Lisa Heldke makes the claim that because something is unfamiliar to us, such as exotic food, that we are able to remind ourselves of who we are and who we are not, but how does a difference in food indicate an inherently difference between people? How does that difference translate into the definition of self, central to the question of “who we are ” and “ who we are not?”

I personally feel like there was a gap in the logic, but that she may have intended to say that it is easier to conceptualize real differences, which are almost always existent although they happen to be more ephemeral, via poignant physical experiences.

I am very intrigued by the idea mentioned in Gastropolis that a menu open windows to issues such as race and gender. How?

On page 145 pg in ‘Gastropolis’ the author says he asked why Chinese food could not demand the prices of a French restaurant even though Chinese food is older and more complex. The answer given doesn’t really answer the question. It kind of rambles on about how people don’t really don’t know what they are eating. I don’t understand what that has to do with why Chinese food couldn’t demand higher prices. (And even today Chinese food is cheap (but now there are so many of them so pricing needs to be competitive, back then there were very few).)

In Chow Fun City, Spiller states that “Chinese cooks seem especially skilled at adapting their cuisine to local tastes… to to appeal to New york’s well established Puerto Rican and Dominican populations, many of the city’s Chinese restaurants serve faux saffron-tinged rice and a choice of fried plantains, maduros or tostones” (138). Chinese cuisine has obviously evolved and changed over time as it has been Americanized and mixed with other cultural foods when it came to America. Does the loss of authenticity in the food have any consequences? Does this give people a false image of what authentic Chinese food is, can this new mixed food even be called Chinese food?

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?

In “But is it Authentic” by Lisa Heldke, many important points are brought up. But one struck out to me the most, was when she associated a certain type of food to something as grand as a marriage. She implies that Anne, saved her marriage with her Italian American husband by learning to like Garlic. Can food really have this much of an impact? Or is Heldke exaggerating? Could liking a certain item mean the difference between a marriage and a divorce?

Another point that struck out to me was when she asked if food is an art, and states that a work of art happens when there is interaction between a product and a viewer. I’d say in this definition food is an art. But could it be a higher form of art? Since food is something one taste there will always be a reaction. It takes physical effort to chew something and ingest it. Whereas something like a painting one could skim over and not pay that much attention to and move on to the next painting, as is what happens in art museums.

When I read Harley Spiller’s experience of being “unable to identity even basic ingredients like ginger and scallion” in the markets of Mott Street in “Chow Fun City”, I was reminded of how I could not distinguish some green leafy vegetables from each other when they were uncooked or water cooked (133). I could not distinguish between mustard greens, spinach, and collard greens. Some produce have unique characteristics such as the green flower heads of broccoli, the yellow kernels of corn, and the curly green leaves of Shanghai bok choy.

Can you identify most of the ingredients of your food without making the food yourself or asking someone?
Are you sensitive to certain tastes?
How helpful are these sensitivities in identifying the ingredients?
How can these aspects of yourself affect your enjoyment of food?

-Virginia Lee

Chow Fun City Reading:

The reading depicts menus of the past as “primary documents of their time, artifacts that go well beyond food, opening windows into issues of race, gender, transnational culture, economics and more.” Consider how in our present culture of assimilation, there is often a tendency to lose elements of distinctiveness or unique cultural identity. In this regard, to what degree do contemporary menus obscure the true identity of various ethnic cuisines?

But is it Authentic Reading:

As individuals visit restaurants of different cultures, they will often encounter food items promised to be “authentic.” However, how can one determine if something is truly authentic? Is the concept of authenticity something that is only learned from personal experience or does it have other roots? Consider the example from the reading. As an individual is exposed to a new food item, “the presence of a flavor one has never before encountered…ends with an ‘understanding’ that this flavor stands as an authentic marker of the ‘true nature’ of the ethnic other – and, therefore, the thing that separates one most fully from this other.” In this regard, how can a person rate the authenticity of a food item without previous exposure to it? Furthermore, in today’s assimilated culture, how can we define foods that are authentic, when they seem to be constantly changing as a result of blending from multiple cultures? How can we evaluate authenticity when the original primary ingredients, special cookware, specialized training, and skills to prepare the food are not readily available in today’s urban context?