Food Studies & Gastronomy

Academic course 2024/ 2025

The Food Studies & Gastronomy Program offers undergraduate-level academic courses for study abroad students in Barcelona, Spain. Our interdisciplinary courses offer contemporary perspectives of Catalonia, Spain, Europe and the Mediterranean through the lens of gastronomical and cultural heritage.

The Program is designed to appeal to a broad range of students, interest, and fields. What better way to study abroad and learn about a new culture than through its culinary tradition?

Barcelona, a popular destination for study abroad students, is a gastronomical hub with trendsetting tendencies and a long history of innovative chefs and entrepreneurs, which makes it the perfect destination for a program like ours.

Our experiential methodology allows students to experience local university culture, while taking advantage of the city in context, as its learning grounds for our field studies.

More information

Our Courses:

Food Business Fundamentals: Marketing and Entrepreneurship in Food

This course offers an overview of an array of food topics from a business perspective, including innovation, production, marketing, consumer understanding, and distribution of food. The course provides a broad knowledge of specific business-related aspects, such as positioning, branding, the creation of a value position, communications and channel decisions, and the funding of a new business.

Mediterranean Nutrition & Gastronomy

The course focuses on the Mediterranean diet's nutritional and gastronomical characteristics as a set of cultural practices, and also explores its role as a part of UNESCO intangible cultural heritage. The course examines the nutritional benefits of the diet, as well as its multifaceted expressions in the traditional and contemporary culinary scene.

Food Systems & Sustainability

This course examines theoretical, methodological and practical aspects of sustainable food systems, placing an emphasis on the social, political, economic and environmental contexts that shape and are shaped by the abovementioned elements in order to understand what constitutes a sustainable food system. It considers each step of the food chain as a piece from which to understand these sustainable food systems.

Food Through the Ages

This course focuses on how food binds families, nations and empires together, and how individuals and societies have challenged conventions and ingrained habits. The course surveys the history of food from the bacchanalian pagan and religious festivals to the rise of high aristocratic cuisine to the coming of modern restaurants and cafés.

Food and Migration

This course analyzes Barcelona’s socio-cultural context through the lens of food to gain an understanding of the complexities that arise with migratory processes. We cover the social, historical, cultural, and economic dimensions of migration and globalization in Barcelona, using food culture as a framework.

GENERAL INFORMATION

Qualification awarded:

Extension Certificate (Degree Universitat Barcelona)
Management:

LAMUELA RAVENTÓS, ROSA MARIA

LOEW , CAMILA

Number of credits per course:

6,00 ECTS 3 US
Length of course (in academic years):

1 semester
Mode of delivery (In-person/hybrid/online):

In-person
Centre responsible :

Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Science
In-company placement(s):

No
Enrolment fee:

850,00 €

An increase of 10% is applied to the price, up to a maximum of € 70, as administration fee

Classes begin:

September and January

OBJECTIVES AND ADMISSION

Learning objectives:

Our main goal is to offer undergraduate-level university students, and the institutions they come from, academic courses in Barcelona that focus on a holistic view of global and local food systems.

Housed by the University of Barcelona, we offer undergraduate-level courses focused on a wide range of food-related topics, by way of a trans-disciplinary perspective with academic and experiential learning methods. Through our courses, students learn about local Catalan, Spanish, and European food systems, as well as their cultural heritage and gastronomy. We strongly encourage intercultural reflection and critical thinking.

Recommended applicant profiles and admission requirements:
Students from American universities and university-related study abroad organizations.

Courses commence in September and January

FURTHER INFORMATION

Faculty or school where the course is taught

Name of individual or institution: CAMILA LOEW PHD

Address: Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes 585, 08007 BARCELONA

Email address: camila.loew@ub.edu
Webpage: https://www.ub.edu/foodstudies/

For further enquiries

Name of individual or institution: VERA ARMUS

Email address: vera-armus@ub.edu

Webpage: http://www.ub.edu/foodstudies

Telephone: +34 658 472 764

Presentation courses

Program

Profile of the teaching staff of the program Spring 2022 Semester.