CULTURE THROUGH FOOD: investigating and sharing ourselves

AsAmSt110GFall 2013

• Watch Ted talk by Jennifer Lee• Discuss video;• Begin to Discuss readings; connect LEE TED TALK to DENKER re: ‘Chinese’ Food• PPT : HUGHES Food helps to retain and re-create culture amidst a history of

violent loss• NGOR Rice as more than a side dish; • Food as more than nutrition; • Starvation as part of migration history• FOOD = collective memory and heritage

• BOBBY ON collective memory and heritage IN CAMBODIAN DIASPORA HIS PARENT’S STORY– LIKE Ngor, greatest performances may not be located here, in U.S.– NEVER FORGET: WE STARVED, WE STRUGGLED, WE SURVIVED

• Share how we connect to our cultures through food: histories, emotions, practices, things to avoid, things to embrace

THE ROLE OF FOOD

• providing nourishment; • giving an opportunity to socialize with family,

friends and the community; • transmitting culture and heritage; • defining gender or family roles; • representing religious symbols; • giving a national or cultural identity, • part of some superstitions (like throwing salt over

your shoulder).

Food has been used to ENACT POWER over others

• include AND to EXCLUDE people from communities/ groups

• Egs from Denker reading• Egs from Ngor reading

Food can play a role in positive aspects of culture AND in negative aspects of POLITICS

1882-1902

Food can be used to “heal” a people after a traumatic history

• Discuss the HUGHES piece on SOUL FOOD:• A black woman’s “meal preparation conveys her expression of

love, creativity, patience, historical struggles, and her own “African heritage.”

• Correcting the notion of the MELTING POT

On the Hughes reading “Soul, Black Women, and Food”

– Black history has been handed down through oral tradition--at family events—where soul food is prepared and served

– Soul is an ingredient in Black Food b/c it’s an ‘ingredient’ in Black people; they are what they eat

Physical Transporting Foods (seeds, etc.)

• Roots--stabilized in the dirt, beneath a plant—represent what “soul food” is

• Actual plant roots—yams or sweet potatoes– have been the staple of African American diet since the 1500s.

• Throughout the slave trade Africans stowed seeds to carry their tradition of root foodstuffs– Some of these African native seeds have become as American as

apple pie (southern states, mostly)• Watermelon, okra-an essential seasoning in gumbo

Black women: identity and gender

What proves a black woman’s skill and craft in the kitchen?• watching family, friends, consumers, even

white folk devour their cooked meals full of “soul”

• A “plump” midsection “Big is beautiful” -represents health and prosperity

• Receiving praise from children/grandchildren• feeding family makes a black woman the

“happiest”

Soul Food is tied to God (vertical connections), not only to People (horizontal)

• Unlike many religions, food and religious/spiritual rituals go hand-in-hand – Eating during a ritual religious experience describes a

special celebration for blacks – Spiritual=soulful; African Americans, without soul food,

would not be who they are today

• The black preacher is very special person– Responsible for passing oral history– Always gets first choice at the meal part of any religious doings

THE MEANING OF FOOD -- to usSHARING OUR CULTURES THROUGH ‘FOOD TALK’:Pair up; take notes (10 mins); Bobby, Viandy, and Prof. Addo will write key words on the blackboard; regroup and compare notes on blackboard

• Talk about a food or a meal that connects you to your family or community.– Describe the food – taste, color, texture, smell, ingredients.– Is it Home-made or Store-bought?

• Who normally prepares it when you eat it? • How long does the preparation take? What are the steps?• Where do the ingredients come from? Store bought? Grown in garden? Sent by relatives

abroad?

– How do you eat this food? Utensils, rituals, etc.– When do you eat this food? Special occasions? Daily?– Who do you eat this food with? Family, community, self?– What emotions do you feel when you eat it? Are they positive, negative or in-

between (bittersweet?)