Food culture leads different culture
Food is one of the
most important elements of people’s life. It supports energy to people to allow
people doing social activities. Also, food represents different culture for
different people. For people in China, dumpling represents having reunion with families
because people always have dumpling at the eve dinner of Chinese New Year. For
people in prison, they always have spread which was invented by prisoners, and
spread also symbols one of prison culture in the United States. S’more is
another food which reflects a communication food culture in the United States.
People often talking stories while making and eating S’more. Moreover, in
southern China, people prefer eating seafood, but in northern China, people
prefer having pork, beef, and such real meat, and that’s also a food culture. So
I’d like to say that food relates to culture very close, and food can reflect
one aspect of people’s culture.
Firstly, I want to
talk about dumplings in China.Dumplings, a triditional food for Chinese people, are usually appeared at the last night of
Chinese New Year and the first day of Chinese New Year. People have tradition
to eat dumplings at the eve dinner and the first day breakfast of Chinese New
Year because people think the dumplings are symbol of good luck and better life
for our future, so people are willing to have dumplings to celebrate Chinese
New Year. The meaning of dumpling for
Chinese people is just like the turkey for western people on Thanksgiving Day. People
need dumplings to celebrate Chinese New Year.
Moreover, Dumpling
has a long history in China.
For example, the shape of dumpling is just like big golden bullion which Chinese people use it as
money in ancient China. People think making
the dumplings as golden bullion will bring good opportunities/chances to people to
get rich in next year, although people
will think it is a kind
of foolish behavior in nowadays, people still love to believe it will coming
true. Furthermore, as I talked
above, dumplings are always appeared at the eve dinner and the first day of
Chinese New Year. Family members are always getting together to make dumplings.
For me, I always follow with my uncle to prepare for the eve meal. Besides, a
dumpling is divided by two parts, one is the outside of dumpling, it is made by
flour; the inside, we called it “Xian” in Chinese, it can be meat, vegetables
or mixture of meat and vegetables because
it depends on people’s preference. Also, I want to mention that China is a big
country, which means every place has its own traditions of celebrating Chinese
New year. For making dumplings, every place also has its own way, so it is kind
of different in each place.
As I said above, different place has different custom. I was
born in Beijing, but my hometown is in Shandong province. Shandong province is
in the east of China. In my hometown, people are always getting together to
celebrate Chinese New Year and my parents and I go back to hometown every year. I don’t know other people how to
celebrate Chinese New Year, but in my family, we like to put something specifically
into dumplings, such as coin, jujube, rice cake, peanut and many types of food.
We think coin symbol to good luck, which means people can earn more money in
next year; jujube represents offspring because people want “new blood” in their
family; rice cake represents living in a better life in next year, especially
for old people, people want old people keep health in next year. To sum up,
everything in dumpling has one meaning, and I think it is also a kind of
motivation for people to working harder or living better for the next year. I
still remember one thing about my cousin. A few years ago, and I was young, the
whole family was having eve dinner. My cousin suddenly said there is a jujube
in her dumpling and she was so happy because she just got married few months
ago and she really wanted a baby. The next year, when I came back hometown, my
uncle told me that they got a new member is his family- my cousin just got a
baby a month ago. We were so happy about that and we all believe that dumplings
can bring good luck to us.
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Dumpling is a food
culture for Chinese people. We not only love the good taste of
dumplings, but also the good symbol of our life. People prefer to believe
dumplings can bring us good luck and better life. In addition, I can still
remember that my father and relatives sitting together, eating dumpling, drinking
beer, while singing songs. Children are running outside and making firework. People
are living better than before, and we also hope dumplings can give us fortune
to live well in the future.
Also, we did some
reading in class about food culture. In one reading, named “Breaking
Bread with a Spread in a San Francisco County Jail”, it was written by Sandra Cate, we know that Spread is a type of prison
food, and people in prison prefer to have this food. Spread was mixed by Raman
noodles, chips, cheese and other food that can find in prison. This food was
invented by former prisoners because prisoners also wanted to eat better even
they were in prison. Spread can reflect American culture, although it is in the
United States, people are still like Chinese people that they all need to get
something to eat to suit for their stomach. Spread can be a culture for prison
people. I used to see a video that one person is out of prison right now, but
he still eat Spread in original way, plastic baggage, hot water….jpg)
Besides, I also read a
article was written by O’Donnell, named “The Culture Politics of
Eating in Shenzhen”. I this article,
the author states the difference eating style between northern Chinese people
and Southern Chinese people. In
south China, people prefer to eat seafood. Contrary to southern people, in
north China, people prefer to eat meat instead of seafood. That is a culture
difference. Southern people think seafood can be a good choice for meal, and
northern people think meat can be a good choice for meal. Food culture can be
in different area and different places.
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Moreover, a few
weeks ago, I went to Brett Gray Ranch which is in Rush, Colorado for
retreat with my ILLC (International Living and Learning Community) members. Actually,
this big ranch belongs to one of my community member. Her parents live here and
work here, so we don’t have to worry about sleeping in tents with snakes and
insects. Although we have place to sleep, we still have to worry about another
thing which is eating. Cooking food in the ranch is not as convenient as in school, and if we want to cook food,
we’d have to make a fire, and cook food by ourselves. One thing I ate at Ranch is called S’more. I searched Wikipedia and I knew
that S’more is a traditional and popular nighttime food in the United
States. A S’more consists of three things, marshmallow, graham cracker and
chocolate. People have to put marshmallow on the branch and roasted the marshmallow
on campfire. Then, put the roasted marshmallow, chocolate and graham cracker
together, and finally, eat it! I used
to have S’more once, and honestly, it was delicious. We made a campfire first, and then, all of my community members sited together and roasted
the marshmallow. During roasting the marshmallow, some people were talking
scary stories, some people were talking funny stories, and some people were
talking embarrassing stories. People listened and laughed and talked about each
stories, although it was very cold outside at night, it seemed no one want to
go back to home very early. The food we had is not just the food itself, but
also a bridge to connect each other as well. Communication is one of the most
important behaviors for human beings. For me, the more I communicate with
Americans, the faster I can use English well. Also, communication is necessary
for human beings because people need to exchange their opinions and make
improvement. In work, people need to exchange their working experience, so that
they can work better. In games, players have to communicate with teammates and
coach as well, so that they can win the game. To sum up, people can’t live
without communicate with others because communication is a way to help people
living better.
To summarize the
article, I’d like to say that different food reflect different culture for
different people. Food is a traditional culture for Chinese people because people
are able to get together once a year; Food is a place culture and it divides people
into different regions; Food is also indicate specific culture for specific
people, such as prisoners, and this culture encourages these specific people
make inventions; Finally, food is a communication culture and it allows people communicate
while having food. We are now living in a world which is full of diversity
culture. Food is one way to lead people getting to know others life style and
living style quickly.
Work Cited
“Breaking Bread with a Spread” in
a San Francisco County Jail
sandra
cate
Gastronomica:
The Journal of Food and Culture , Vol. 8,
No. 3 (Summer 2008), pp. 17-24
The Cultural Politics of Eating
in Shenzhen
mary ann
o'donnell
Gastronomica:
The Journal of Food and Culture , Vol. 10,
No. 2 (Spring 2010), pp. 31-39
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