Food And Cultural Identity Paper

Food is a highly unique commodity, for though it is essential to every single person on earth, there is no other commodity which is acquired and consumed in such diverse ways. It is a multifaceted social instrument, serving to connect people across cultural boundaries while simultaneously drawing lines through society, dividing people across race and class. Though we have discussed the connections between certain alternative food movements and the creation of a ‘white’ identity, I contend that the social mechanisms of food extend beyond the production of ‘whiteness’, and are intricately bound up in the creation and perpetuation of other racial and class identities in Western society. As the ways in which we consume and engage with food

This indicates that people feel the pressure that fast food does in fact affect culture and that measures must be taken in order to prevent losing their identity before it is too late. One example of this is in France, a country with a long history of taking pride in its cuisine. In 2011, for the first time in the country’s history, fast food earned more than the traditional French restaurants and bistros (Samuel). The traditional diet is vital to France as it is a way of life and a source of revenue from tourists. For those reasons in 2010, the government was able to put the ethnic diet on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) World Heritage List as a way to protect the cuisine (“France’s Fast Food”). The same article noted that the government has also tried to push through legislation that would limit the amount of places that can be called a “restaurant” to establishments who make over half of their food on the premises. This potential regulation would create transparency which would help to distinguish ethnic food from fast food. Through these measures, the French government is attempting to control the damage and lessen the impact of fast food on their historic cuisine. However, it is an uphill battle to try and reverse the effects of the fast-food industry even in

In Beijing, McDonald’s was like leisure time for people. For example, people could relax, chat, read, enjoy the music, and celebrate the birthdays in McDonald’s in Beijing (Yan, 72). McDonald’s in Beijing provided friendly environment and moderate place for middle-class people. When people went to McDonald’s, they were getting American culture experience that they had never been before. In Beijing, when customers entered the McDonald’s, they could see the kitchen and how their service works which is different to American culture. In addition, Beijing culture has been changed because of the familiar and peaceful place that McDonald’s provide for their customers. McDonald’s made favorite for young couples “because the eating environment is considered romantic and comfortable” (Watson 50). Also, McDonald’s was children favorite place like in American culture because kids could play and eat at the same time. Even they had receptionist whose responsibility were “to establish long-term friendships with children and other customers who frequent the restaurant” (Watson 61). McDonald’s in Beijing became most favorite placed for people because of affordable restaurant and friendly

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.

In “Why everyone should stop calling immigrant food ‘ethnic’” the writer, Lavanya Ramanathan writes that referring to these foods as “ethnic” makes them appear to be more foreign than they are. Ramanathan states that describing the cuisine from foreign countries as “ethnic” seems to only apply to those “countries whose people have the brownest skin.” She goes on to say that she has observed that true “ethnic” cuisine is often looked down upon and considered low while “fusion cuisine”, combinations of American and an “ethnic” country’s food is seen as haute cuisine. Ramanathan tells that a NYU professor has discovered than people won’t pay more than $30 for ethnic cuisine. She also says that using “ethnic” signifies an air of inferiority when used and that while Asian and African countries get referred to as ethnic, European cuisine gets a pass from the Americans.

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

In The Culinary Seasons of my Childhood, Jessica B. Harris- the author- attempts to help readers understand the relationship between food and identity. Harris gave a detailed, but relevant, description of how how food portrayed different cultures in her life and how it taught her many lessons about her family history and who she is; she also described how food brings people together as one and creates a connection that nothing else can. The author helps readers initially understand her ideas by showing examples of how food, even in the same culture, can reflect different social classes.“ Even though chitterlings might be on the menu, they could equally likely be accompanied by a mason jar of corn liquor or a crystal goblet of champagne”( Harris

