When reading Gabaccia’s, “Food Fights and American Values,” I was actually very surprised to see the that ethnic/cultural food was rejected by the American society. I feel that the reason its so shocking is because right now everywhere you go you can find restaurants and supermarkets of every culture. In New York City alone, every block is filled with restaurants of food from all over, anything your looking to try is easily within your grasp. It has become such a big part of American culture that its strange to think that at some point it was rejected because it was seemingly “unhealthy.”
A line I found funny was the name changes of food, to make them more American, and this great need to be “americanized.” “Sauerkraut became “Victory cabbage,” and a visitor reported an Italian family as “still eating spaghetti, not yet assimilated.” Was interesting to see that to “assimilate” into american culture, the foods you ate mattered as well.
What was also odd during this time, was that immigrant food was being looked upon as unhealthy or not part of the human diet, but during these times was when the American food industry was having many problems.
Roxanna Rahgozar
