My Favorite Dish

Every culture has some different patterns of behavior and characters of observing and understanding symbols, which heave upon the actions of its people. As a notable scholar Robert J. House remarks, “When cultures come in contact, they may converge in some aspects, but their idiosyncrasies will likely amplify” (as cited in Bhagat & Steers, 2009). The occasion of Thanksgiving has religious, historical and cultural origins, and is celebrated in many parts of the world in the same spirit of celebration. A hearty, large meal is prepared and close friends or relatives are invited to share the celebrations with. The general mood and behaviors during Thanksgiving Day is similar to the celebratory occasions in other cultures, as they may all be celebrated with family and friends by sharing meals and celebrations. However, the food items selected for Thanksgiving meals, such as baked or roasted Turkey, mashed potatoes with gravy, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie and other fall vegetables are different in their nature. Also, a prayer of appreciation is said before the meal, thanking God for the bounties and blessings of the previous year, which

One such tradition is not socializing with neighbors but only talking to her sisters or other family members. Both of my great-grandparents came from a large family and so the Sunday was always considered family day. It was nothing to see a yard off of kids playing or see the men playing a game of horseshoes as the women would set out the dinner. However, it was the winter time that holds the most memories for my mother. It was then that the families would all gather at the family pond and go ice skating and the men would build a big fire and everyone would stand around and drink hot chocolate. One such tradition in the winter time was right after the first snow fall of the season. We would take a big mixing bowl and go out and fill that bowl as full as we could. Then she would go in and make a big bowl of snow ice cream (Food in Every County). One bright sunny day, our family was going to Lake Pomme De Terre for a family picnic. Like Shteyngart, I was all set for some grilled hamburgers or hot dogs or even some fried chicken. However, that was not meant to be. Like Shteyngart, is aw food being set out that was I saw food that was familiar to my great-grandmother’s culture. Instead of grilling hamburgers, she set out chicken and noodles, mashed potatoes, green beans and for dessert a shoofly pie, sugar cookies, and schnitz pie, which is made with dried apples (Food in Every County). My mother laughed when she saw my face because later my

When visiting different countries, it is easy to see the differences between the cultures of each place. When visiting Greece, something that stood out to me was the food and the process that it took to get it. Greeks ate at different times than Americans and finding a place to eat was a completely different process than in America. The service, food, and payment at Greek restaurants also had contrasting styles than what I was used to in the United States. Greeks and Americans both contain people who share a love for food, but the process of getting food in each country is slightly different from each other depending on the time, place, and service.

Some say food is an exploration of culture, and taste evokes lush memories of the past. “ In An Island Passover” by Ethel G. Hofman, she described her life in the Shetland Islands. Every year, Hofman’s family celebrates Passover- a traditional Jewish holiday where time and effort to prepare a meal is like painting, and it takes months to reveal a masterpiece. While Hofman had a positive recollection of her family’s traditional cuisine, author of “Fish Cheeks”, Amy Tan did not share the same experience. Tan felt ashamed of sharing her traditional cuisine with a pastor's son whom she was in love with. Tan strived for her crush’s approval because she did not want to be deemed strange. Hofman and Tan had striking differences in

This past Christmas Eve, my Polish grandmother joined us to make our traditional Polish dinner, and she insisted that we make pierogies, a Polish dumpling, from scratch. The process was long and messy, but worth it. During the nine hour cooking period I began to think that I have always loved Polish food, but I don’t know much about it. This experience points out my limited knowledge of my own culture. With better understanding of Polish traditions and culture, I can be more helpful next time Christmas rolls around. To prepare Polish dishes, an individual needs to learn about food customs and cultures, know about the cuisine's history, and know how to prepare the meal. These are all necessary so that I can become a better cook and share my

Growing up in a big Italian family, food has always played a large role throughout my entire life. Whether it was helping my mom and grandma make meatballs for Sunday dinners, having the traditional seven fishes on Christmas Eve or making trips to Little Italy, food has always been the common ground to bring my family together.

