During Summer Term A, a small group of motivated and hard-working Spanish majors and minors participated in the first Spanish “Cine y cocina” course taught by Professor Cipriano and hosted by the Catholic Campus Ministry. Students watched four films that prominently featured Spanish and Latin American food, cooked spectacular meals inspired by the films, and toured, en español, La Michoacana Market in Dayton where they enjoyed a delicious Mexican meal. On movie days, the students tried authentic foods from Spain and Latin America, analyzed films, studied important cultural influences and chefs who helped shape Spanish cooking, and did a variety of tastings, such as cheese, marmalade, and olive oil. The students studied how Spain’s cuisine was formed, what foods the Spanish introduced to the Americas, and what products they took back to Spain, which were then introduced to the rest of Europe. Spain’s rich cuisine is the result of its position as the crossroads between Europe, the Muslim World, and the New World.
