Rachel Swed
Reflection 1
Introduction: Food in Multi-Ethnic Literatures by: Fred L. Gardaphé and Wenying Xu
(Written in Winter, 2007)
The Relationship Between Food and Culture
In the article, “Introduction: Food in Multi-Ethnic Literature,” Fred L. Gardaphé and Wenying Xu write about the relationships between food, ethnic literatures, and cultures. They also centralize the multiple meanings of food in many ethnic traditions. The authors discuss these topics by reviewing a range of scholarship on the connection between food and culture. For example, one text that was cited from the article gave great insight in how food was an indicator of ethnic inferiority and superiority. Donna Gabaccia noted America’s efforts in assimilating immigrants to American diet as “the Home Economics Section of New York’s Department of Welfare recommended that immigrants should eat the old colonial creoles: for breakfast, hominy grits with milk and sugar, bread with butter, and milk and coffee” (9). This particular article also integrates ideas about how in the past, people from different cultures or places would not eat or even touch the food of another country. They would refer to it as “poison” and even throw out perfectly edible food. However, as the authors stated, “food [is] a cultural sign that participates in the representations of race, ethnicity, gender, class, nationality, and exile” (10). Food plays a significant role in shaping individual identities because it’s able to shape one’s cultural background and personal beliefs. It retains an immense amount of ethnic history and roots and serves as an important reminder of tradition and identity formation. Continue reading “The Relationship Between Food and Culture”
