The United States of America, a country where anyone can become anything he or she wants to be. It is even given the phrase “Land of opportunity.” This is one of the reasons people from different parts of the world choose to immigrate to the United States. Immigrants do not immigrate alone, but bring their cultures with them. One of the representatives of culture is food, and with the vast amount of immigrants, the vast amount of ethnic restaurants are introduced. Beneficial things happened with the rise of ethnic restaurants, they serve as a doorway to introduce different cultures and they improve the country’s economy. Some people disagree and believe that ethnic restaurants are a problem. That they lead to cultural separation because it …show more content…
When a person enjoys a dish from a different country, this can cause a positive perspective to the culture itself. According to SooCheong Jang and Jooyeon Ha, authors of “The Influence of Cultural Experience: Emotions in Relation to Authenticity at Ethnic Restaurants.” A study conducted to identify customers’ cultural experiences with authenticity of ethnic restaurants. “This study uncovered that a customer’s experiences with a particular culture are a significant factor for eliciting positive emotions regarding authentic aspects of ethnic restaurants” (302). Furthermore, the authors suggest that providing different parts of one’s culture (including their food) will get people more interested in different cultures (302). Ethnic restaurants can become the start point that gets people interested in different cultures. To encourage people into learning more about different cultures, ethnic restaurants can give out flyers about their culture to their customers or add a factoid of a certain dish next to it’s name in the menu. This can increase the chances of a customer getting to the start point of being interested in learning about a different …show more content…
Some ethnic restaurants do not conserve authenticity in their food. For multiple reasons, such as the lack of certain ingredients and the difference of the local’s taste that forces restaurants to change the way they cook their dishes to serve their customers what they want. Therefore, this can give culturally inexperienced people the wrong idea of a certain culture. For example, the fast-food restaurant chain “Taco Bell” that serve Mexican food may give Americans the idea that this is what Mexican people usually eat. Taco Bell would represents the Mexican culture in a different way than what it truly is. This does not only happen in the United States. For example, in the middle-east (where I am from) people believe that McDonalds, KFC and Carls Jr. are American foods and that an American family’s regular dinner would usually be these sorts of foods. This reflects differently on what is true about the culture. Although it is true that altered versions of an ethnic dish may present the culture differently than what it really is, this is not the case for everyone. Even Taco Bell could be the starting point for a person to start exploring authentic dishes of Mexican food. Therefore, it boosts the chances that the person will be motivated to learn about Mexican culture. According to Kwast and Kim, “It seems that Ms. Sibley’s efforts to foster
Attention Getter: I was raised by a Mexican father and Salvadoran mother. They were proud of their Hispanic heritage and they always tried to find ways to incorporate their heritage into our Americanized environment. They did not want us to forget where our ancestors came from. One of the ways that they would incorporate their Hispanic culture was through the foods we would eat. In our house, we never eat macaroni & cheese, meat loaf, or hot dogs. My mom would always say when we would ask
Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001. Print.
American style of food Cuisine as it’s frequently used in the essay is very unique in the eyes of Sequeira. She believes The diverse culture had brought together different styles and techniques of food choices to choose from. These food choices however are very unhealthy but satisfy the Americans to their needs. Throughout the essay the author Shona Sequeiras states the unhealthy food habit that American has created in their society. She states how Americans forms many simple dishes into something very exotic For example; “Request an American cookie, and you can be showered with hundreds of delectable options, including oatmeal raisin, double chocolate chip, macadamia pecan delight, and coconut brownie (Sequeiras
In Lavanya Ramanathan’s Washington Post article published in 2015 titled “Why everyone should stop calling immigrant food ‘ethnic’”, she discusses about people’s preconceptions on the type of food that should be labelled ethnic. Ashlie Stevens also touched on a similar topic in her Guardian article published in 2015 titled “Stop thinking and just eat: when ‘food adventuring’ trivializes culture”. She talks about how people assume that just by eating food from a certain culture, they are able relate to the culture as a whole. Both authors acknowledge the importance of appreciating authentic cuisines, but takes different approaches to convince the audience. Both authors establish credibility by using a wide range of substantiated evidences. While,
Reading Catfish and Mandala reminded me of my cultural closeness through food. Due to being bi-ethnic I learned how to cook food from both my ethnicities, however there were times when I found myself acting like a foreigner towards certain dishes. A prime example was when I had Chitlins or pig intestines. I had eaten menudo, thanks to my Hispanic mother and this was the first time I had Chitlins, an African American dish via my paternal grandmother. Unlike Menudo, which to me has an appetizing smell and taste, Chitlins were a gray stringy putrid smelling dish. Remembering the utter dislike I obtained from that African American dish, reminded me of Pham’s experience with Vietnamese food. While there are some dishes people can’t stand, most usually embrace a dish from their culture and that helps ease some of the pain or discomfort.
