Información del curso

Course Contents
https://www.architektur.tu-darmstadt.de/atw/lehre_atw/semesterprogramm_3/aktuelle_veranstaltungen_atw/aktuelles_semester.de.jsp

 Architecture and food culture – spaces between survival, ritual and fetish

In addition to an individualistic view of nutrition, in which personal eating plans, diets, preferences and lifestyle are in the foreground, and nutrition as an existential survival strategy, food preparation and intake can also be understood as central cultural techniques: cooking, eating and drinking as communal actions and experiences. 
According to recent studies, those nations that spend the least time at the table or in company while eating have the highest rates of obesity. Accordingly, the following clichés should be taken seriously: sharing meals strengthens social bonds, promotes a sense of belonging and counteracts loneliness; conscious eating is of great importance for the well-being of body and soul; and enjoyment is an essential part of life, which, however, can also be elevated to a lifestyle and even become a fetish. On the one hand, eating habits and dietary requirements vary greatly from culture to culture. On the other hand, the importance of food culture unites people across all borders, which is all the more important in politically difficult times and in the face of the climate and biodiversity crisis and, consequently, the food crisis!

In the mandatory module, we not only want to reflect on cooking, eating and drinking as necessary pleasures, but also, in particular, to address memorable traditions and places from an architectural history perspective – fireplaces and pantries, kitchens and dining rooms, dining halls and restaurants, streets and cities – as spaces of social reproduction and cultural distinction. We will also touch on and discuss some profound questions about global production conditions and supply chains: Where and by whom are food products produced, traded, processed and stored before they are eaten? In which spatial settings is food prepared and cooked, and where is it eaten and drunk? How is food loaded with symbolic, religious, cultural meaning and thereby inflated? 

The input lectures of the mandatory module offer an overview of eating culture in ancient Greece and Rome, eating and drinking in Christianity, courtly dining ceremonies in the Baroque era, healing through eating and drinking in modern health resorts, the staging of haute cuisine in film, cooking as an urban communal practice, as well as a guest contribution as a culinary impulse from contemporary culture.