This course provides a systematic introduction to eating practices and associated ideologies in Southeast Asia from the early modern period until the present. Central to this course is the story of how the world changing phenomenon of modern middling cuisines translated within Southeast Asia, and the phenomenon’s impacts on social inequality. The course will trace the transformation of the region’s cuisines through the historical workings of societies, politics, empires, businesses, technologies, and environments in Southeast Asia. One core aim is to critically evaluate contemporary Southeast Asian food practices, using perspectives informed by both history and the social sciences.