup. Salt and pepper to taste. Stir for a few more minutes, then remove from heat.
8. Wait 10 minutes and serve with white rice.
9. Enjoy!