Descriptive Essay: Sarah Mclachan ASPCA

Topic A: What was the environment in which you were raised? Describe your family, home, neighborhood, or community, and explain how it shaped you as a person.

Dorothy Allison’s essay, Panacea, recalls the fond childhood memories about her favorite dish, gravy. Allison uses vivid imagery to cook up a warm feeling about family meals to those who may be a poor family or a young mother. Appeal to the senses shows this warm feeling, along with a peaceful diction.

In Jessica Harris’s “The Culinary Season of my Childhood” she peels away at the layers of how food and a food based atmosphere affected her life in a positive way. Food to her represented an extension of culture along with gatherings of family which built the basis for her cultural identity throughout her life. Harris shares various anecdotes that exemplify how certain memories regarding food as well as the varied characteristics of her cultures’ cuisine left a lasting imprint on how she began to view food and continued to proceeding forward. she stats “My family, like many others long separated from the south, raised me in ways that continued their eating traditions, so now I can head south and sop biscuits in gravy, suck chewy bits of fat from a pigs foot spattered with hot sauce, and yes’m and no’m with the best of ‘em,.” (Pg. 109 Para). Similarly, since I am Jamaican, food remains something that holds high importance in my life due to how my family prepared, flavored, and built a food-based atmosphere. They extended the same traditions from their country of origin within the new society they were thrusted into. The impact of food and how it has factors to comfort, heal, and bring people together holds high relevance in how my self-identity was shaped regarding food.

The delicious smell of the roasting turkey adds to the mix of wonderful aromas drifting through the house. My grandmother’s kitchen looks like a circus of pots, pans, and utensils spread out all over the place. However, it might look like a mess and cramped you can tell my grandmother and the other girls know what they are doing. It’s hard not to follow the scent of the buttery aroma of the fresh sweet rolls. Even though you know you’re supposed to stay out of the kitchen you keep finding yourself trying to get whatever mouthwatering food you can get your hands on. Every time you think your being sneaky, you finally think you successfully got a piece of food, but there’s always hand there to stop you.

house smelled delicious, anxious to wake up and eat tamales. However, times have changed for

Growing up, my family lived in a inner-city, working-class neighborhood. While my neighborhood had its many issues, it was still a safe and supportive place in which to grow up because I was surrounded by others who looked like me. However, in

Growing up in an agricultural environment, alongside a small community with a supportive family, I matured into a confident, determined individual with strong family values.

The early years in my life were characterized by my childhood community in the western suburbs of Chicago. My hometown was very sheltered with little diversity. Upon graduation from high school, I knew I wanted to join a community where I would be challenged, supported, and most importantly, be with those who

I woke up in my comfortable bed and walked downstairs. I walked to the door that leads outside and opened it. I could smell the fresh air of the country. It has been a week since I moved from New York. I use to live in a crowded suburb in New York City where I couldn’t smell the fresh air. Now that I moved to South Carolina with my wife and two children, I think my life is taking a turn for the better. I live right on the coast, so I also get an excellent view of the ocean from my porch. I continued to breath the fresh air for a while longer. After about five minutes of standing there, I went inside and closed the door. The rest of my family was still upstairs sleeping. I went to the kitchen and started to cook breakfast. The smell of freshly

Being born in an urban community on the Westside of Indianapolis, during the crack epidemic had its challenges. My mother was recently divorced and we moved in with our grandmother. Luckily her house was big enough to accommodate my mother and 2 siblings. The product of the environment is what people who refer to us as. Something I did not understand until I entered the “real world!”

My family instilled in us at a very young age that we had to work for anything we wanted, my families’ social class is middle class. My parents always emphasized the importance of education and respect. My parents always taught me that we are equal to any other race, we lived in a neighborhood that was predominantly African American and attended an all-black elementary school. My earliest memory of race was when I was twelve I was adopted by my aunt and uncle who loved in a predominately Caucasian neighborhood, I would play outside, with my cousins being a few years older than me I often played and rode my bike alone. Soon I met some children that lived in the neighborhood who were caucasian and we would play with each other, I use to even go over their homes. Well, one day I asked one

How do you feel race, ethnicity, social class, and religion has shaped you and your family lives? Whether we take notice or not these aspects of our childhood and today’s life contributed to our view point about different parts of the world. Also, the way your family interacted with you and others is determined in a way by these key points. My race, social class, ethnicity, and religion has helped mold me into the young adult I am, beliefs, and values I hold today because I understanding who I am which provides me with the ability to understand others backgrounds.

What was the environment you were raised in? Describe your family, home, neighborhood, or community, and explain how it has shaped you as a person.

The smell of fresh pumpkin pie rising and cooking in the oven is a smell that triggers an emotional image within my memory. As a young child, unable to stay home alone if I was under the weather with an illness, I went to my grandma’s house during those days I could not attend school while my parents were working. My grandmother would make me a fresh pumpkin pie made from scratch when I was not feeling well, she began to do this when she discovered my everlasting craving for this dessert.This developed into a tradition that did not only occur when I was ill, my grandmother would surprise me with these wonderful pies frequently. As time progressed, my grandma grew in age and lost her ability to move enough to make my pumpkin pies. I began to worry, I would not ever experience the wonderful smells and tastes I received from my grandma's

Ever since Carol’s Mother passed away, she made it a point to celebrate Mother’s Day. She started off by cooking dinner on Mother’s Day and inviting her immediate family over. The past three years she decided to change things around and prepare a Mother’s Day Brunch. She would call everyone a week prior to confirm who all would be attending in preparation for the Holiday. The Day of Mother’s Day, we all started arriving at Carol’s house. Everyone was in an uproar of how good the food smelled. As soon as she would open the door, the aroma would hit your nose. Carol would greet each Mother at the door with a rose and tell everyone to come in and make themselves comfortable. Everyone sat around and socialized in the living room until it was time for brunch to be served. Once everyone arrived, she made an announcement that it was time to eat. As we sat around the table Susan would say grace. In her prayer, she shared how thankful she was for the food we were about to receive and how