In Food and Diaspora, the author discusses how the types of food early groups of people ate were largely determined by their environment and what foods they could create from the natural resources around them.  The author draws the conclusion that the food of different cultural groups today is still influenced by what resources were traditionally available to their society.  Considering that our world and our cultures have evolved and changed so greatly over the last few centuries, is it still fair to say that people’s every day diets are still influenced by what resources were available to their ancestors, or has food become modern.

Again in Food and Diaspora, the author alludes briefly to how new products from the New World became very popular back in Europe, and some cultures are now more readily identified with these products than their actual place of origin.  With that said, is the trade of food products between borders still spurring significant change in the cultures involved, or have we settled in as a global society that is unaffected by new products.