In this course, we will trace the circulation of food across various contexts, from the migrations of undocumented farm workers to the crafting of artisanal raw-milk cheese.  Along the way, we will explore three key concepts of use in the anthropology of food and beyond.  The first is practice: How do people consume and produce food, and how do those acts reflect and remake communities?  The second is place: How are environments constructed (or destroyed) in the making and consuming of food?  The third is political economy: How do people manage the production and distribution of food as they also construct systems of inequality?  We will look for answers to these and other questions through books about the historical and contemporary social lives of sugar, tea, coffee, fish, fruit, cheese, and even “junk food.”  The readings situate questions of practice, place, and political economy within anthropological theories of identity, colonialism, and kinship, but they all engage broader questions about labor, globalization, obesity, hunger, and environmental change.