A person’s identity consists of the food they eat, the language they speak, and the belief system and values from their culture. If someone consistently eats food of their specific ethnic group instead of venturing out, then food and culture are ginormous parts of their identity. Language can be connected to someone’s identity, because the language they speak is a part of their ethnic culture. Culture is a person’s way of life; culture is usually passed down from generation to generation and it deals with the belief system and values that a person inquires.
Thesis: Food, language, and culture build a person’s identity because they can either un shape or shape a person’s belief system and values which show that the way a person lives is an example of who they are. Food strongly describes a person’s identity. For example, if you migrate to another country like the women in the show, “Anthony Bourdain: Parts unknown – Detroit, then in order to keep your food culture you must continue cooking the same ethnic style meals. The women in the show, which was not identified, decided to open up a restaurant using her home as her business in order to spread her cultures food style. This describes who the women is and how deeply she loves her culture even though she is not in
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Even though language is something that is usually lost when someone moves to another (language speaking) country. When in another country people are almost forced to learn the language that is being used around them. If someone is required to only speak in a new language they will quickly stop using their language. They could still speak in their ethnic language, but if you have no one to communicate with, what’s the point? No one wants to talk to theirself if they are already feeling lonely and lost. Since language ties into a person’s identity, then they may start to lose some of their
Pollan states that food is not just a necessity to survive, it has a greater meaning to life. Pollan explains how food can cause us happiness and health by connecting us to our family and culture. Warren Belasco, in “Why Study Food”, supports Pollan’s idea that food is something social and cultural. In Belasco’s description of a positive social encounter food is included, whether it involves a coffee date with a colleague or a dinner date with a loved one. Belasco states that food forms our identity and brings our society together.
To begin with, culture is something that may change evolve within time but culture is something that come with your heritage or your ethnicity the traditions and things that happen that make up your culture like how your parents raised you are culture. In the informational text “ What is cultural identity” by Elise Trumbull and Maria Pacheco, and in the personal essay “Ethnic Hash” by Patricia Williams, there are similarities and differences in how each writer conveys their message about cultural identity. Based upon their research, Trumbull and Pacheco present the idea that culture changes and that it will never stay the same, while Williams uses her personal experience to develop the idea that many things influence cultural inheritage but
“Our own culture is often hidden from us, and we frequently describe it as “the way things are.”” People do not even realize their own cultural identity, so then how do people know what shapes it? A person’s identity is shaped by cultural experiences that make them into the person they are today. Some of these experiences include someone’s parents, the media, and where they grew up.
Culture and identity are two very strange ideas. They are received at a very young age, yet they are very hard to give to someone else. They will affect you for the rest or your life, yet for the most part you are born into them. However, they soon become very important to us and we cannot, no matter what we do, live without them. They are a part of us, and a vital aspect of society. However, it took me a very long time to recognize that I had an identity and a little while after that before I knew what it was.
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.
People identify themselves using not only qualities within them, but through culture and family as well. Through these few examples, it is easy to see some of the foundations that can foster an entire, complex identity. It is understandable how interesting and varied humans can be, drawing from so many directions to build who they are. Identity is not very complex at all, it comes through living day to day.
In her book Semiotics and Communication: Signs, Codes, Cultures, Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz describes the wide use of food as signs, and also as social codes. The reason foods are so useful as signs and social codes is because they are separable, easily adaptive to new environments, and it is not difficult to cook, or eat for that matter. Food is a major part of our daily lives, Not only for survival, but it plays a substantial social role in our lives. We will look deeper into the semiotics of food, how food is used as identity markers, and also the role that foods play in social change in our lives. First let us start with the semiotics of food.
Food is one of the most important aspects of our lives. Food has bigger meaning in our life than nutrition for our survival. Our food preferences are not only an important aspect of our self-image, but they often are the defining characteristics of entire cultures. One of the most recognizable feature of a culture is the food that they are famous for. Italians are known for their Pasta, Japanese are known for their Sushi, Russia is known for Borsch, many Asian cultures are known for their use of rice, and so on.
Every single aspect of food from what a person eats or chooses not to eat, the way food is prepared, the way food is served, down to the way food is eaten conveys and represents a person’s identity that nothing else can do so otherwise. I recently interviewed Viola Atencio, my grandmother, and not only did I discover more of her incredible life and see how courageous and loving of a lady she is but I also learned how she has used food to hold
Food, and the way it is prepared shapes lifestyles of everyone around it. It effects everyone by either the many different variations of it or by scarcely being there at all. It links generations together and determines how someone lives their life and teaches the next generation. Most of the social gatherings of club and groups and family reunions are gathered around food because it calms people, it gives people something to do with their hands and is universal to surviving. Food is culture, not just something that just defines it.
“Tell me what you eat, and I’ll tell you who you are,” wrote renowned gastronome Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, 1825. His famously said words reflect how foods we eat reflect our culture, or a culture that we embrace. Food is an important element in defining culture. and can be seen as the oldest global carrier of culture. . A change in food habits influences the lifestyle and indigenous culture of a society to one that is portrayed as superior.
In order to satisfy the requirements of part one of this assignment, I have analysed my cultural identity and values through the lens of intercultural communication. Firstly, I discuss the five core cultural groups which I feel are integral parts of my identity. Following this, is highlight two key components of cultural identity, specifically socioeconomic status and ethnicity, and compare and contrast differing cultural groups and my reaction to those differences. Finally, I will address the origins of my perspectives about those with cultural subscriptions which are disparate from my own. This analysis will look to identify sources, such as the media and my own cultural values, which have contributed to my view of other cultures.
And finally, circumstance is another important element to human identity. Where your born, the languages you speak, the social class you’re in, and ultimately the environment you 're around shapes the essence of your identity. For example take identical twins and put them in two different families in different parts of the world and then when they’re brought
It is vital to recognize the value of a certain culture in the country through a common “tool” such as food. Located in Ohio, in Oberlin College’s newspaper, a number of students complained about the cultural appropriation on Asian food. Among many students, a Junior Japanese student, Tomoyo Joshi, criticizing the college’s serving of sushi, stated: “When you’re cooking a country’s dish for other people, including ones who have never tried the original dish before, you’re also representing the meaning of the dish as well as its culture” (Dunham & Friedersdorf). The unique taste and characteristic in a country’s dish reveals a meaning of its culture. Through common accessibilities like Japanese food, for instance, many people are able to understand and learn the Japanese culture. However, many misunderstand the Japanese culture due to the modification of Japanese food in the West. Without the same tasting, Westernization of Asian food corrupt originality in the culinary world. As a matter of fact, “the traditional cuisines of Japan is based on rice with miso soup and other dishes such as soba or udon or meat based products called tonkatsu… Japan has simmered many dishes such as fish products in broth called oden or beef in sukiyaki and nikujaga” (Wikipedia). In comparison to the original Japanese food sold in Japan, Japanese
The term “culture” refers to the complex accumulation of knowledge, folklore, language, rules, rituals, habits, lifestyles, attitudes, beliefs, and customs that link and provide a general identity to a group of people. Cultures take a long time to develop. There are many things that establish identity give meaning to life, define what one becomes, and how one should behave.