In Michael Pollan’s “The End of Cooking” shares the message of what we are losing something important in this day and age because of all our pre-made and processed foods. This can be compared with Kothari’s “If You Are What You Eat, What Am I?” and her argument that food is part of one’s own identity. By using the examples from these two texts you can analyze the state of food and culture in the United States today. All of the processed and pre-made foods are causing people all across America to lose their sense of Culture. We no longer know what it’s like to make one of our cultures specialty dishes from scratch which can help people identify with their culture. This process helped newer generations see what it was like for those before them to cook on a daily basis and could help them identify your sense of culture.
Fast food restaurant chains are a popular and convenient choice for eating on the go in our modern society. There are certainly several positive aspects to fast food establishments, but are the potential health detriments and collective negative effects on society worth it? Or would it be better to support locally owned and operated restaurants? Here I will examine several facts pertaining to these restaurants, as well as explain why I personally believe we should not frequent these establishments, but rather support local restaurants.
The American life has been transformed by the fast food industry not just changing the American diet but also the culture, workplace, economy, and the landscape. “Today about half of the money used to buy food is spent at restaurants-mainly fast food restaurants.” (Schlosser) This could be due to the fact that about two-thirds of working women are mothers. The impact of fast food on the American culture is transparent when just looking at McDonald’s. McDonald’s has become the world’s most famous brand; the golden arches are more known than the Christian cross. “A survey of American schoolchildren found that 96 percent could identify Ronald McDonald.” (Schlosser) McDonald’s is responsible for 90 percent of new jobs in The United States. The landscape has changed due to the fast food ...
Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001. Print.
While on vacation, people see the difference in the cultures. In China, they eat with chopsticks, in Antigua, they eat with their fingers. While on vacation, people will try to pick up the cultures ways of doing things, but in most times, will end up looking silly or downright dumb. Kincaid wrote about this in her book A Small Place, “ ...you have bad manners (it is their their custom to eat their food with their hands; you try eating their way, you look silly; you try eating your way, you look silly)” (Kincaid, 17). While people try their best to understand a lot of the different cultures, it doesn 't always work out for the best. They try and try again, but can come off as ignorant, which they don’t want, but happens
Food is traditionally considered as a simple means of subsistence but has developed to become filled with cultural, psychological, religious, and emotional significance. Consequently, food is currently used as a means of defining shared identities and symbolizes religious and group customs. In the early 17th and 18th centuries, this mere means of subsistence was considered as a class maker but developed to become a symbol of national identity in the 19th centuries. In the United States, food has been influenced by various cultures such as Native American, Latin America, and Asian cultures. Consequently, Americans have constantly Americanized the foods of different cultures to become American foods. The process on how Americans have Americanized different cultures’ foods and reasons for the Americanization is an important topic of discussion.
I believe that in order to preserve the authenticity of regional cuisine the people preparing the foods need to possess knowledge about their culture, an understanding of the ingredients they are using, and the ingredients they select must be from their region and no other. In their ess...
There has been exponential rise in the number of eateries in most of the towns worldwide. This is partly brought about by the ballooning urban population, as well as the emergence of working middle class population who find themselves tied up by work in the cities they reside.
American culture is changing dramatically. In some areas it’s a good thing, but in other areas, like our food culture, it can have negative affects. It is almost as if our eating habits are devolving, from a moral and traditional point of view. The great America, the land of the free and brave. The land of great things and being successful, “living the good life.” These attributes highlight some irony, especially in our food culture. Is the American food culture successful? Does it coincide with “good living”? What about fast and processed foods? These industries are flourishing today, making record sales all over the globe. People keep going back for more, time after time. Why? The answer is interestingly simple. Time, or in other words, efficiency. As people are so caught up in their jobs, schooling, sports, or whatever it may be, the fast/processed food industries are rapidly taking over the American food culture, giving people the choice of hot
Through new experiences, people are impacted by the unique taste of food in Asia. Nevertheless, not many people in the West know the taste of authentic food of, for example, Chinese food. A previous faculty member at NYU’s center for Multicultural Education and Programs, Rachel Kuo, a writer for Everyday Feminism, states: “The relationship between food and culture also means that food can be used as a tool of marginalization” (Kuo). For example, when thinking about Chinese food in the West, Americans often blurt out their main dishes such as fried rice or Lo Mein with General Tso’s chicken. Many assume that these cuisines are the traditional Chinese food. However, this may not be the case in a different country like Korea or even the original country, China. In Korea, Chinese food consists of noodles made with a black bean pasting called Jajang-meon and fried beef topped with sweet, pineapple sauce called tangsuyook. On the other hand, in China “Steamed white rice is the most commonly eaten food… Chinese noodles come dry or fresh and are often served in soups or fried as toppings such as Shou Mian” (Wikipedia). This difference in the authentic Chinese food and Chinese food served in the West provide clear evidence of manipulation for Chinese food in the West. Thus, this modification in food creates a homogenous idea when thinking about food