Food, glorious food! Is food a source of pleasure or anxiety? What did you have for dinner last night or for breakfast this morning? How did you decide what to eat and how to prepare it? Do you long for the food of your childhood? Does your religion and spiritual life guide your food choices? How would you describe the flavors of last night's meal to your best friend? These are the sorts of questions that trigger the most memorable writing on the subject of cuisine and gastronomy. In this course, we examine the ways writers have depicted food, cooking, and eating. We look at the many forms of “food writing” and talk about those we find most satisfying. The instructor guides students in their exploration of the gastronomic essay, memoirs, short stories, poetry, blog posts, recipes, and restaurant reviews. The reading list will include Horace, Sholom Aleichem, M. F. K. Fischer, Laurie Colwin, Wendell Berry, Charles Simic, Robert Sheckley, Lydia Davis, Kevin Young, among others. Prominent figures from the world of newspaper and magazine writing, both on line and in print, visit the class. Students produce weekly assignments, some of which take advantage of New York City as a center of culinary activity.