Blog Post One: A Completely Consuming Cultural Culinary Caper! (or something along those lines)

To reflect about food one must incur a wide spectrum of definitions, feelings, and experiences. Food can be simply defined as a substance consumed for either nutrition or pleasure. However, the definition ignores the vast principle food serves throughout the life of a modern human being. Almost every person on the planet has memory of a time when they gorged at a special feast or a memory of a time when food was sought after not as a means of pleasure but for pure sustenance. My personal reflection about the significance of food garnered thoughts not about how I can toast an Eggo waffle at the right temperature for the right amount of time, nor about my mother’s terrible attempt at radish coleslaw (my immediate family lacks the key ‘being able to make food’ gene) but thoughts of human connections and intertwining culture. Food has to be seen as a cultural affair. The public eats in a socially ordered manner. There are unambiguous ideas about good and bad table-manners, correct and incorrect ways to present dishes, and clear understandings about food fitting to different occasions. Foods themselves can be seen to convey a range of cultural meanings, such as the ability to communicate information in terms not only of occasion but also social status, ethnicity and wealth. As celebrated food connoisseur Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin was stated, “Tell me what you eat, and I’ll tell you who you are.”

To reiterate, my immediate family does not cook. My parents don’t cook often and when they do, the meal is mostly likely very simple. Guests are usually taken out to fancy restaurants. Barbeques are also an option. Restaurant frequenting is our family’s specialty. Food preparation as anything but a survival skill was never stressed in my household so therefore my brother, sister, and I just might only be able to coordinate a nice homemade pizza between the three of us.

While my parents may not cook, my extended family does enjoy the benefits of being foodies. My parents come from different backgrounds, thus my extended family has different culinary proficiencies. Dining with my extended family allows me to become a bridge of two distinct societies. The cuisine of my father’s side is heavily influenced by Ashkenazi Jewish and Northeastern United States culture while the food enjoyed on my mother’s side is primarily based on old fashioned Southern United States recipes. Food for me becomes an introductory lesson into the culture that the food represents. I have distinct memories of seeing my grandmother prepare gefilte fish, hearing the sizzle as the fish is poached in a pan, and having the discrete smell of onions permeate the entire house. When I was younger, on the Jewish holiday of Purim, a celebration of the Jewish survival during the Persian Empire, I learned more about Jewish culture not through the retelling of the Purim story but through the eating of hamantashen, a type of triangle-shaped pastry filled with anything from chocolate to apricots. The hamantash was playfully taught to represent the ears of Haman, the antagonist of the Purim. At the same time I recall becoming quite enthralled at the site of my father and uncle having an academic debate about the merits of a homentash versus a potato pancake, another item typical of Jewish cuisine. These experiences with food and family helped shape my identity as well as become more accepting of the culture I was raised in. Simultaneously, while I enjoyed the worthiness of Jewish cuisine, I had the benefit of having Southern roots as well for occasions such as Thanksgiving and Fourth of July. Peaks of gravy atop mountains of biscuits and buttery shores among coastlines of cornbread come to mind when remembering meals from my other, obviously more southern, grandmother. Roasted venison often served with swampy macaroni and cheese. The southern foods presented at the various festivities seem to be able to complement the accompanying music and mood with great ease. The two distinct food varieties attributed to my grandmothers helped me appreciate the diversity of culture in my family and in America.

When reflecting about food and culture, one of the most interesting and chief experiences that comes to mind involves a trip I took to Israel when I was fourteen. Part of my trip involved a stay in the Negev desert at a Bedouin settlement. The settlement consisted of a circular formation of large tents set against a backdrop of pastel sands and vivid red cliffs. My tour group was treated to a traditional Bedouin meal complete with all the customs intact. I learned that the Bedouin‘s introductory course, a bowl of fresh and colored herbs, is meant for appetite honing and palate cleansing. I learned that sharing a meal with the Bedouin society places one under their protection for up to three days after the meal. Eating with your fingers is the method of choice among Bedouin tribes. More precisely, custom calls for eating with just three fingers on your right hand. Mutton ragout was the featured meal, present with whole chickpeas, sheep intestine, grape juice, and breadcrumbs. The cooking was delicate and aromatic. By eating their food with their tribe members, I could get a sense of what it was like to be a Bedouin, if only for a brief moment. No matter where one lives on this planet, when presented with a meal, one can infer from the context of the meal and the behavior of other diners the customs associated with that situation. The context of the dinner meal allowed for the indulgence and transmission of cultural values between an American citizen like me and members of the Bedouin tribe.

While it would be easy of me claim that food is so significant to me because it provides the sustenance of life, I think the real significance comes from contextual enrichment of values that food can offer. Food is one of the few universal commonalities between every human. That connection allows for people of completely different backgrounds to communicate effectively. From learning about southern heritage from my grandmother to absorbing cultural elements of the Bedouins, food is truly important to me because of its pervasiveness within every sect of world society.

“Hamentashen” Photograph. (n.d.) From Geshercity.files.wordpress.com.

http://geshercity.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/hamentashen.jpg (accessed September 3, 2009)

O’Shea, Niall., artist. “Egypt - Sinai Peninsula - Bedouin Tent.” Photograph.2005. From Best of the Middle East Gallery. http://www.pbase.com/markwp/image/48190993 (accessed September 3, 2009)

Mantena, Deepak., artist. “Chocolate-Eggo.” Photograph.2008. From On Stuff.

http://onstuff.net/archive/chocolate-eggo.php (accessed September 3, 2009)