Growing up I believed my diet to be pretty mainstream in American society, in so far as it consisted of a large variety of cultural representations, in their Americanized versions. Spaghetti noodles with tomato sauce, beef and cheese tacos, steak and potatoes, a stir fry with peas, water chestnuts and broccoli, and always a glass of milk. I say these dishes seem Americanized because of the lack of deviance from local grocery store produce sections, and lack of spices. In other words, they were rather bland. Four years ago when I first started college my eating habits were forced to change. Freshman year I ate in the dining hall which catered to our large Hawaiian population, potatoes were replaced with rice at every meal, and there was a large influence of Asian foods and spices in most dinner choices. I also moved in with roommates who loved to cook dishes that still seemed foreign to me, such as really spicy noodles as well as spam (which I still refuse to eat).
Anderson, Eugene N. Everyone Eats: Understanding Food and Culture. New York: New York UP, 2005. Print.
Harris, Marvin. The Sacred Cow and the Abominable Pig: Riddles of Food and Culture. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1987. Print.
It;s funny that you mentioned that you always had milk with dinner. It was the same for my family. I felt that that was just the norm until I later learned otherwise. It's funny how much our eating habits change once we go away to college. We are no longer served the same meals every night. The things that are served to us in the dinning hall were often first time meals. I didn't realize how much I had been missing out on before. Now that I live off campus and am forced to cook my own meals, I have diversified even more. Of course my job as a hibachi chef has certainly helped me along. It's crazy how many foods that I didn't care for before college, are the foods that i eat on a regular basis these days. Take my favorite food sushi for example!
ReplyDelete