Jura Practicum

Through Professor Christy Shields's classes, you will explore the significance of food and eating in everyday life, and as you travel around France with your classmates, you will become increasingly aware of how food beliefs and habits are culturally situated and politically and economically shaped.

For example, in Food, Culture and Communication, you will travel to the Jura, in eastern France, to meet the people who are involved in almost every aspect of cheese production (farmers, cheese makers, cheese agers, fruitières, etc.) and to attain a more in-depth understanding of the French notion of terroir, as well as a more nuanced sense of a larger, regional fabric.

Professor Shields’ classes also involve Parisian excursions into the worlds of French food and taste. You will soon find yourself roaming around the multi-ethnic neighborhood of Belleville, taking a chocolate walk through the center of Paris, and meeting with French taste educators, who will show you that taste is all about communication and quality exchange.

To find out more about the Jura trip and delve into the world of cheese, watch this short documentary film, created by MAGC alumna Tracy Ip '15.