Extended Essay 1

Taylor Shiffrin

WRIT 1133

Extended Essay 1

Food Identities

&

Food Identifiers

            Food is a critical facet of everyday life for every human. When one looks deeper into the aspects affected or shaped by food it will be noticed that a person’s cultural identity is largely defined by what they eat. Hence the age old adage “You are what you eat.” This time old saying applies beyond the direct physical ramifications.  Obviously the features that comprise one’s culture are derived from more than just food. Such as socioeconomic standing, wealth, or how a person stands in terms of the social hierarchy. It may be relatively easy to recognize such features involved in the make up of an individual including those that are contributed to by food. However what may often go unnoticed is the reality that people in general do not only develop a sense of their identity with food, but they in turn also make judgments about other people based upon the food that they eat, what types of food they buy, and where they buy their food. In essence, people identify others by way of the food that person consumes. So though many dimensions of a person’s cultural identity are not defined by food, others are still able to use cuisine as a way to identify those same features of another person. This is a very counterintuitive concept of which I shall do my best to explain with assistance from several readings I have collected as support for my argument.

            First we must examine how food is partially a basis, amongst other complexities, used to compose a human’s cultural identity. Naturally food does not affect the socioeconomic, financial, ethnicity, or heritage of someone. If you were to observe an African American, Hispanic, or person of an ethnic minority you may reasonably assume that the same individual is a descendant of their respective ethnicity, not based off of the food they eat. (If you thought otherwise then I suggest you read Thomas Paine’s Common Sense) Now take for instance that the African American gentleman or women was consuming a plate of mash potatoes and fried chicken. The fact that he or she is eating that dish does not contribute to your assumption that they are the ethnicity they are because it does not contribute to that factor in any way. However you are likely to assemble these observations into a more complete analysis that the African American person who was eating a meal of mashed potatoes and fried chicken has a higher probability of holding ethnic roots in the southeastern region of the United States. Likewise there is a high possibility that this same gentleman or women feels a cultural tie to the food they are eating because it relates to their ethnic history. It provides them with a sense of whom they are based upon where they have come from. In her thesis Elizabeth Harris elaborates such a situation where food holds strong ties to cultural identity. “At the Tucson Heritage Experience, ethnicity is showcased through folk music and dancing, costumes, storytelling,, workshops, and craft demonstrations, but most importantly through the sale and preparation of food.” (Harris) It is clear in Harris’ dissertation that the people of Tucson hold strong ethnic and cultural ties to this event but in particularly the “sale and preparation of food” holds a certain significance. Now ponder what would happen if you took the meal this African American was eating and replaced it with another food, for instance bratwurst with sauerkraut and an assortment of condiments piled on top. Your assumption would then automatically adjust to compensate for this alteration in the scenario and you would then likely venture a guess that the person you were observing was actually from Chicago. As Margeret Visser so aptly described, “My point is that food is closely interwoven with culture-- change the diet and you will change the culture, and vice versa.” (Visser) Now granted Visser is stating that if you were to change the diet of a certain region then the culture of that region would change. Yet this is still applicable to the assertion above in that when you change the food humans naturally adjust their perception of that food change with a cultural change. Take note that the above example only distinguishes between food and how it creates and identifies the ethnicity of a person. In order to develop a well-rounded assumption of a person’s identity you should observe many aspects of the food they consume. Bear in mind that the term “consume” is not limited to the predisposed interpretation of ingesting food. One is capable of consuming food without eating the food. In fact it is required that everyone consumes food before they dine. I am referring to the necessity of purchasing the food of which you eat. This may seem arbitrarily transparent and yet the conscious examination of the food someone buys or consumes can prove to be very enlightening on many levels. Lets take the following two examples of mothers who purchase their food on a weekly basis and form an analysis about each of cultural identities including their ethnicity, their social stature, and their economic financial standing. The first case illustrates a mother around the age of fifty years old and is shopping in a Wal-Mart.  Three children whom range in ages from six years old to seventeen years old accompany her. The mother would not be considered morbidly obese however she easily falls under the category of overweight. She is approximately five feet and four inches in terms of height.  Finally her cart is overflowing with articles of food, which primarily consist of Mexican Latino ingredients all of which are in large quantities and appear to have sale tags on them. Based on the information given form your own hypothesis about what culture identity could be attached to this woman. Think about every aspect from socioeconomics to ethnographic features. I would be willing to bet that your assumption follows these parameters. The mother is of Hispanic descent, is not well off financially, is either amongst the lower or middle working class, and lives in a Hispanic neighborhood. While you have made a promising assumption go back and reread the description. In no way shape or form does the description of the mother allude to the possibility of her being Hispanic or be subjected to any particular social class or socioeconomic stature. It simply states that she is about five feet four inches tall, overweight, and watching over three children. With that description alone it is hard to distinguish between any certain ethnicity social or financial status. This description of the person herself was then followed by the description of what she was buying for food and where she was buying it. Based solely upon the description pertaining to the food, you and a majority of people create a cultural identity that fits to your or their preconceived notion of who would eat that variety of nourishment. It is just as possible for the described mother to be Caucasian or African American and be well of financially but that does not conform to the societal expectation and therein the expectation of individuals within society. 

Works Cited:

-Harris, Elizabeth Woodward. "Tucson Eat Yourself: Food, Ethnicity and the Substantiation of Identity." The University of Arizona, 1999. United States -- Arizona: ProQuest. Web. 24 Apr. 2013.

-Visser, Margaret. "Food and Culture: Interconnections." Social Research 66.1 (1999): 117-30. ProQuest. Web. 24 Apr. 2013.