McMaster students can now take a series of courses focused on addressing challenges related to food, agriculture, water and health through a new interdisciplinary minor.
The minor in Food, Nutrition, and Environmental Health, launching in the fall term, draws on courses from four faculties and more than a dozen programs, including anthropology, civil engineering, earth sciences and Indigenous studies. It explores food from multiple angles -including sociocultural, environmental, political and biological.
“It’s the full gamut,” said Tina Moffat, professor in the department of Anthropology. “From global geopolitical events and food insecurity to nutrition science and how food interacts with the body.”
The program also reflects McMaster’s strengths in water and environmental health, incorporating courses that examine the intersection of food systems and culture with climate change and water resources.
“Food, nutrition, water and environmental health are so integrated,” Moffat noted. “It really made sense to have those all together.”
The minor is open to all students, and Moffat sees it as especially valuable for those looking to complement their primary field of study with a focus on one of these most pressing global issues.
“This is a great complement to many degrees across all faculties,” she said. “It encompasses one of the most important issues of our time – climate change, and food and water.”
The idea for the minor was sparked in 2020, when Moffat spoke at a panel at a Hamilton event hosted by the French consulate general. A McMaster PhD student studying food in French literature approached her with a simple but powerful idea: “I’ve always thought it would be great to have a minor in food studies at Mac.”
The student compiled a spreadsheet of food-related courses across campus – a resource Moffat used when drafting the minor with colleagues in the Anthropology department: Tristan Carter, Katie Miller and Delia Hutchinson.
Today, as high prices and climate change continue to affect global food supplies, Moffat often thinks of the student who led her to this point.
“I’d love to tell her at some point that, hey, five years later, we’re actually doing this,” Moffat said.