Analyzing Can Live Through The Mediums Of Food

The autobiography, Mao’s Last Dancer written by Li Cunxin, is effective in raising awareness of the injustice the Chinese people experienced during Chairman Mao’s Cultural Revolution and later communist policies in China. When Li’s parents got married in 1946, they were not living in poverty. However, when the Japanese invaded China during WWII and forced all the civilians into communes, Mao then kept these communes and the Li family lost their wealth—they faced injustice and marginalisation. The Chinese population were marginalised by Mao’s use of communist principles and propaganda. They were forced into believing Mao’s views—that the West (Capitalist countries) were filthy and bad, while China was good. Li’s visit to America was an eye-opener.

It is a known fact that every human being communicates through language, but perhaps a little known fact that we communicate even through the food we eat. We communicate through food all the meanings that we assign and attribute to our culture, and consequently to our identity as well. Food is not only nourishment for our bodies, but a symbol of where we come from. In order to understand the basic function of food as a necessity not only for our survival, we must look to politics, power, identity, and culture.

Throughout Li Cunxin’s memoir, Mao’s Last Dancer, Li immerses the readers into the complex, restrictive and challenging lifestyle he lived through various prose techniques, which engage the audience into the cultural values of his life. Some examples of this is when he was living in communist China, in a commune, going to a Beijing dance Academy, going to Houston and finally moving to Australia. Through these experiences, culture is portrayed as being both limiting and liberating. Culture could be limiting because it is was so restrictive because of Mao’s rules but it was also liberating because Chinese people are meant to be loyal to their country and since their country is communist, they believed that it was the most free nation in the world. This is shown in the story of the blind rabbit, where Li is taught that nothing comes easily, allegiance to country surpasses that to family and to keep pride in the family name.

Food wasn’t being harvested causing people to die from a lack of it. Tens of thousands of soldiers died from hunger, sickness, and extreme heat or cold ( Doc E ). One verse from a Chinese poem reads, “If the rice isn’t harvested, how will you eat? ( Doc F )” Almost all of the soldiers, prisoners, and peasants were being forced to fight, work on the wall, or defend it. This leaves no time for food to be harvested causing even more people to die from an uncommon cause. If someone is to die they should die because of their choices, not the choices someone else made for

The Memoir Spider Eaters by Rae Yang is her personal account of her life during the Maoist revolution. In addition, she reminisces about her trials and tribulations during her active participation in the culture revolution and the great North Wilderness. Her family also had various misfortunes due to these changing ideological beliefs spread by the revolution. This memoir illustrates in great detail what Yang experienced under communist rule. Spider Eaters opened up a door to a young girl and her families struggle to be good Samaritans under communist rule and their final disillusionment of the revolution they whole heartedly believed in. Yang and her family struggled with the vast ideological changes during the Maoist Revolution, in turn,

Common food that Chinese heritage usually consume are peanuts, soybeans and grains. The Chinese culture believes in steaming most of their foods and only fried what is needed. They believe drinking something cold can damage and out balance their body system. When it is suppertime, everyone joins in at the middle of a table and food is served among the most important guest there, then someone signals everyone to eat. It is important for the Chinese heritage to uphold their health. The Chinese people try to keep their body well-balanced with a healthy diet. A healthy diet will aid and prevent imbalances and indigestion (Purnell, 2013).

One does not necessarily expect books about food also to be about bigger ideas like oppression, spirituality, and freedom, yet Pollan defies expectations. Pollan begins with an exploration of the food-production system from which the vast majority of American meals are derived. This industrial food chain is mainly based on corn, whether it is eaten directly, fed to livestock, or processed into chemicals such as glucose and ethanol. Pollan discusses how the humble corn plant came to dominate the American diet through a combination of biological, cultural, and political factors. The role of petroleum in the cultivation and transportation the American food supply is also discussed. A fast-food meal is used to illustrate the end result of the

Food is used in different circumstances in life represents a culture, but can also reflect one's personality, lifestyle, and socio-economic

When Jan Wong first arrived in China, she was filled with the complete belief that China’s totalitarianism way of government was the best way of governing, and that no other way would do. While natives smiled behind false expressions, she failed to realize the true extent of the miserable lives under the Maoist regime until she herself experienced the injustices faced by the Chinese citizens. In Red China Blues, author Jan Wong writes of her experiences during her life in China and after, and how her whole journey led to the realization of the harsh reality that Maoism really was. As Wong learned more and more about the truth behind the totalitarian government, her own experiences helped her to transform

My mom always commanded, “Don’t take your emotions out on food.” In her essay “Young Hunger,” M.F.K. Fisher uses three anecdotes to prove her argument about the hunger young people have for love and attention. On the other hand J.J. Goode through “Single-handed Cooking” writes about the difficulties that a disability such as having no arms could introduce even with small chores such as cooking. Food represents struggles in the lives of both M.F.K. Fisher and JJ Goode. Fisher and Goode are both lacking something that they are trying to fill with food although the result they obtain is different.

To begin with, fourteen years old Arnold describes his life while growing up in Wellpinit. He was malnourished. Arnold was a cartoonist, who often drew food and money and wished for it to be real. However, he realized the reality of being a reservation kid living with his family on the poor Spokane Indian Reservation. In the chapter, “Why Chicken Means So Much to Me,” he shares his formula about being poor. “Poverty is empty refrigerator plus empty stomach.” (Alexie 8). He described how sometimes his family missed a meal and slept on an empty stomach. Also, being hungry makes food taste better, especially when he hadn’t eaten for

In Jan Wong’s entrancing expose Red China Blues, she details her plight to take part in a system of “harmony and perfection” (12) that was Maoist China. Wong discloses her trials and tribulations over a course of three decades that sees her searching for her roots and her transformation of ideologies that span over two distinctive forms of Communist governments. This tale is so enticing in due part to the events the author encountered that radically changed her very existence and more importantly, her personal quest for self-discovery.

In recent years, China has become a worldwide superpower-seemingly out of nowhere. War-torn and sick of being trampled on by western powers, the Communist Party of China has given the almost 4,000 year old country a new lease on life. But all this newfound power and “prosperity” came at a price paid in sweat and blood. In the memoir Red Scarf Girl, Jiang Ji-Li recalls her experiences growing up during Chairman Mao’s “Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution”, during a time where hundreds of thousands were unfairly persecuted and even tortured by their brainwashed friends and family. Although it is clear that my experiences and Jiang Ji-Li’s are very different, there are also some similarities.

Food, has a specific meaning to all of us; for some it is a form of nourishment, for others it is a cultural act,

The necessity for sustenance is ubiquitous. Food chemically provides the human body with the needed glucose in order to convert ATP to usable energy in cells. This chemical conversion is essential for human existence. Though the primary importance of food is sustenance; humanity has elevated this biological imperative beyond survival. Food is symbolic, it connects people. Eating is a collective activity shared amongst humanity; therefore food allows interconnectivity and exchange between otherwise vastly different societies. There may be no universal type of food, but the enjoyment and celebration of food transcends our basic differences and allows for the introduction of cultural exchange. Thus food can become a road map of an individual’s