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UCLA Institute for Food Studies
Food Studies Curriculum
Food Studies minor uses food—its production, preparation, sharing, consumption, and disposal—as a lens for understanding individual, socio-cultural, and global issues. The study of food’s role in multiple complex aspects of life builds bridges across all areas of the academy, including: Arts, Anthropology, Environment and Sustainability, Folklore and Mythology, Geography, History, Humanities, Law, Psychology, Public Health, Public Policy, and other fields.
Through interdisciplinary courses and a capstone experience, students in the Food Studies minor will acquire a unique understanding of Food Studies and emerge with a new intellectual framework for understanding this expanding area of study.
Semel Healthy Campus Initiative
In 2013, UCLA Chancellor Gene Block announced the Semel Healthy Campus Initiative (HCI), a vision of Jane and Terry Semel and supported by them. As a result of Semel HCI’s success in fostering a culture of physical, emotional and social wellbeing, Chancellor Block announced on May 9th, 2018, the establishment of the Semel HCI Center at UCLA.
Teaching Kitchen
The Teaching Kitchen was developed as an educational, interactive space to meet the needs of the campus community in areas of nutrition education, food insecurity, culinary skills, and community engagement. Through the Teaching Kitchen, the wellness and summer camp programs help us serve our community including medical school students, student groups, faculty, and staff.
Librarian and Collections
In 2016, UCLA created the interdisciplinary food studies minor in the College of Letters and Science. An endowment was established to support scholarships and library collections. Funds allow undergraduate, graduate, and extension students, as well as faculty and researchers to use the vast resources of the UCLA library system to further their work in the growing field of food studies.
Research
The Rothmans
For more than nine decades, the Rothman family’s commitment to and support of UCLA has had a lasting impact on the university. Truly a Bruin family, the Rothmans have provided ongoing support for both students and faculty in nearly every field of study through some 858 donations to 66 departments across campus.
