Mintz Fantasia And Bint Analysis

This paper looks to define and explore three books which are a crux to various food histories which in the last decade has become a scholarly journey as food history is becoming increasingly studied as a scholarly endeavor by historians where previously it was not seen in such a scholarly light. The three texts which are going to be examined are: Planet Taco: A Global History of Mexican Food by Jeffery M. Pilcher, The Invention of the Restaurant: Paris and Modern Gastronomic Culture by Rebecca L. Spang, and lastly To Live and Dine in Dixie: The Evolution of Urban Food Culture in the Jim Crow South by Angela Jill Cooley. Each of these books seek to redefine how people see their perspective topics whether it be Mexican identity rooted in cuisine, the evolution of southern food in a racially divided south, or even the concept of the restaurant emerging from a revolutionary culture. These texts bring awareness to various topics which have both social, cultural, and economic stigmas associated with them.

With the two of the world’s largest fast food behemoths vying for a bigger market share of the new gastro phenomenon that are black burgers – burgers with black buns, black cheese and black sauce – one can only begin to fathom the extent to which fast food have on our lives. Fast food did not gain popularity until the 50’s, with the advent of Macdonald’s and, to borrow George Ritzer’s term, the ‘Macdonalization’ of things. Copycats quick to jump on the lucrative, but more importantly, efficient way of producing foods on the cheap soon started creating their own brands, and the world has forever changed since then. Things, however, are not as simple as it seems. There are many underlying causes to the boom of fast food culture, particularly

In the globalized world in which we live today, food is seemingly available from all corners of the world at one's request. One can therefore experience everything from Spanish to Russian to Ethiopian cuisines in a matter of hours, especially in metropolitan cities such as New York, Paris, or Sao Paolo. Yet there are some cuisines that have reigned supreme in the world of dining, and that take the prize for being the most complex, sought after, delicious cuisines ever experienced. French cuisine, one would hope, would be at the forefront of such fantastic experiences. With its delicacies, from escargots to foie gras, French cuisine has impacted many thousands of taste buds across the globe for many centuries. This paper will thus discuss the influence that French food has had upon the food service industry in the United States, in a quick attempt to understand and examine just how sought after French cuisine still is.

Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser, is a stark and unrelenting look into the fast food industry that has ingrained itself in not only American culture, but in culture around the world. There is almost no place on earth that the golden arches has not entered. Aside from Antarctica, there is a McDonalds on every continent, and the number of countries that have fast food restaurants is growing on a daily basis. Schlosser describes in detail what happens behind the scenes, before the hamburger and fries come wrapped in environmentally safe paper and are consumed by millions of people daily

The story of the fast food industry and its effect on the world is well told in the book Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. Schlosser makes the claim that, what started out as a special treat for the kids eventually ended up defining a way of life. During a brief period of time, the fast food industry has helped transform not only the American diet, but also our countryside, economy, workforce, and popular culture. The book thoroughly describes how important the two factors of money and power are in today's society. The book clearly establishes the broader thesis that as consumers, we should know what we eat even if it makes us uncomfortable by the knowledge.

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

A sweet substance that people take for granted today has an extensive past that most do not know about. Sugar has shaped our world throughout the generations of human society. From its courteous beginning, to the royal inauguration, sugar has always been known as a household favorite. Due to its appealing taste and rich flavor, an obsessive amount of the natural grain was made into large quantities to satisfy the cravings of many people. The history of sugar did not only have an illustrious past, but definitely had its share of disappointments.

