Thomas Fisher Book Collection Case Study

This is the term used to discuss the role of Canadian women in volunteer labour and consumer practices centering around, unsurprisingly, food. This chapter is probably the closest to what one would imagine a book entitled “food will win the war” would contain but Mosby heavily incorporates social and gender history in order to present the new situation of women during the course of the war. Similarly Chapter Four also expresses the experiences of women but does so through different mediums. Heavily incorporating primary sources Mosby examines recipes (the majority of which written by women) published in newspapers and cookbooks in the time period. The blending of cultural and economic boundaries is used by to reiterate the idea of a national unity and equality that simply did not transfer into the post-war

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.

Dorothy Allison, well-known author and essayist, begins her essay by discussing how she remembers her mother’s gravy and the process of making it, including the pounding of the meat in order to flatten it out. She adds pathos by saying gravy is the “most memory-laden dish” she has learned how to cook and the comfort it brings. Instead of calling it country-fried steak as others normally do, Allison’s mother calls the savory dish cube steak, a more underprivileged name. Allison says, “It was not until I was grown that I understood

So began a thrice-daily ritual on the raft, with pumpkin pie and spaghetti being the favorite subjects. The men came to know louise’s recipes so well that if louie skipped a step or forgot an ingredient, Phil, and sometimes Mac, would quickly correct him and make him start over.” Instead of just saying “they were starving” Hillenbrand instead talks about how they fantasized about Louie’s Mother's cooking. She uses detail of the cooking to develop how hungry they are and to show the lack of food they have. I know when I'm hungry I often think about my mother's mash potatoes and ham, and how she puts everything together and cooks.

Kraft Dinner is something of a famous Canadian tradition. Most Canadian kids practically grew up on the stuff, and it remains popular even today, despite its unhealthiness. It is cheap to purchase, quick and easy to prepare, and is a fulfilling meal by itself. It has deep roots in Canada’s food production industry, and is an integral component of the national economy. Because of these reasons, I believe that Kraft Dinner is particularly symbolic of Canadian dietary choices.

“When you got to the table you couldn 't go right to eating, but you had to wait for the widow to tuck down her head and grumble a little over the victuals, though there warn 't really anything the matter with them, -- that is, nothing only everything was cooked by itself. In a barrel of odds and ends it is different; things get mixed up, and the juice kind of swaps around, and the things go better.” (Twain, 1)

Families are different today than they were fifty years ago. Not just regarding the social changes with gay couples, divorced couples, and single parents, but other changes around us have caused the family to evolve. The invention of the television, the internet, and even freezers and microwaves have changed how the family functions. Compounding changes in the world around us, the treatment of women as equals has also adjusted the dynamic in households. In the novel Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, by Barbara Kingsolver, the author pins the changing of our family culture, with regards specifically to mealtime, on the women’s liberation movement from the sixties. (126) Family mealtime has changed over the years, but there are multiple reasons for its perceived demise. The women’s liberation movement gave women the chance to leave the kitchen and enter the workforce, but changes to the family meal began before women started taking up careers alongside men. Food processing, personal electronics, and the way our society raises children, have all changed how we eat together.

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

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

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.

Moreover, Ferris talks about how throughout the history of the south, the politics of power and place, have lead to the establishment of a cuisine that includes both privilege and deprivation. Thus, continuously impacting the food patterns of the modern day south. Ferris states, “In food lies the harsh dynamics of racism, sexism, class struggle, and ecological exploitation that have long defined the south; yet there, too, resides family, a strong connection to place, conviviality, creativity, and flavor” (Edible South, 1) . This is exemplified all throughout the text by many accounts of antebellum cuisine influenced by that of African and Native Americans.

Have you ever tried to experiment with different types of food? Of course you have, everyone has at least once in their life. Even if it was changing something small like adding a different spice or to something big like adding your own twist to it. Sometimes people will like what you did, and there are other times where it doesn’t work and then you know what not to do. This is the trial and error part in cooking and this is the most tedious part of the process. Now of course people are going to have different opinions and criticism it a key part of learning how to cook or to improve upon your cooking. Even though food varies in more ways than just taste and since it is enjoyed by everyone

No outside culture ever made it past the natural barrier of the Appalachian Mountains which inversely kept the strong sense of tradition enclosed within Smith’s hometown. This meant their community’s distinctive speech patterns, development of rich folk culture and “radical individualism” (is a citation required?) were preserved for generations. Smith wrote the memoir Dimestore in 2016 with the purpose of vividly sharing with her readers the love and admiration she feels for her childhood. One aspect of her Appalachian upbringing that was emphasized throughout Dimestore was her community’s passion for food. The chapter Recipe Box highlights her treasured food related memories. Recipes to Smith aren’t simple instructions on how to prepare food; recipes are a road map of her entire life. As written by Lee Smith, “these recipes tell us everything about us: where we live, what we value, how we spend her time.” This road map is neatly preserved in the recipe box once belonging to her mother. Smith illustrates it as green-gold in color decorated with the domestic decals of the fifties. Her recipe box never changed, nor did her mother’s

This paper will discuss the multifaceted relationships among food, and culture. I will be looking at the relationships people have with food, and explore how this relationship reveals information about them. Their food choices of individuals and groups, can reveal their ideals, likes and dislikes. Food choices tell the stories of where people have travelled and who they have met along the way.