Virginia Tech Adds A Food Studies Minor

In the Virginia Tech Food Studies Program, exploring food through the lens of the humanities can lead to extraordinary discoveries.

“The humanities offer particular insights about human values and culture that allow us to think critically and creatively about food — past, present, and future,” said Anna Zeide, the program’s director. The National Endowment for the Humanities recently recognized the importance of food studies at Virginia Tech by awarding the program with a major grant and just became one of only 26 grant recipients of the Humanities Connections program, which awarded a total of $1.4 million in an effort to expand the role of the humanities in undergraduate curricula across the country.

The Virginia Tech funding will support the continued growth of the Food Studies Program and fuel the creation of a food studies minor. “This minor will complement any major on campus, offering a versatile, fascinating, and widely applicable set of courses with great instructors,” said Zeide. “Yes, you’ll learn about the global food system on which we all rely for sustenance. But you’ll also learn how to connect the dots across disciplines, seeing how the humanities, sciences, and social sciences interrelate and support one another. You’ll become a better writer, thinker, citizen, and advocate.” Congrats go out to Virginia Tech and we hope that our nations grocery retailers will help support the program by adding Virginia Tech’s food studies graduates to its recruitment efforts.