Quick Service Restaurants have been serving swift and tasty meals since the 1930’s. The industry focuses on a high speed product with a low cost for the satisfying convenience of the valued customer. Behind every commercial, smiling employees serve their customers as they cheerfully claim to adore their job, famous logos line highways that serve as a friendly reminder of the familiar, and “now-hiring” signs deck the interior of hundreds of restaurants that beckon it’s beholders to become part of the great family that is the fast food industry. In fact, to the common eye, the industry seems optimistic, a venue of opportunity – at least for the meanwhile – and an environment of simplistic means. Hardly ever do you hear about the costs of

Imagine traveling to a foreign country, where the culture and cuisine is very different from your own. How would you begin to explore the nation’s traditions and customs? Maybe you would start by visiting the most famous restaurants, museums, and buildings. By studying these places and things, you would begin to understand more about the history and what it was like living there during that time period. Not many people think about how our country’s cuisine began. The different mealtimes and food trends, through the years, helped shape our nation to what it is today. Other countries influenced and help create our ideas for our cuisine. During the Industrial Revolution, American mealtime and different food trends were positively affected.

Eric Schlosser's book Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal explores the effects of the spread of multinational fast food corporations into other countries, and the resulting loss of national culture. In his chapter   “Global Realization” Eric Schlosser claims that “The global expansion of American fast food is homogenizing cultural identities; like Las Vegas, it offers “a brief sense of hope… that most brilliant illusion of all, a loss that feels like winning” (Schlosser). Schlosser intentionally chooses the order and content of the information and examples he provides in order to promote his main claim. He uses both subtle and direct strategies to persuade his reader. In order to critically evaluate the validity of

Parsons asserts that foodways are situated within broader social contexts from which their particular classed, gendered, and cultured meanings are imparted (s.5). These particularised meanings become signifiers of taste and cultural capital, the value of which Bourdieu describes as representing the ‘expenditure of time’ necessary to facilitate their practice (cited in Parson, 2014, p.59). Taste acts as a signifier within social groups – ‘especially classes’ – of an individual’s relative position within an implicitly understood cultural hierarchy (Bourdieu, 1984). A refined taste is determined by an individual showing preference for commodities understood as belonging to a higher cultural set whose enjoyment is dependent upon either a process of scholastic learning or a process of domestic initiation (ibid; p.2) Thus, the cultural value of certain foodways are a function of the ‘the possession of economic capital’ required to carry them out (ibid). ‘This predisposes tastes to function as markers of class’ (ibid;

On November 2nd, 2015 Michael Specter from The New Yorker published the piece “Freedom From Fries- Can Fast Food Be Good For You?” This piece is an informative yet entertaining article that frames Specter’s knowledgeable background and research of the food industry. Today, we live in world of food –crazy millennia’s, constantly blogging, Tweeting, Instagraming and critiquing any food they can get their hands on. Part of the next generation of food is that we want what we eat to be healthy yet taste and prices matter too. Spector investigates the food world we live in today and how our generation is fuelled by concerns about their health. He also is concerned with researching the state of the food industry in regards to food and environment. Part of this means that we also are interested in how our food is processed and made, showing a general increase in American distaste for industrially produced and highly processed food. Today, new chains are breaking onto the scene to step away from fast food chains like McDonalds and to create a distinct difference between classic fast food and healthy fast food.

The start, and subsequent meteoric rise of the fast food industry in the United States has begun a revolution that sociologists have dubbed “McDonaldization.” In his book The McDonaldization of Society, George Ritzer defines McDonaldization as “the process by which the principles of the fast-food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as the rest of the world” (Ritzer, 1). Fast food is founded on the desires to maximize production and profit margins by taking the assembly line mentality and applying it to the kitchen.

This essay explores the topic of Conspicuous Consumption in a historical culinary context, as well as its evidence in modern day.

Fast food restaurant has expanded more than ever before. According to MPR News, fast food restaurant sales make up over 50 percent of restaurant sales in France. France is known to be the second-largest fast food consumer after the United States (Amy Guttman, 2013). Burger King has reentered the French market after closing down 39 stores 16 years ago (Amy Guttman, 2013). Not only has the number of fast food locations have increased but the numbers of French cafes have dropped sufficiently by nearly 84 percent since the World War II (Amy Guttman, 2013). Fast food restaurant has also grown due to the lunch hour time collapsing from 80 minutes to about 22 minutes, making them much more convenient than traditional restaurants (Amy Guttman, 2013).