I took Anthropology of Food when he first offered it.

I enjoyed the class as he gave better than average lectures for an Anthropology professor and one that comes from an engineering background. He also integrated movies to further validated his points which gave a break to the traditional classroom

What I didn't like was his avoidance to deal with grades. He has a policy that I respect where you don't question final grades. But I didn't like how he handled the final. He left during the Finals Week, and had proctors.

I had 95% going into the final, but ended up with a B, because the proctors did nothing when people were texting answers on their phones obviously. This totally screwed the curve, even though he gives 50% A's and 40% B's,

It was really bogus. I should have gotten an A

I've had two classes with Gupta [Anthro of Food and Developmental Anthro] and I have to say I absolutely love him! His classes are easy. He curves all the grades, giving almost half the class As and most of the rest Bs, you have to have not gone to class at all to fail his classes.

Anthro of Food
The readings aren't very necessary, he tells you what you need from the readings in class. For studying you just need to review your lecture notes. As for the post about his test questions saying "according to Prof. Gupta . . . " thats because he tests off his lectures. The tests were mostly multiple choice with a few short answers. I thought this class was very interesting, it started off boring but he eventually moves into current day things: fast food,corruption, etc. We even watched Supersize Me. My only complaint is that he focused a lot on India and Japan and not too many other places.

Developmental Anthro
This was the first time he taught this class it was interesting but not really my thing. The readings were more necessary because there is a discussion with participation grade. The tests were very slightly harder because the TAs made up some of the questions. It was interesting but there was a lot of theory at the end, and he gets some of his info [mostly stats] from wikipedia.

Overall he's a really good professor and pretty easy classes. People tend to be afraid to take him because he doesn't do regrades. But the tests are multiple choice with 2 or 3 shorts answers that are usually regurgitating a list or definition. Just watch out for the "none of the above" on the tests he loves those.

I had Gupta for the Anthropology of Food. I regret taking this class. I thought it was going to be a fun, interesting class, but it turned out to be boring and pointless. I ended up with a decent grade, so this isn't a rant because I didn't get the grade I wanted. His lectures were boring at best, he repeated himself a lot, and talked either about very broad concepts or very minute details, with no regard to connecting them. The material was unorganized, as he would assign readings for one day, and not talk about it until the next week, we would never finish movies in order, it would be half of one here, half of another one there. He doesn't take ANY regrade requests. So if your scantron is messed up, you're screwed. He was originally an engineer, and now teaches anthropology. Your entire grade depends on 40 multiple choice questions, and two short answer questions spread over two tests. Also, the final is cumulative, which wouldn't be an issue if the material built upon itself. Instead, it was a waste of time to go back to look over old material that was only loosely connected to the current readings. Also, half of the test questions started of as "according to prof. Gupta..." or "prof. Gupta mentioned in class..." so it's not about know the material as much as it is knowing his opinion on the readings and movies.

Anthropology of Food was an interesting subject matter, and Professor Gupta incorporated popular movies and books into the class material. I enjoyed his lectures, and he presented the information clearly while highlighting the important material. He stressed key concepts in lectures and on the exams. There was a midterm and final with the midterm weighted at 40% of your grade and the final at 60%. The midterm consisted of 20 multiple choice questions and the final of 22 multiple choice questions and two short answers. If you go to class and pay attention, both tests will be easy. He grades the class on a curve, as well - giving around 30 to 40% of the class A's. Take this class! His accent makes lectures a little difficult to understand, but I would still recommend this class.