Peoples food behaviors directly correlate with people’s origins and what they consider “home” to be. This can be proven through the interviews that have been conducted for this ethnographic project. The ethnographic project is optimized to experience what it is like to be an anthropologist. This project will help students learn, view and explain food-related behaviors in our local environments. In this specific part of this project, students will learn the relations of various people to their homes and food choices.
During the interview process, I interviewed three people. Two of the interviewees were female and one was a male. One female was a student, the other was a retired claims representative and the male was a truck driver. I did not interview them immediately after my observation; therefore, I returned to Starbucks, the place of observation, at a later date which was Friday, October 7th at 11:30 AM. I chose to interview my informants during this time because it was convenient for me and it was lunch time. Because it was almost noon, I knew there would be enough people to interview at the
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Also, I discovered that people like to stay in touch with their roots by eating authentic food that they grew up on. Because of the limited amount and the variety of people I interviewed, I was unable to identify numerous trends. Despite this, my educational benefits of these interviews does connect with my observations pretty well. This is because in my observations there were a variety of people at Starbucks partaking in various activities. For example, in my observation, I saw a woman on her laptop and I assumed she was working on homework or work for her career and the student that I interviewed was also working on her laptop. So, I was able to connect various behaviors at this location to categories of people like students and
Taking a deeper look at the meaning behind food through the eyes of traditional societies reveals nothing more than absolute complexity. Sam Gill, in Native American Religions, indisputably shows the complexity through detailed performances and explanations of sacred ceremonies held among numerous traditional societies. Ultimately, Gill explains that these societies handle their food (that gives them life), the source in which the good is obtained, and the way they go about getting their food are done in extreme symbolic manners that reflect their cosmology, religious beliefs, actions, and respect for ancestors/spirits that live among them. All of which are complexly intertwined. These aspects are demonstrated through the hunting traditions of the Alaskan Eskimo and the agricultural traditions of the Creek.
Mr. Custer’s description of the claimant’s job duties was precisely as to what Mr. Brison described during his interview. Mr. Custer additionally reported that the claimant would work from Monday through Friday, where he would work from 6:30 AM to 3:30 PM, during an eight-hour work day shift. During the eight-hour workday, Mr. Custer said the claimant would receive two fifteen-minute breaks, which included a 30-minute lunch break which she was paid for. He did not have the exact amount of money which the claimant earned per hour and referred this information to be provided by the company’s human resources department. He believed that the claimant also received health insurance through the company but does not know whether he requested to be
The most important lesson in this paper is to see how culture came from Africa, and that we are all the same. Learning about different cultures is vital for man kind to survive, many wars are fought because of ignorance. Even in Africa food is important and cherished. With this paper my appreciation of African food has increased, as well as my menu selection. I enjoy African food because there is not much diary in the typical African diet.
I was told from a young age the easiest way to get in touch with your cultural heritage is through food. Many good memories and cultural traditions are passed down via food. Food is a way of connecting people to each other, bringing up good memories from the past. Food has a way of healing old wounds and making people happier. You have a sense of pride knowing you are connected to your culture through the use of food. However there are times when you question your cultural food choices, particularly if you haven’t grown up on certain dishes.
Food plays a very important role in every religion and culture. Good nutrition is a great symbol of healthy food/diet. In order to keep ourselves healthy, it is very important to watch what we are eating. Food habits come from parents, which later on developed according to the environment. Food is one of the ways where humans describe themselves as cultured. Food is the most significant segment of our lives. Different types of food explain verities of the belief that we have in all over the world. Ones’ food discipline and choice, tells about which culture/religion they belong to. Food, Religion,
As I walked past Green Street, I saw a long line of people waiting outside Starbucks. This doesn’t bother me because Starbucks has influenced our lives by becoming a daily visual, but it makes me wondered: what makes people wait so long for Starbucks. So I stopped and looked inside. I found out that people who involved in this activity are mostly students at the University of Illinois. Since this was related to both students’ health and financial problem. I want to find out why are students overspend their money in Starbucks. So I compared the interior design of Starbucks from the past with the present picture, I interviewed two students from the U of I; I conducted two surveys to collect data, and analyzed the letter from the CEO of Starbucks to support my research.
