A new program has been launched by the Centre for Hospitality & Culinary Arts at George Brown College (GBC). The four-year Honours Bachelor of Food Studies (H317) program will be the first of its kind in Canada to combine culinary arts with a critical analysis of food studies. 

Announced in a news release on February 10, the program is designed to prepare students for a deep array of food-related roles in culinary education, tourism, recreation, health sector, food security, food justice, sustainability, economic development, agriculture, public policy and research. 

“There aren’t a ton of pathways for culinary students beyond a two-year program in Canada,” says Caitlin Scott, professor of food studies at GBC. 

“Especially with COVID-19, and more people realizing the challenges in the food system around food insecurity and access, racial inequity in the food system, all of the sustainability challenges we have that result from the food system, here was an opportunity to combine that knowledge with culinary skills and to bring that theory of broader interdisciplinary food studies together with culinary knowledge.”

The program was originally inspired by GBC’s Honours Bachelor of Commerce in Culinary Management (H319) – the first ever four-year culinary degree in Canada. At the time it was being constructed, Scott says there came a realization that there was room for a new approach. This eventually led to the Honours Bachelor of Food Studies (H317) being developed.

“Increasingly, chefs are being called on to be public leaders on these issues, around education, and food literacy, and you know, the voice of more socially conscious, equitable, and sustainable food systems, so this offers students the foundation and the education to be able to go out and do that.”

Approved by the Ministry of Education in Fall 2020, the Honours Bachelor of Food Studies (H317) will also feature an experiential learning component, where students may engage in field trips around the community as well as completing two 16-hour community-engaged learning placements for a portion of their course work. 

Whereas the H319 program is more focused on management aspects such as finance, marketing, and accounting, Scott says that the new H317 program will “equip students with a more broad interdisciplinary approach towards the different debates, nuisances, and complexities that are both arising and currently present within the food industry.”

“Our students will take things like, ‘Food from the Land’, a course that looks at all the different sustainability challenges of different agricultural models. Or, a course in food history and culture,” says Scott. 

The Honours Bachelor of Food Studies (H317) will begin its first term in Fall 2021. More information on the program can be found at the Honours Bachelor of Food Studies course page.