The Importance Of Native American Culture, And African Food Culture

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

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.

Renata, I totally agree with you that the Native American diet is healthier than the African diet, and due to the variety of foods that they have, there will be more options for them to choose unlike the African diet. I do understand why you picked the Native American diet and I would choose as same as your choice, but don’t you think that nowadays our food became very similar. In other words, globalization made the same food available in different parts of the world. For example, if you visit downtown New Have you will see bunch of Chinese, Thai, Middle Eastern, Italian, and Brazilin restaurants. Most these cuisines will have the same taste as if you eating the Sushi in China or eating the Italian Lasagna in Italy.

In the new world, Europeans encountered indigenous plant foods cultivated by Native Americas. These plants were potatoes, beans, corn, tobacco, and cocoa. The potato is especially important because it’s known for one of the main foods for Ireland. The European’s influenced oats and barley etc. Domesticated animals as pigs, chickens, sheep, and ox were also brought to the Americas. Horses were also brought to the new world which was a new tool for hunting and used for military.

Music is a creative art form that allows the artist to construct something that expresses a purpose. It evolves over time and changes as the world changes, taking on many different motivations behind the melody and lyrics. In today’s society, anger, oppression, racism, and negative opinions rule the media and popular culture. I believe that African Americans need to show their self worth and not let white people hold them back. With the music in white culture often mocking African American culture and portraying negative stereotypes, African Americans have to find ways to gain respect. In acknowledgement of the negative portrayal of their culture, African Americans respond by creating songs and videos that express their pride in their culture and heritage, react to white oppression, and communicate their independence.

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.

Food became comfort during slavery and because they could control cooking, it was one of their few real pleasures and a way to feel free. The history of “soul food” is seen in the traditions that were passed down from generation to generation.

A group called the benin artists created a masterpiece that symbolizes royal authority and power. It’s a sculpture of 2 leopards designed as water vessels, used for when the oba washes his hands before ceremonies.

Paula J. Johnson, a curator at the National Museum of American History, says that foods such as wasabi, Sriracha, and hummus would have been considered “foreign foods” 50 years ago, but today they are common, everyday staples for many people across America. Ramanathan briefly states before this that the only constant in American foods is global influence and then goes on to say that it’s not uncommon in modern times for people to eat, for example, Thai food for lunch and then Italian for dinner. She writes that America has people from all backgrounds, cultures, and countries and their influences are present everywhere, especially the food. In America today, there are so many influences on our foods that using the term ethnic to describe them makes it sound foreign when the food is something people eat every

America have a variety of food with no staple food to eat with every meal, unlike in Vietnam where the food is more exotic, but very easily to get sick of. Both countries daily meals consist of cooked goods, vegetables, and a variety of foods. Daily routine for eating is the same for both countries consisting of breakfast, lunch and dinner. But where there are similarities, there are differences such as the food cultures. Both the countries have difference regions, so of course each region vary on what they eat, and what they have access to. In America, the southern region’s foods are different than the cooked foods in other regions. In the same way, the foods that the southern region

My earliest memory of food is lentils and rice cooked in a pressure cooker. Lentils were cooked at least three days a week. Other days we had different vegetable curries, curd and more rice. This was what I took to school as my lunch every day. As I grew older and started caring more about my social life and people around me, I started noticing what my classmates brought for lunch from their homes. I started understanding how food reflected different cultures and communities. One day, in our

People were always growing fresh vegetables on their farms. The earlier settlers could only bring small livestock like chickens. However, the Native Americans taught the colonists how to hunt for food like birds and deer. With this knowledge, the colonists could make meals containing meat, and not have to rely on their livestock. People did, however, bring cows, sheep, and goats to the New World. They usually were not eaten, and were just used for their milk. Sheep, however, were used for their wool mostly, and were only eaten in an emergency. Later on, colonists began to catch fish (INTEXTHINDSKATHRYN). Seafood was also very popular in colonial times after the colonists learned to catch fish. Except during Winter, colonists could obtain berries and ate them as a snack. Later on, Spain and the West Indies imported sugar, fruits, vegetables, and other goods, which started to turn food into a source of enjoyment. After a long journey of importation, people would use vinegar or salt to preserve the food so that it wouldn’t go bad. Getting and preserving food might have seemed hard normally, but it was a whole different story when it came to

“My people are few. They resemble the scattering trees of a storm-swept plain...There was a time when our people covered the land as the waves of a wind-ruffled sea cover its shell-paved floor, but that time long since passed away with the greatness of tribes that are now but a mournful memory.,” Chief Seattle Speech of 1854. The culture of the Native American people has been deteriorating ever since the Europeans arrived in the Americas. The impactful and immense loss of lifestyle that they faced is one that can never be recovered, what the United States has given them are generations of trauma and blatant suffering. However, the U.S. did not stop there, a multitude of cultures have been broken to help keep America pure. For instance, one of the most significant cultures that have been dismantled by the U.S. other than the Natives and their music were the languages and music of the African slaves. The apparent likeness of these two cultures in the ways in which their deconstruction impacted them is in more of an abundance, such as the dominating influence of the Christian religion and the gravely vital role of maintaining what little heritage they could through language. In contrast to this, the two groups had an opposing difference pertaining to how the Natives and slaves tried to compensate the immense loss of their culture through the generations.

There are many variety of soul foods that are eaten by all cultures throughout the world. However, soul food is mainly eaten by African American as a traditional ritual passed down from their slave roots. Soul food has a long lineage, that African American contribution didn’t start in the 60’s, but deeply root’s in its beginning. Soul food was born from the economics of survival for the slaves. Soul food is comforting.

The forest not only hides man's enemies but it’s full of man's medicine, healing power and food. ~African Proverb.