Barcelona (Winter)

Experience winter break in Barcelona, Spain, exploring the connections between culture, literature, and food through this Manhattan University faculty-led program. Centered in the city of Barcelona and the broader Catalonia region, students study food writing as a literary genre while engaging directly with the culinary traditions that shape regional identity. By combining textual analysis with lived culinary experiences, the program invites students to consider how food functions as narrative, metaphor, and cultural expression across time and place.

Dates Offered

Courses & Credits

This program is open to all majors and may count towards major, minor, concentration, or core requirements; it may also be used as an elective.

• ENGL 292/392: Food Writing in Literature (3 credits)

This English course examines food writing as a multifaceted genre that intersects with a wide range of literary expression. Students explore how writers use food as subject, trope, metaphor, and cultural artifact. Topics include the sensual and experiential qualities of eating, the connections between food and cultural identity, the environmental and ecological implications of food practices, and the ways food reflects the history and character of specific places. A central guiding question asks how food functions as symbol, metaphor, or driving force within literary texts.

In addition to reading and analyzing texts, students engage directly with the local food culture of Barcelona and the broader Catalonia region. Through these experiences, they consider how food shapes social relationships, personal ideologies, and cultural understanding at both local and global levels. By reading, writing, and reflecting critically on food and food culture, students develop insight into how culinary traditions connect people across cultures and humanize social and material life.

Logistics

Participants on this program will travel with a group of Manhattan University students and will be led by an MU faculty member. Tuition, excursions and cultural visits, round-trip flights out of New York City, housing in shared rooms for the duration of the program, some meals, and international health insurance are included in the program fee.

Learn More

Interested in this program and looking to learn more about academics, cost, financial aid, housing, travel, and student life? Email studyabroad@manhattan.edu to set up a time to meet with an advisor and have all of your questions answered!