Indigenous Australian and Middle Eastern cultures have many similarities when it comes to the factors that influenced their dietary choices throughout history and today. However with these similarities also came many differences as well. Traditions, religion, certain rituals, beliefs, outside influences and historical events were all huge factors that greatly influenced the dietary choices and the future development of each of these two cultures.
Before the European invasion in the 1700’s, Indigenous Australians lived in tribes all over the country, with an estimated population of 750,000 people (Australian Museum, 2013). By 1901, less than 100,000 remained. Their deeply rooted belief and spiritual system, known as the Dreaming, was a
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When Europeans first arrived, they brought with them their own culture and religion, that they then forced upon the indigenous, uprooting their 65,000 year old belief systems and changing their way of life, and in turn their people forever (Jalata, 2013). Western society has been influencing their culture ever since.
Middle Eastern culture is also one of the world’s oldest cultures, and they too were semi-nomadic. Unlike Indigenous Australian culture, it is still very predominant today. They enjoyed a variety of very different foods such as dairy products like cheese, milk, and cream. Foods that were very rarely seen within indigenous communities in Australia. Meats such as lamb, cereals and grains, fruits and vegetables, and even fish are other traditional foods of the Middle East. Bread, rice and other grains were also a common staple in many regions. The Middle East is made up of many different countries including Turkey, Syria, Iran (formally known as Persia), Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon. For the most part their culture, religion and cuisine is similar due to generations of outside influences. Countries such as Russia, India, America, Spain and even their Middle Eastern neighbours have influenced their cuisine over the years with the introduction of foods such as tomatoes, yoghurt, dates and figs that were introduced to the Persian diet during the Arab invasion, and olive oil (Food in Every Country, 2010).
Whilst both cultures have
People may have different views about foods depending on their cultural background. Providing range of familiar foods can help make individual feel at home, safe and welcomed.
She subtly suggests that cultural identity can be lost, if not guarded and ritualized. Indeed, this story could even be read as a cautionary tale for Arab Americans heading the wrong way. Food as a marker of Arab or Arab American identity is an unmistakable theme in new world food literature. Its central aim is to proudly claim and assert Arabness.
the Australians lived on a small food supply of biscuits, bully beef, chocolate, tea and sugar, tinned fruit, dried potatoes, sausages, vegetables, jam, butter and
To better understand Aboriginals as a Dream Culture I want to give more insight into Aboriginal Australians general culture and their conceptions of “Dream Time.” In his discussion of religion, Mircea Eliade describes a concept of Cosmos vs Chaos (Eliade 1957). In this notion an unordered world is chaotic only until is it transposed during a sacred time: “By occupying it and, above all, by settling in it, man symbolically transforms it into a cosmos though a ritual repetition of the cosmogony” (Eliade 1957:31). In other words until a land is tamed or created it is considered unordered. This can be applied to Aboriginal’s understanding of the world prior to their current presence. Aboriginals believe that in a time before the Dreamings, the land and world was a featureless earth. It was not until the dreamtime, or time of creation: “where there is contact with appearances from both realms of inside the earth itself as from ill-defined upper region” that the earth began to have its composed landscapes (Cowan 1992:26). The Dream Time is not only a period but more of a dimension where ancestral beings moved across the earth and created not only land, but every aspect of the earth including animals, plants, and man. It is important to realize that the ancestors created the natural earth and that is why Aboriginals live a particular lifestyle. Most Aboriginals living in this cosmogony are hunter-gatherer tribes. This aspect of their life can be traced to stem from the idea of
This represents a unique culture that has changed due to frequent immigration and migration. Cuisine in Australia is a combination of British origins and Mediterranean and Asian influences. The large amount of natural resources provide access to various meats, spices, and fruits and
The Aborigines were traditionally a semi-nomadic hunter-gatherer society, travelling seasonally. Their intimate knowledge of the land and the seasons allowed them to predict where and when certain food items would be available. Men hunted larger game while women gathered fruits, nuts and caught small game. Theirs was a life well adapted to the harshness of Australia. The most important factor in Aboriginal life was (and is) the kinship system.
