We have eaten a lot of food in this class, including donuts, cookies, and jollof rice. How is what you eat influenced by your culture? How does food represent or reinforce certain cultural values?
For example, generally, we as Americans want cheap and fast foods like hamburgers or frozen and prepared meals. What does this say about the United States?
Using what you know about other types of food and the countries that eat it, what can you infer about their culture?
Birmingham, Alabama
16 years ago
It shows how fast the united states is. That a lot of people here don't have any time to do anything. Food represents culture but not as much as just the people themselves do.
ReplyDeleteI think this says that majority of America is on the run. We have busy agendas and it's no real time to prepare our own meals. The actual times people usually sit down with their family and eat a meal now is spent ordering pizza or going to a fast food place. I find that especially if sometimes you want to fill your belly but not really do a lot of the cooking so that is why they make frozen meals.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jen. The united states is fast and few people have time to cook a good meal every single day and night. Other countries aren't as chaotic as our country. I believe if everyone could, they'd all eat good home cooked meals instead of fast food or crap food. haha
ReplyDeletewell........I love all types of food, alot of people in the US, I think it's kinda like a melting pot of foods from all over because in other countries they probably dont have as many cultural restaurants
ReplyDeleteWell for me, its kind of often that i go eat fast food but i prefer home cook meals. I get them all the time at home and i find it more nutrious to eat. However once i move in my apartment i will opt for more healthier foods. I dont really like prepared meals, i try to eat healthier because food controls a big part of hormones, how you act, and how you feel. Eating unhealthy can lead to laziness and sickness.
ReplyDeletei agree completely with jen. people can represent their background better then their food can.
ReplyDeleteWell supposedely ever culture has a different style of eating. African-Americans fry foods a lot. Jamaicans eat a lot of spicy foods. Caucasians it a lot of traditional foods. Things like that. My mother always make things that was based down from her mother and her mothers mother, and so on and so on. A lot of races like to stick to the authenticity of their cultures foods.
ReplyDeleteI know in France the idea of Starbucks, where you run in grab coffee and run out with the cup in your hand, is ludicrous. From what I’ve read of their culture, along with visiting the country, their way of eating is so much more: Hey chill out and let’s enjoy each other’s company. There are way more people just sitting outside people watching. Also, all the sandwiches are made of like 80% bread and 20 % meat/ cheese whereas in America, the burgers seem as big as your face.
ReplyDeleteI usually don’t buy frozen or packaged food and try to make simple foods at home like potatoes diced and cooked on the stove top with olive oil, peppers, onions, and garlic. I also love to make sandwiches and eat spaghetti (my parents make homemade spaghetti sauce, using garden vegetables, and it’s amazing).
The way I eat is heavily influenced by reading “Women’s Health,” by reading scientific articles on nutrition, and by having very little time/ skill to cook with.
What do you eat and how is it influenced by your interest?
United States of America is looked on as the I want country. United States is formed by the media Americans including me want what they want and they want it when they want it. I took a whole class on this theory.I dont really know what you can infer about their country on food but for a long time i thought that puerto rican food and mexican food was the same and its not at all. I have been eating mexican food all my life. Last week I had puerto rican food. Honestly i like mexican food better. But anyways back to our culture, have you ever noticed how other cultures spend their money on necessities while people in america will go buy a car granted but does the car have to have rims as big as the car and be a different color with every season and have doors the slide up and out. Its uneccessary completely....completely.
ReplyDeleteJay, I am caucasian and I don't eat traditional food. I love spicy food. I put hot sauce on almost everything. I do eat traditional Polish food cause that's what I am but most of the time I don't.
ReplyDeleteJen and Kurt, you say people represent culture better than food can -- but what does the type of food people eat represent their culture, how their culture was developed? Where traditional recipes were originally developed?
ReplyDeleteI’m a huge advocate for food and sharing ideas while eating. I believe it helps develop community, friendship, and trust.
I find that when I do eat home cook meals. My mom takes them from everywhere. She doesn't just always make soul food, she experiences with food from other cultures by find recipes and I find that I get a better chance to understand what type of vegetables or fruits are grown there just by the ingredients they use. It helps you determine spices as well. When you eat different things you get a some what idea of a person's eating habits, whther they eat healthy or not but culture is better represented by it's people.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jacki. We are the only country that seems to be so spoiled and so proud of it. I want to travel the world but telling everyone that I am American is almost embarrassing.
ReplyDeletejay..i think that i would rather have Chinese over a hot dog. a lot of Americans are getting away from "traditional" food cause of the growing obesity rate our country has. i don't think its proper or accurate to categorize people or races into fried foods or unfried foods. i am Caucasian and the "traditional" meal for an American, is either a hot dog or a burger. i don't eat red meat or pork. i know a lot of people who are the same way.
ReplyDeleteKristin do you mean like Mexican people generally like spicy food and have you heard the term "Spicy Latina"? haha
ReplyDeleteDifferent cultures eat different food because of tradition. Culture are so unique because of tradition. This is speacial because we learn so much from each other. I feel other people way of living is so cool OMG.
ReplyDeleteJen me too but i got the exact opposite reaction like when i went to china and they asked me where i was from and i said america they wanted us to buy everything like because we were from America we had money to throw away.
ReplyDeleteKristin I really don't think that what I eat makes me who I am or my culture any stronger. I think that by living life and simply sharing traditions makes a culture grow not the food they eat. I eat a lot of different stuff and there is no way that when I eat Mexican food it helps me to deepen my culture. However I agree that sitting together eating is a good way to form bonds and relationships with people.
ReplyDeleteThat's why I think that we have a bad reputation. Jacki I think it seems like every part of the world thinks we are like selfish assholes that do not value our possessions and take our lives for granted.
ReplyDeleteJen, isn't sharing food a way of sharing tradition? You say you eat a lot of Polish food. I don't, nor have I ever. If I sat at your home and ate dinner, I would have a better idea of your culture, and its history as a result because food is a part of culture.
ReplyDeleteI think because America is such a melting pot, we have lost interest in establishing identity with culture in favor of being considered individuals. This is a good thing because it may make us more open-minded and willing to try new things, but at the same time I feel we are developing a more narcissistic way of life, centered on the self. This relates to what you said in your last post Jen.
And yes, laugh out loud, I have heard of Spicy Latina and LOVE spicy food :)
food is a part of culture but america is iinfluenced by many different countries of the people living here so you can find from mickyd's to chinese and beyond. the food you eat is what you like ... the food you make at home and from recipes you know from your parents represents your culture
ReplyDeleteI completely disagree with this because what you eat doesn't make you deepen with in your culture. I am hispanic and I don't eat mexican food; So does that make me not have culture? No ofcoarse not, I don't like spicy food, this doesn't make who I am, or who I'm not. You bring your culture within you by things you do and your preferences in life, but not by the food you eat. I like chinese food a lot this doesn't mean that I'm finding myself in Chinese culture. You could eat any kind of food, and not know anything about the culture. It's like language yes it represents culture, but how about when caucassian's learn spanish. They don't have culture because they learned the language, because you represent culture, culture doesn't represent what you eat, speak, dance etc.
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