A bottle of olive oil, a basket of warm bread, platters of fresh produce, grilled fish: these are stock images of the Mediterranean diet. Cuisine is an integral part of Mediterranean foodways - attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors associated with food production, preparation, and consumption. How do foodways relate to forms of social difference, including ethnicity, gender, class, and nationality? How do Mediterranean foodways engage with the political, economic, and cultural processes of globalization? What have been the effects of mass migration across the Mediterranean on its foodways? What are some lessons about sustainability that we can learn from the Mediterranean? Students will explore the intersections of food, culture, and politics through analysis of the Mediterranean diet, food markets, the Slow Food movement, and the challenges of global food production, including sustainability and the problem of food waste. Case studies from around the Mediterranean as well as film viewings and field excursions (including food tastings!) will enable students to appreciate of the multiple and contradictory ways traditions are created and recreated in a globalized Mediterranean.