Tri-Co Philly: Food Cultures in Philadelphia

This course will explore the deep history of dining in Philadelphia, from Lenape foodways to the skills of Hercules Posey – George Washington’s enslaved chef – to the recent participation of Philadelphia cooks and restaurateurs in social justice movements.

ENGL B287 | Tuesday, 12:10–3 p.m.
Kate Thomas, �鶹��Ƶ

Philadelphia has an exceptionally rich dining culture. “Jeet yet?” is a common refrain in a city that boasts African American, Italian and German communities of long standing, and more recent, culinarily impactful settlement by East Asian and Mexican populations. This course will explore the deep history of dining in Philadelphia, from Lenape foodways to the skills of Hercules Posey – George Washington’s enslaved chef – to the recent participation of Philadelphia cooks and restaurateurs in social justice movements.

Topics that this class will pursue range across time and culture, engaging cross-cultural and cross-temporal questions like: immigration, religion and food, Philadelphia’s place at the center of local and global networks of production and extraction, social dining clubs vs home cooking, the shifting history of street markets, publishing culture and the recipe book, false abundance, and food deserts. This course will be taught in Philadelphia as part of the Tri-Co Philly Program. This course will be taught in Philadelphia as part of the Tri-Co Philly Program.