As I walk around my neighborhood, I hear the chatter of the nearby people, but something is different. I can’t understand a single word they’re saying! This is my daily life.
Born in New York City with a family that emigrated from Morocco, I grew up (and currently live in) a predominantly Hispanic and African-American neighborhood. Inevitably, I frequently felt that I wasn’t quite connected with either my own culture or the cultures of my school peers, teachers, and community.
I have always felt this detachment due to all of my friends being from backgrounds that do not match mine. While I was able to appreciate New York City’s diverse communities in an intellectual way, I struggled with having no shared cultural bonds.
Entering Brooklyn Tech for high school changed much of that, while also changing little. I
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They both had grown up in Morocco! What did they know about my problem? But soon enough they realized that I needed to experience my culture firsthand in order to develop my own Moroccan identity.
Thus began my frequent journeys during summer breaks to gain a deeper insight into my Moroccan roots. I travelled to a myriad of Moroccan cities, including Casablanca, Rabat, Marrakech, and Tangiers. Aside from the cities, I also visited small towns. My hope was that I would discover something that had tied all of these places together—something truly Moroccan. Cuisine turned out to be one of those discoveries. At home, Moroccan food had been just “food.” But here, I was experiencing Moroccan food as if for the first time.
I never expected Moroccan cuisine to be the item that connected me strongly to my Moroccan identity. Visiting my parents’ homeland gave the food routinely ate at home in New York City a new context. I learned what foods were prepared at what events and how families came together to eat certain dishes. I learned how certain types of cookware were used in different parts of the
Spending much of her childhood in the German Coast of Acadiana, Darleen Jenkins holds on tightly to her family traditions. Moving from Luling to Houma, down to Dularge and back up to Houma again, she has been able to spot differences in the regions’ foods based on both time and place. She reminisces fondly of times when her family came together to share in meals and memories. Speaking with her one couldn’t help but to want to hear more about her childhood and transitions through adulthood.
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.
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.
On Tuesday, February 9, 2016, this writer had Live Tutoring with Rosetta Stone - Fernando. We reviewed Unit 8, lesson 2 which describes places and foods. Fernando challenged each student to go further by naming the places if it was a bridge name it and asking if you visited or any plans of visiting the place. Additionally, we practiced describing the foods and each participant described their preferences of food they preferred.
During the early 1930s, the world was at a turning point from all areas. The Great War had taken the lives of many young men demonstrating how important life was, while the roaring twenties saw men and women waste their lives away from all the parties and social interaction. During this time, many would rise and fall throughout the political world, ultimately leading to the rise of the Great Depression and the ultimate economic downturn to occur within all of history. Many would come to try their best at retraining the United States into its powerful nation. However, only one man would be able to develop a plan that would not only bring the United States out of the upcoming world events and leave a legacy both within the United States and
This paper will compare and contrast the different eating habits and examine the cultural dining of West Africa to East Africa. Africans like most of the world outside of American and London aren’t fanatical on fast food even though it is becoming more popular most people eat at home or at relatives or friends home. Even Africans living outside of Africa love to cook rather than dine out in most cases. This report was based on interviews from Africans who grew up in traditional African homes in Africa. All references have been crossed checked and stories verified on how most African dishes are prepared, and their history. More research was done by the books listed, as well as other references such as internet sites. Most of this data has
Susan Glaspell provided Mrs. Wright her own uniqueness by giving her a maiden name, and having Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters refer to her as Minnie instead of Mrs. See that Glaspell doesn’t give us either of these women’s names, implying that they have lost their personal identities. Originally, the cold outside the farmhouse creates the lonely, reflective mood that overshadows much of the play. All the mean while it leads to a situation that physically and figuratively separates the women from the men. When Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters refuse to join the men and take their traditional post next to the kitchen. Finally, it reflects Minnie Wright's state of mind and the sense of loneliness that triggered her murder. Notably her jars of preserves break from the cold, just as she loses her ability to preserve her emotional health in her hopeless home.
Nearly 80 percent of murder victim in cases resulting in an execution have been white while 50 percent of murder victims are white 82 percent was found to influence the likelihood of being charged with capital murder or receiving the death penalty.Senator RussFeingold stated "we simply cannot say we live in a country that offers equal justice to all Americans when racial disparities plague the system by which our society imposes the ultimate punishment" (senator RussFeingold 108th congress 2003). A 2007 report concluded that one-third of African American death row inmates in Philadelphia would have received sentence of life improsement if they had not been African-American.In 1990, non-partisan US General Accounting found a pattern of evidence Indicating racial Disparities in the charging, sentencing, and imposition of death penalty (Feb 1,2001)."Justice is never advanced in the taking of a human life"(Writer Activist and Civil Rights Leader Coretta Scott King Feb7, 2006).
Understanding different cultures: talk about how cuisines related to culture. What’s the most popular dessert in Europe, and particularly in Italy? Which countries are affected by Europe?
Essentially, every culture has a specific basis, native language, religion and custom that reflects its history, values and beliefs. These conceptual constructs represents the total reality of life within the community of which is commonly known as “Culture”. Culture is not only a race, but is a way of life. In the United States, there are many different races that integrate with the American race and culture. However, these individuals often times may have difficulties adjusting, adapting or maintaining their heritage. How well they acculturate and adapt to the process can have an impact on how well the individual is able to integrate or engage to one or another culture.
Growing up, I was constantly surrounded by people of the same ethnic race and culture. I was raised in the small city of Temple City where a lot of older generation Asian immigrants resided, which resulted in my schools being mostly dominated by the first generation Asian American population. Because of this similarity of race and culture with my peers, it was fairly easy for me to bond with other students as well as feel comfortable within the realms of my schools and neighborhood. I had little trouble learning and participating in classrooms and also was able to be very involved in leadership positions in extracurricular programs at my high school which was a good learning experience for me.
As a result, through the collective medium of ethnic food culture, I have gained a newfound
In sixteen years of life, I have received an opportunity to experience different cultures, learning styles, and languages. To start of, I am an American since I was born here, but the reality is that I was raised in India. My parents’ main motivation for moving back to India was because they wanted us to embrace our traditions, and most importantly, value our family relationships. We relocated back to the US at the start of 9th grade. This transition was a huge factor for transforming me as a person. I am cognizant of the two systems, cherish both, and realize that these multicultural experiences have encouraged me to grow and mature beyond my years. Relocating from a place is not as easy as one can imagine. When compared to the US, India
The first step for me to become a culturally responsive teacher is to learn not to judge others. Working with students from diverse backgrounds requires us to question our reactions to families and students. We need to stop judging different as “abnormal” and embrace what the differences can teach us (Rosenberg, Westling, & McLeskey, 2011). Embracing the differences
The three things that have made the biggest impact on and have influenced my life that shaped me into the person I am today are family background, experiences from my school year, and religious beliefs. Our culture provides a lens through which we view the world and interpret our everyday experiences. In order to know who I am today, I must look at who you’ve been. Many educators around the country are interested in developing a multicultural approach in their teaching. They find themselves in classrooms with 25 children of varying racial and cultural backgrounds, and are looking for ways to connect what they do in the classroom to the cultures represented by their students. Before we can begin to understand others, however, we need to understand ourselves and what we bring to our interactions with others.