The food riots resulted in bloody injuries and deaths. Yet the people rioting were starving and felt this was the only way for them to get food for their families. Today, there is far less absolute poverty because of various factors (example: we have food stamps, so even when food is expensive, low income people have some way of getting food, and are not starving). But maybe there are some other scenarios in our society that might not be as pressing as having food to eat that night, but which could grow into some sort of rioting. An example in another part of the world would be the recent events in the Ukraine/Crimea/Russia. What do you think are factors that might cause riots to create social or political change in our American society? Or are there none? How do you think society as a whole would react? What about the government?

Many immigrants seem to have a romanticized view of the United States. Though many eventually do find some success in the US, they often do not realize the hardship that they will have to go through, and the cultural change that could come along with moving to the United States. Considering the alternative, where immigrants know about all the  economic, health, and cultural issues they might experience, do you think they would come to the US in the same proportions? Do you think less people would come to the US, or do you think they would assume the risks are still worth the benefits of living in the US? And if this “romantic myth” about life in the US is false, (which is also a point that can be debated) then what are the factors that perpetuate it?

The neighborhoods discussed, which are currently undergoing “gentrification” were not known a few years ago as even remotely upscale areas. Harlem especially, to many people, still conjures up an image of a typical low income, low class area, even though Harlem of today is moving away from that reality pretty quickly. How long do you think it will take for the reputation of the neighborhood to catch up to the reality? Do you think neighborhood reputation changes quicker or slower than does actual change in the neighborhood? Does this process depend on whether the neighborhood is gentrifying or decaying?

In “But is it Authentic,”  Thai Ginger is described as very similar to regular ginger, commonly used in the United States. Tea is a stronger example of a part of Chinese cuisine that Americans were familiar with for many years before the Chinese ever immigrated to the United States in large numbers (think the Boston Tea Party). These are just two examples of foods from a culture that to many Americans is “other,” yet are very familiar to the American palate. Ginger, dried and sliced into soup or ketchup on pad thai are well-known foods transformed by another culture. Onions and garlic definitely have similarities yet ‘Anne’ needed her Italian mother-in-law to point those out to her. Food has been moving around the globe for centuries, so cultures are bound to have crossovers of one kind or another in cuisine, both in flavors or in actual dishes. What are some other crossovers that you know of? Can you find a point of origination for that dish or ingredient or is the history of its origins somewhat hazy? Is there a food associated with a particular culture that in truth is not unique to that culture at all?

West African Muslims who came to Harlem had “the racist stereotypes they had internalized prior to their migration…confirmed” when they arrived in Harlem and encountered poor black residents caught up in drugs and violence. These stereotypes were so “powerful” globally, that they had traveled all the way to West Africa. The question is, did the immigrants really find the majority of black people in Harlem in those lifestyles? There were definitely some. But perhaps this stereotype of low income black people being caught up in drugs and violence conditioned the immigrants to expect that to be the case. That made them look for black people caught up in that lifestyle. Maybe these immigrants were merely noticing what they had expected to find, not the whole picture of what was actually there. To what extent do stereotypes color our views of groups of people before we meet them? Is it easier for us to subjectively notice trends, (even trends that are not true for many members of that group) in those groups of people that confirm our preconceived stereotypes, rather than look at them objectively?

The people living in the tenements were described as being quick to share and give to each other. As with the Rogarshevsky’s and the Baldizzi’s, this sharing could cross ethnic boundaries. The immigrants though, were very wary of government aid. What cultural factors created the anti-government mindset these had immigrants that forced them to seek neighborly aid rather than governmental aid? Why was there such a taboo on government aid, and why did people only utilize it as an almost “last resort?”