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 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

First and foremost, there are many different types of food around the world that were discovered and founded by many distinct cultures. The food I eat, some may eat differently. For instance, not many people know what redneck soup is. When they see it, they may think that what’s in it is weird.But to me it’s a red soup with vegetables and meat that we cook all the time. One of the other biggest foods I like to eat in our family is my great grandmother’s famous chilli. You can’t buy it in stores, and if you don’t wing it just right, it’s not the same. There are so many recipes that have been passed down in my family, both meals and desserts, and everyone loves the famous chocolate pie. This recipe has been passed down for a good while now, and when you taste it,it tastes nothing like store bought chocolate pies. Many people in Louisiana love to eat gumbo, and they cook it in many different ways. In my family, not everyone cooks their gumbo the same, but my personal favorite is my dad’s. He usually never measures any of the ingredients exactly, he just

Someone culture can identify who they are as a person. not everyone have the same culture it all depends on the Family. My culture is mixed with both, Mexican and African-American. The way my family and I do things can be extremely different compared to others. For the fact that my culture is mixed with Mexican and African-American, we do things unusual compared to other families. My family eat lots of tacos and fried chicken most of the time. It all depends on who is cooking, weather is my mom or my step dad. My mother is African-American and my step-dad is  Mexican American . Whenever my mom do cook we mostly eat soul food, while my step dad mostly cook Mexican food or BBQ. My family biggest tradition will be Thanksgiving because, we

Food is a part of my culture because my family, for the most part, is pretty healthy and we like traditional foods also. We have lutefisk for dinner on special holidays like Christmas I think it is terrible, but my family likes it. My grandpa always makes sausages for any Holiday and everyone knows he is going to bring them because he makes the best in the world I think. When I grow up I want to be a chef and most the time I make food for dinner. For Christmas last year my parents

When my mother was six years old, her parents gifted her with a bright green xylophone that she played every single day until the age of sixteen. Little did she know, that she had kept that xylophone for her entire life and regained her love for music at the age of 33 when she rediscovered it. She then decided to learn how to be the Santoor, which is a popular Persian instrument. To this day, my mom still cooks all the same foods that she cooked in Iran and ate when she was my age. Although she came to a completely different country, she had not lost her sense of worth and culture. She makes delicious foods such as Ghorme Sabzi, which is my favourite. It consists of beef, rice, vegetables and dried

A Lot of people may love shopping or going on long walks on the beach or even go on amazing adventures, but one of the most enjoyable things I love to do with my family is eating. I could eat for days or even months. Every holiday I never miss my mother’s homemade tamales, especially Thanksgiving. Just when I take a bite, the tamale breaks apart in my mouth. When my mother makes home made burritos,the rice and the beans just taste super delicious and the cheese melts right in my mouth. Sometimes my mother would make some menudo with lots of love in it. I would put some lemon juice to make it sour and onions to give it that flavor.

To relate the topic of nostalgia with food to my life, I recall a cherished memory I have about making enchiladas with my grandma when I was nine. My mom’s father is hispanic, but her mother is not, so she learned how to make hispanic food just for him. I have always admired this, because she learned how to do this just to make my grandpa happy. She made us many hispanic dishes, but my favorite is still her enchiladas. I still remember the smell of the chicken and beef that my grandma had prepared

While looking upon my personal culture and my family’s culture in an attempt to find appropriate dishes for this assignment, it became apparent to me that I have no definite culture. Whereas I have lived in Canada my whole life, my family’s background has engaged me in varying cultures, though I have never felt truly attuned to one culture. On the other hand, my father is a first generation Canadian, his parents both from Scotland. Though aware of my Scottish origins and my grandparents’ migration to Canada, Scottish culture has never been explicitly celebrated amongst those in my family. Furthermore, my family previously migrated from Ireland during the Irish famine, resulting in Irish culture to also represented in my family’s culture. Variously, my mother’s side of the family has lived in Canada for many generations, but I do not consider myself as being authentically Canadian. Accordingly, throughout my childhood, I was never encouraged to celebrate an explicit culture. Furthermore, religion was never prominent in my life either, as my parents decided against baptizing any of my siblings and me, as per the family tradition, because they wished for us to have religious freedom. However, because of the rest of my family’s religion, as well as my background, my family has always celebrated Christian holidays, though I have never been to church for a reason other than a wedding. I find that without any cultural ties from my family’s history and practices, that the culture I