<p>Ok. First off, the U of C does not have a major or a minor in “nutrition studies.” This probably reflects the fact that “nutrition studies” is not an established academic discipline, and universities (pretty much all of them) are conservative beasts in terms of starting new disciplines, or even hiring in “new” subfields. For instance, NYU’s world-renowned art history faculty has no one who specializes in African art history. Staggering, when you think of the number of people in Africa, its incredible diversity of artistic traditions, how African art was crucial to the development of the modernist movement in Europe and America, and how artists from Africa have been taking the art world by storm for the past decade (e.g., people like El Anatsui). But I digress. </p>
<p>You want to study nutrition, and you are interested in the U of C. So… what to do? The U of C has some incredible departments, where you can study things intimately relation to nutrition. In the Biological Sciences Division, you can take classes that will teach you about the biology of nutrition, how things grow, how they are used by the creatures that consume them, and what the effects of environmental and chemical changes on nutrition have been. In Anthropology, you can study how culture shapes approaches to food and agriculture; in economics, you can study the factors that shape how markets affect what is grown, traded, distributed, and consumed. In Sociology, you can consider the social effects of nutrition, and how it relates to other social issues, such as class, income, migration, etc. In History, you can study how issues of comestible resources have affected the development of political, social, and cultural events throughout the world. In computer science, you can figure out ways to manage data about nutrition. And so on. </p>
<p>And if you really want to study nutrition through a combination of these approaches and disciplines, you can put together your own major, focusing on nutrition as a set of connected problems and issues.</p>
<p>What does this mean? It means you don’t need a specific program or department in “nutrition” in order to study it. And you can approach the broad liberal arts requirements and offerings at the University of Chicago as an opportunity to shape the way you understand and learn about nutrition. That is what liberal arts are all about, after all. (No, they are not about “nutrition” – but more broadly they allow almost anything to be studied, examined, and understood).</p>