This is my 2nd class with Dr. Bell, and it's the same as all his other classes. Basically, if you're a good writer, this class is so easy. First off, the workload is low: two quizzes in week 5 and week 10, a research topic proposal, and a final research paper. Attendance is not mandatory.

The two quizzes are take-home on BruinLearn with 20 true/false questions based on the readings. You are given 40 minutes to do it within a 1-hour window (in this case, the quiz opened at 5pm and closed at 6pm), so definitely make sure you are available when it opens.

The research topic proposal is 2 pages while the final research paper is 4-5 pages, so very manageable. You have the opportunity to research anything as long as it's related to food. It was really fun writing the paper since I got to pick a topic I liked! However, I will say the TA was strict on grading (although I heard Dr. Bell makes the TA grade very strictly, so it's not the TA's fault). I found the TA's feedback to be valuable, and the TA held multiple office hours to help with papers (although I did not go and was fine). Fortunately, since the TA was the same TA from the 1st class I took with Dr. Bell, I knew what to expect and ended up getting A's on both the proposal and final paper.

The grading scheme of this class is amazing. 96-100% is an A+, 95-85 is an A, 84-80 is an A-, 79-76 is a B+, and so on. I ended with an A+.

For me, this class was an easy A since I knew what to expect. If this is the first time taking a class with Dr. Bell, you definitely need to put in a good amount of effort for the papers. Thanks to the forgiving grading scheme, I wouldn't worry.

While the class material is interesting, I think Professor Bell didn't make the topic very engaging or fun. He has a dry, monotone, and rambling lecture style that made it hard to pay attention. Nor do I think his lectures added much to the core material of the class- his rural English background and research into Brazil and Spanish America are mentioned quite a bit in class, but his rambling and meandering way of speaking made it difficult to convey the weight, magnitude, historical context, and human impact of his examples.

He posts his lecture notes instead of slides, gives easy true/false exams for the midterm and final, and the readings are fairly light, with an open-ended final essay mostly managed by the TA- this is an easy class to pass, but not a fun one to pass. I feel like I would've gotten about the same amount of information from the class if I read "A New Green History of the World" by Clive Ponting, which is what most of the course material is based on. Glass half full, this class gives you the foundation for analyzing how societies have shaped and been shaped by modes of subsistence, and gives you the structure to do your own research on a topic you're interested in for your final essay.