Struggle Between Anglo-Australian Youth: Fieldwork And Analysis

It is a known fact that every human being communicates through language, but perhaps a little known fact that we communicate even through the food we eat. We communicate through food all the meanings that we assign and attribute to our culture, and consequently to our identity as well. Food is not only nourishment for our bodies, but a symbol of where we come from. In order to understand the basic function of food as a necessity not only for our survival, we must look to politics, power, identity, and culture.

Thinking about the importance and significance of food respective to our health, ethnic culture and society can cause cavernous, profound, and even questionable thoughts such as: “Is food taken for granted?”, “Is specialty foods just a fad or a change in lifestyle?”, and even “Is food becoming the enemy.” Mark Bittman, an established food journalist, wrote an article called “Why take food seriously?” In this article, Bittman enlightens the reader with a brief history lesson of America’s appreciation of food over the past decades. This history lesson leads to where the social standing of food is today and how it is affecting not only the people of America, but also the rest of the world.

The text I have chosen to analyse in this written review is called ‘I Was Only Nineteen’, but also goes by the names ‘Only Nineteen’ and ‘A Walk in the Light Green’. It was composed by John Schumann, the lead singer/songwriter of the folk group Redgum.

Food is important to human beings not only for sustenance but also as a means of communication. Food as communication is portrayed and interpreted in different ways in different cultures. In many Asian cultures in particular, food becomes the substitute to express a generally unspoken affection: love. In the cultural background of unexpressed love where food becomes the channel of the message, food in turn becomes a sensitive topic and therefore can serve as a catalyst for arguments in relationships between people of that culture. In a case study observing a couple of Korean cultural background – Peter and Elli – I attempt to uncover the metamessages underlying their arguments involving food.

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.

The essay “Eat Food: Food Defined,” from Michael Pollan’s 2008 book In Defense of Food was written to address the American general public about the food industry. Pollan focuses on relatable topics as examples, such as family, common food items, and common belief that everyone wants to be healthy. The essay brings across Pollan’s point by establishing his credibility, explaining why this is important to us, and telling us how to react to the given facts. Pollan makes the readers inquire how we define food by drawing our attention to the importance of examining our food before eating it.

In a recent article authored by Alice Pung, a first generation Australian of Southeast Asian parents, titled ‘Living with Racism in Australia (Pung 2016), Alice details key points within her (and her families) life revolving around their migration from Cambodia to Australia. Within this she touches on, albeit briefly however still illustrating her point quite clearly, immigration, race/racism, assimilation, ethnic minorities, ethnic conflict and social cohesion.

Have you ever thought, you 're doing a great job slowly killing yourself and the Earth while walking through the supermarket pushing a shopping cart filled with an assortment of western dietary staples? Probably not, right? If you 've recently watched the Netflix documentary Cooked, released in early February 2016, this self-analysis may be a part of your shopping trips for the foreseeable future. Cooked was produced by Alex Gibney, and narrated by the man whose book, by the same name, inspired the series itself, Michael Pollan. Michael Pollan is a professor of journalism at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, and food activist with many accolades, including several New York Time best-selling books. Cooked is filled to the brim

Food, has a specific meaning to all of us; for some it is a form of nourishment, for others it is a cultural act,

Australia has always been centered around diversity and change, specifically with the vast multiculturalism and migrant culture throughout the nation. The specifics of Identity hold an important role in shaping our identity as students and as a nation. Australians pride themselves on being a land of the free and full of diverse culture. This is specifically referred to in our national Anthem; “For those who've come across the seas, We've boundless plains to share; With courage let us all combine,”(McCormick, 1984). Displaying Australia’s open attitude towards immigrants and contributes to the diversity present within our society today. Even before this, much of Australia’s Identity was associated with caucasian culture (Originating from British Settlers). Which is the dominant perception of Australia through the media with australian representation being present through the stereotypes of Bogans, which was made popular through shows like Kath and Kim (ABC, 2007). Also, represented through the popular depiction of Australian people - the bushman made popular by movies like Crocodile Dundee (Faiman, 1986) and through famous real life bushman; Steve Irwin. An important aspect of Australian identity which is consistently neglected is the culture and representation of the initial owners of the land; the aboriginal people. Throughout history the constant mistreatment and neglect of the indigenous, has lead to a massive gap in privilege between the aboriginal people and our

In the documentary, Food Inc., we get an inside look at the secrets and horrors of the food industry. The director, Robert Kenner, argues that most Americans have no idea where their food comes from or what happens to it before they put it in their bodies. To him, this is a major issue and a great danger to society as a whole. One of the conclusions of this documentary is that we should not blindly trust the food companies, and we should ultimately be more concerned with what we are eating and feeding to our children. Through his investigations, he hopes to lift the veil from the hidden world of food.

Throughout the audio journals and interviews, food came up frequently in a variety of ways. The first way the article discusses it is the “symbolic nature of food” (101) which discusses how food can be used to create a sense of structure in children. It mentions how some kids going through the foster system did not always have consistent access to food. Not knowing where their next meal would come from created a conflict within the family. The article describes cases where kids

My determination to be part of Food for Peace is because I hope to acquire more knowledge about food insecurity through the field and I aim to use my experience that I have gathered such as my project management, research, managing skills to support FFP programs on reducing food insecurity. We are all aware that in some scenarios, there’s plenty of food for everyone, but the problem at times is that food and other resources alone are not equally distributed which results to insecurity in many levels. My goal is to help close the food insecurity gap.

I’d marked his words as a joke at the time, but in looking back, he’d only spoken the truth. The people here in Sudan went without a good meal on a regular basis, and not because they wanted to, either. It reminded me of the days on the island, of the days of living off of raw pig flesh and sour fruits. The meat had been a privilege then, but in hindsight it would seem more a curse. It made the days without that much more unbearable, until we found our lives revolved around the continuing cycle of hunting and feasting, with little time in between for minor civilities, like shelter or rules or the fire for rescue. As we spend the last of our days here in Sudan, I see over again the same unfortunate events that occurred those fateful months.

Delormier, Frohlich, & Potvin, (2009) used Giddens’ theory of structuration, specifically the concepts of social practice, the duality of the social structure, and agency to develop a conceptual framework in their research on food as a social practice. According to Giddens (1984) social practices are at the root of the constitution of both agent and society (ibid.: 1984:xxii); and social structures constitute ‘rules and resources’ which actors draw upon during practice, creating both enabling and constraining conditions of practice (ibid.: 1984: xxii, 25). It is from this perspective that Delormier, Frohlich and Potvin (2009) highlight that individual action is not determined by the social structure, but rather enacted and concretised by people through the choices they make during social practice, and that through their