As most people know, the Aboriginals or Indigenous Australians were the original owners of the Australian land up until 1788 when the British began settling in Australia as well as many other European cultures. But before Europeans settled in Australia, the main sources of food were found and harvested straight from the land. These were known
Throughout history to present day, Australian culture has become the product of a distinct blend of established traditions and new influences. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, the country’s original inhabitants, created the foundation for the land’s cultural traditions over 40,000 years ago. In addition, the rest of Australia’s people are migrants or descendants of migrants from various other countries who transported their own customs, beliefs, and value systems to the land. As a result, Australia’s culture has significantly broadened its social and cultural profile over the years, and still continues to evolve today.
The Australian Indigenous community hold extremely significant corrections to the land of Australia, of which they refer to as ‘Country.’ Indigenous people acquire deep meaning from the land, sea and the countless resources derived from them. This special relationship has formed for many centuries. To them ‘Country’ is paramount for overall wellbeing; the strong, significant, spiritual bonds embody their entire existence. Knowledge is continually passed down to create an unbroken connection of past,
Historically, Aboriginal people eat traditional foods found on their land, such as fish and plants. Since being displaced, a significant amount of traditional food consumed is contaminated due to “anthropogenic activities, [and] environmental activities (e.g. mercury and PCBs)” (Richmond and Ross 404). In addition, consumption of traditional
Aboriginals or indigenous Australians are the native people of Australia. Aboriginals were nomadic people who came to Australia about 40,000 – 60,000 years ago from Southeast Asia. Religion is a great part of Aboriginal culture. The essay answers these questions: What do Aboriginals belief? What is a Kinship system? What is Dreaming and Dreamtime? What rituals does Aboriginals have?
Topic: Indigenous bush tucker food groups and the Australian five food groups that promote health, safety and wellbeing.
What factors influence the types of food you purchase and consume? I am egyptian so i carbs, eat foreign foods that are very unique such as ground beef and rice mixed together contained in a wrapped green leaf.
The Arab nation states all share parallel cultures thus when considering Arab hospitality, we can say that the ‘communities of the Middle East share a common set of cultural idioms’ (Zubaida, 2000). Nevertheless, each Arab state is still different from one another, thus Arabs from each state have their own identity and cultural practices to follow. The Arab World has always been a huge part of the food environment, even before nationalism subsisted. In the Arab world, food can be used to tell the history of the Arabs, thus shows how significant its role is in the Middle East. In this essay I will explore the ways in which Middle Eastern culinary culture has evolved over centuries and the factors revolving around Arab food culture.
Country is the bloodline for Aboriginal people, it's what connects us to each other and the land. Aboriginal people are the oldest continuing culture to date however since colonisation 60,000 plus years of history and knowledge has been lost due to the attempted assimilation of Aboriginal people. Only in recent years have anthologists, archaeologists and academics been able to piece together piece by piece of the lost history. Pre to colonisation Aboriginal people have been coined as ‘hunters-gatherers’ yet recent research has proven that Aboriginal people were in fact the world’s first famers (Gerritsen 36). They had extensive knowledge about flora and fauna and the land (Reynolds 45). Although, Aboriginal farming and land management is significantly different to modern day farming, the techniques they used were advanced opposed to other cultures at the time. The techniques used were sustainable in both agriculture and aquaculture and led to a successful economy. The reason why this was omitted from history was because under British law colonisers were only permitted to ‘morally and legally’ occupy the land (Pascoe). Many settlers have recorded in their journals the farming by Aboriginal people (Reynolds 117). In the past ten years there has been archaeological evidence found to suggest that Aboriginal people were also the first bread makers. The research is led by Bruce Pascoe who whilst doing research for his own knowledge he accidently came across evidence that some