Ethnic Differences in Food Preseptions
One of my classes this semester is Ethnography, and I gotta say, while I did get warned by people that this was a hard class, no one, absolutely no one warned my it would be such a fun class!!
SO, because I am proud of my very long, very time consuming final, which was to do an ethnographic research (which includes collecting data from subjects willing and CONSENTING to participate) that had a lengthy process, I decided to post it AND the slide presentation I used for it (which I only really used mostly for the pictures). I hope you will find it as interesting as I did!
-PAPER PROJECT PRESENTATION-
Ethnic Differences in Food Perceptions
Food. Everyone loves food. It really doesn't matter where in the world you are. For Americans, the burger is one of the most popular. The Italians, known for their pizza. Chinese food is very popular . Many places in the world have their own spices, their own way of preparing food. From traditional to new experimental food. There are many options to enjoy!
While interviewing, a common theme with all the people was preference. The first interviewee ,Estella, spoke about the beauty of culture. How every month, every holiday, every hour, each was as different as the food prepared. She explained that, growing up in Tijuana Mexico, she was taught from a young age to cook all sorts of delicacies. From mole to Carpaccio de remolacha con queso azul to salsa de molcajete, there were neverending recipes that she knew how to make from just remembering. There was an interesting point that she made. It was only after moving to the US that she tried food other than mexiacn cuisine. Talk about being shocked.
Yong chen writer “Food, Race, and Ethnicity” in “The Oxford Handbook of Food History” explains that “Our notion of what is edible and desirable and what is not convey deeply rooted ideas about ourselves and powerful ideologies about our relations with others” (ch.24, Pilcher). To one person, murg makhani (butter chicken) is delicious -what with the kaali daal (black lentils), and naan- but to another, the species used would be too much, or perhaps it's the smell that feels overwhelming, or simply the taste itself. Culture, region, and everything in between are the deciding factor to a person's paladar (palate). Society constructs the very idea of what food means to each of us. Food is an important mark in history, where it dictates a country's wealth, technological and scientific advances, whether or not one should take three chances to succeed there. We humans have constructed ourselves a society with separate ideologies and ways of communication.
For my experience, as a latina, my whole identity was always being questioned by those around me, especially family and close family friends, always giving out comments like “when are you going to learn to cook”, “pay attention to your tia, you need to learn this for when you cook for your husband” and many other snippets like this (of course, these are just focusing on food). I have in all my memories said No to the food they would push me. Would simply ignore them or just go and play with my cousins. Even now, I say no. But what I have discovered is that, perhaps while I may really hate the idea of cooking what they deem a must, I actually do enjoy baking all kinds of things. From the Syrniki (fried quark pancakes) to Red Bean steam Buns to all kinds of desserts I can find and taste. I discovered my enjoyment of this. My mother grew up in a traditional Mexican household, but she supported my way of not cooking, but she also limited my baking time, so to counter that (and because I know she and my step-father prefer mexican cuisine), I started to cook asian cuisine, be it japanese (and I actually don't really like this one personality) to korean, chinese, Indian, and many more, and suddenly, it just snapped into place. I really enjoy cooking asian cuisine. I have tried making mexican food, but I didn't feel the enjoyment out of it. My family now knows I can cook and their first reaction is to be like “finally!” but when they learn all i make is asian cuisine or desserts, the disappointment is very clear. Food is more than just a necessity, it is an identity people wear.
David Stevens explains in “Food Chemistry” that “In [the] studies of taste, smell and oral irritation, individual differences have been found in absolute and differential sensitivity, perceived quality, hedonic ratings, identification, rate of salivation, and relative sensitivity of receptor loci.” (Stevens). While it may sound a bit too technical, the gist of it is that cultural differences are a huge impact that affects everything, even our notions of what is food.
Which brings me to another point. Mixed Cultures. Now this isn’t anything bad (and I say this since some people did comment about it), but it's a wonderful thing to experience (in some cases). A mixed culture presents a different mindset.
Someone who lives this is Maria, who grew up with both White and Mexican (not so much in this) culture. In the interview, she explained that Texas itself was a whole world of unique, where variety? There is a diversity of that as well… “Tex-mex, BBQ, and the combination thereof” (Ayala).
Citations
Pilcher, Jeffrey M. “The Oxford Handbook of Food History.” Google Books, Google, 2012, books.google.com/books?hl=en%2Cnotion+of+food+ethnicity.
Stevens, David A. “Individual Differences in Taste Perception.” Food Chemistry, Elsevier, 8 Mar. 1999, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0308814696000271.
Choe, Sang T, et al. “Acculturation, Ethnic Consumers, and Food Consumption Patterns.” Taylor & Francis, 2008, www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1300/J038v01n04_05.
Varshney, Ashutosh. “Figure 2f from: Irimia R, Gottschling M (2016) Taxonomic Revision of Rochefortia Sw. (Ehretiaceae, Boraginales). Biodiversity Data Journal 4: e7720. Https://Doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.4.e7720.” Nationalism, Ethnic Conflict, and Rationality, vol. 1, no. No. 1, Mar. 2003, doi:10.3897/bdj.4.e7720.figure2f.
Ayala, Dior. “Transcript.” Google Docs, Google, 2020, https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Cwqn17Ws8oxE8TfBR-MYUgTv1GUMs28g4S_181Z5ZkA/edit.
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