Common Hour - Sancho’s Dinner, or, Why Study Food?

Wilson College Common Hour 2018
Food Matters: You Are What You Eat
Mondays at noon in the Learning Commons - John Stewart Memorial Library

Sancho’s Dinner, or, Why Study Food? - Wendell P. Smith

In this presentation I will use two points of departure for an introduction to some of the common themes of the interdisciplinary study of food we will be exploring in this year’s Common Hour. First, I will describe Sancho Panza’s skimpy dinner in Don Quijote de la Mancha as an entry point for discussion of food as identity, and the borderline between food and diet. Secondly, I will discuss a personal experience with witnessing the production of sugar, and what research says about the history of this commodity and its effect on our economies, bodies, and societies, to introduce broader questions of the history and meaning of food systems.  Our series starts by providing two answers to the question of what we gain by studying food; the audience is encouraged to bring their own answers to this question as well.

Wendell P. Smith graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Ph.D. in Spanish literature. He teaches courses on Early Modern Spanish theater, the works of Miguel de Cervantes, and medical interpretation. His research areas include the study of chivalry in medieval and Early Modern Spain, and medical discourses in the Golden Age comedia. On occasion, he has been known to cook a very large paella.