The issue of “plugging” epistemological gaps might trump the latent naturalization of culture as the key issue here.

I do think there is a place for discussions of food in our teaching. As I’ve sketched out in my essay “The Architect’s Farm” (on its way to becoming its own book…) one can learn a lot about architectural modernism by talking about what architects do when they encounter the food supply, and food-architecture is an under-recognized but very important program even of European modernism.

I teach grad students, so the context is a bit different, but I don’t think it hurts to bring historiography into the picture, and would probably handle this by talking a bit about maize and chocolate, but also about why they are so much a part of the story we tell about Mayan architecture. Why is it so difficult to translate that form of cultural production into our own frames of reference? Why do we need to use food to plug epistemological gaps? What differences are we unwittingly producing?

To get at this issue in my global architectural history classes, I often assign the short piece James Clifford wrote about how “tradition” is naturalized from Hal Foster’s _Discussions in Contemporary Culture #1_. It’s not about food, but the point is similar to the one you make above. Or, if you (or anyone) really wanted to dig into this in a food-specific way, people who work in the field of food studies have dealt with the methodological issues you raise too. The journal _Food, Culture and Society_ is a great source – editors Lisa Heldke and Krishnendu Ray write about how food is used as a means to produce gender, class, and geographical boundaries…

When we discuss the Maya, we really discuss diet more than “food”. How many maize recipes can you name? We discuss the food as nutritional, the foundation of a thriving civilization.

In terms of naturalization, I use that term to describe many things and processes that essentially link the productions of society to the natural sciences. In this case, I’m using the term to describe how we make Mayan civilization appear – or partially appear – as the outcome of their diet.

Also, could you clarify what you mean by “processes of naturalization”? I’m not familiar with the phrase, and googling that phrase lands squarely in pages about immigration.

I have been feeling as though contemporary architecture, particular environmental architecture and city planning, has taken the “human” out of the design of human spaces. Everyone deserves a home. Yes, in America, this should be a basic human right. And the effects of the current wave of foreclosures on America’s families and children will not be clear for generations. Children need a place to call home, too, and sterile high-rise towers just won’t cut it.

ps – looking forward to italian version…