Food history sheds light on the origin of foods, who ate them, why they were eaten, where its ingredients came from, and what impact the food has had on its society of origin― details that are often overlooked in traditional history. Studying the history of food can give insight into a society’s economy, social relations, beliefs, values, and very culture, which traditional history cannot completely do because of its holistic perspective of looking at evidence, as well as the lack thereof. In the study of history, either traditional or food history, the process of writing history is the same, for historians have to take in all the information they gather with a grain of salt and use numerous sources to separate fact from fiction. This can be an arduous task whenever information is limited, therefore the process of writing history can be quite
The third and biggest pattern I found was the food is a powerful cultural symbol. In my interviews, my participant claimed that the food in America wasn’t nearly as good as the food in Egypt, while many of my classmate’s interviewees claimed the same thing. Whether it was in the phllipeans, India, or Egypt, they all stated that food in their homeland was better than food in America. There are many different aspects as to why that may be but what can be concluded is that people don’t let go of there food customs, and that people of all cultures can assimilate over food. In certain societies such as Muslim culture, food is eating with certain rituals, such as Muslims who believe in the painless halal killing of animals.
Food has been playing a part in human cultures since the beginning of time. An example is that certain foods are used in my religion to symbolize the body of Christ. A second example is the use of dates in Islamic culture, as dates are commonly eaten at the Iftar meal to break the fast of Ramadan, recalling the tradition that the prophet Muhammad broke his fast by eating three dates. However, it is not always used in a religious setting. Thanksgiving is a great example. By having your family with you while you eat together is truly special and is most likely a tradition as you will most likely do it again the following year. Foods connect to the theme of bringing people together, sometimes in ways they wouldn’t have thought. By eating the same foods, it allows people to achieve a higher goal together, either by becoming closer to god or becoming closer to family and friends.
Anthony Bourdain states in his interview on Being Wrong, “Food is everything we are. It’s an extension of nationalist feeling, ethnic feeling, your personal history, your province, your region, your tribe, and your grandma. It’s inseparable from those from the get-go.” Food, in general, can bring people together, whether it is for social purposes, to celebrate or for religious reasons. A plate of food can help fuel our bodies with energy, enhance our moods, help us build relationships with others, open and expand our viewpoints on different cultures, and so much more. Overall food has a vast and strong impact in our everyday life, making us feel certain emotions that influence our mental and physical health. The
My cultural background will be a great contribution to the Washington State University Coordinated Dietetics Program. Being raised in a Malasia, having visited different countries, and now living in the United States, I have experienced the similarities and differences among many diverse cultural groups and nutritional diets. This broad exposure to different cultures allowed me to relate to different types of people by understanding their ways and beliefs, a quality that will help me work well with other students and people. For example, many Malasians will eat something that is unhealthy in nutritional standards and has no benefits to the body. However, they will continue to consume it because it is common in their culture. I would like to teach Malasian people to look at food from a cultural and nutritional angle to be more healthful.
Food is something we deal with everyday. Every Christmas Eve, my family gets together and they cook gumbo with potato salad. Food is important to my cultural identity because I have been eating it and it’s something I need for me to survive. During Mardi Gras season, people eat king cake and shrimp etouffee. We listen to Christmas music while we eat for Christmas Eve until it’s time to open presents.
A true love of food isn’t born through watching culinary television programs, or cooking with a grandmother during the holidays. It doesn’t stem from enjoying eating, or hosting parties. A true love of food in my eyes is defined as a lifelong relationship with food in numerous capacities. A relationship filled with all of the discovery, strife, forgiveness, and understanding one might find in a committed human affair. All of which are underlined by a deep current of simultaneously inquisitive and euphoric obsession. Without these qualities, one can expect their relationship to food to remain as thin and tasteless as a Sunday morning communion wafer. I describe a superficial connection to food in this particularly blunt fashion because I care about food in such an intimate way. Though my words may imply some sort of exclusionary zealotry regarding food, they are not meant to convey that an interest in food is a bad thing. Rather, I simply want to express the difference between a hobby and a genuine passion.
Food is sustenance in order for one to live and grow. However, food is also an experience; an accumulation of nature and creativity that can indulge the taster in nostalgia. It’s just pure enjoyment. While food’s components and creation are indicative of a culture’s habits, time, and traditions, so are the methods by which food is consumed and by whom is also of importance. No matter which delicacy from whichever region of the world; there is both a physical and psychological aspect of it; experienced while dining. Whether one is eating batair (quail) at Lahore Food Street or tikkas at Charsi’s Tikka shop Peshawar; food there is
More often than not, in modern times people take for granted the things they have and where they came from. When eating, a person