In every society, different parties attempt to control what people eat: public health officials, religious leaders, policymakers, environmental and anti-cruelty activists and, of course, community members themselves, who preserve and modify the traditions of their own food cultures. These debates are often impassioned, as food is central to our daily lives and an important aspect of our cultural and moral identities. Every generation confronts the food culture its members inherited with a new set of public concerns and ethical questions.

In this lesson, students will investigate the factors that determine a community’s diet and consider who should control food culture, especially when it pertains to foods that are considered unethical or dangerous. It uses clips from the documentary film The Islands and the Whales by Mike Day, which looks at calls to end Faroe Island whaling traditions that trace their history back to the time of the Vikings.