For his Food Writing class, Denver publications are required reading, as are the works of such celebrated food writers as MFK Fisher and Anthony Bourdain. Wells also teaches a course called "Denver as Text," which goes far beyond the restaurant scene to explore urban planning, the socio-economic factors of individual neighborhoods (life expectancy can be charted by zip code, he notes, and there's as much as a ten-year variation in Denver's zip codes) and even the live music scene.