McDonald’s is not some ordinary fast food restaurant with its trademark logo advertised almost everywhere in the U.S., many people all over the world know about these famous golden arches. The McDonald’s franchising started in 1955 and in less than fifty years, McDonald’s was introduced all over the world in countries such as, China, Japan, Great Britain, Sweden, France etc. McDonald’s global expansion has intermingled with cultural traditions because these countries are becoming more westernized. Since East Asia is becoming more westernized it also means that there is a cultural difference because of the influences from outside the country. The cultures are being changed because of how ideas are expressed by people and not by their

So with the introduction of a foreign symbol into a host country like a new McDonald’s restaurant, the impact is not so dramatic and the host country does not fully take in the American culture but shapes it in a way to suit their lifestyle and tastes. For example, the food and names of the food at McDonald’s in Tokyo is slightly different to those in America. In India, it serves lamb burgers and in Germany beer is available. This shows that the American formula was not as international as had been hoped, and local cultural practices had to be acknowledged.

When considering food as a part of my identity, there are multiple components that make up who I am. It is a mix of family heritage, experiences, and personal preferences, which all culminate together to form my food identity. While some might see their food identity as one culture, concept, or idea, I see my food identity as a variety. This variety consists of what foods I like and the memories associated with them. Specifically, my memories and experiences with my family have contributed to what I believe to be my food identity.

France is a nation known for its food, and fast food restaurants like McDonald's are slowly killing French dishes by luring customers away from previously successful establishments. Restaurants are forced to lower the quality of their in order to have even a small chance of being able to compete with the affordability of franchises like McDonald's, and by lowering their quality, they are losing their essential customer base: tourists. In addition to this, McDonald's has also been putting several French cattle farmers out of business, along with crippling the tourism industry in the area. Overall, the globalization of fast food has homogenized peoples across the world under the guise of a beneficial addition to any town. Fast food chains have been controlling the way cities grow and look, all while gradually annihilating all foods that were once vital to a people, and ultimately, their competitors. If the globalization of fast food is not stopped, then food, as a unique and diverse indicator of cultural identity, may be

Sleep, sex, and food are the three most important aspect of a human life. Each of them represents resting, reproducing, and surviving – essential elements that form the foundation of human culture and society. The status of these elements always represents the social stature and cultural ideology, of the desire or dislike of people. Some standards are universal, while some are uniquely formed through generations of different cultural traditions. Food in this case might be the most simple and yet the hardest ideology of desire for anthropologists to catch. Its meaning is never as plain as a recipe of a cooking book, but always attached with the cultural and psychological ideology that is connected with individual and cultural identities.

You are what you eat, is a common phrase characterizing the idea of food and identity. Several questions that discuss the notion of using food as a cultural clue will be addressed, such as: What do food choices represent? How do food choices represent cultural identity? Is it important to recognize the difference between what you eat representing what you are and what you eat constructing who you are? Our identity

According to Delaney (2004) suggests that food is not biological, it is cultural. The food that is consumed shapes culture and culture shapes food and intern shapes our identity (Delaney, 2004). Counihan (1999) agrees and suggests that food is a “product and mirror of the organisation of society…it is connected to behaviours and meanings” (p. 6). The way in which food is produced, distributed and consumed illustrates power relations, gender and sex within societies (Counihan, 1999). She explains that each society has a distinct food way which structures the community, personalities and families within the society (Counihan, 1999).

Food is very much a part of pop culture, and the beliefs, practices, and trends in a culture affect its eating practices. Pop culture includes the ideas and objects generated by a society, including foods, and other systems, as well as the impact of these ideas and objects on society. For example, Mcdonald's is another of the thousands of fast food chains that populate our cities though they often use the term “popular culture” only to refer to media forms. Their popularity has also increased internationally. Although all humans need food to survive, people's food habits and how they obtain, prepare, and consume food, are the result of learned behaviors. Mcdonald’s, like other food chains, has made an effort to ‘localize’ its products so that they will be more successful in each different cultural context. These collective behaviors, as well as the values and attitudes they reflect, come to represent a group’s pop culture.