Consider the North Beach district of San Francisco. The Italian identity expressed there is a particular creation of the movement of people and their food. Cioppino, the fish stew of San Francisco origin, bears witness to Mintz' idea that "When food objects, processes--even ideas--spread from one society to another, the receiving society is likely to modify, often to misunderstand and usually to redefine what it has received" (reader page 119). GiGi's Sotto Mare is an example of this evolution, expressing a type of Italian-American identity that is even different from examples of similar hybrid cultures found in the American East.--Brent W.
"We know the names of inventors of pet rocks and the hula hoop-but we do not know the names of those who first domesticated barley or maize or rice." Harry G. West pg. 115, Food and Diaspora. In this reading the authors do a lot of relating back to the knowledge of the consumer and who many people do not know where their food comes from but know useless information. Also talks about how maize corn and rice are three of the most important grains and yet it was never recored or is a common knowledge to know those facts. Also the fact that so much came from the new world, a lot of the products that are recognized as coming from overseas originated in the new world. I agree with the whole article i think it presents many good points as well as has similar view as i do. I know a lot of people do not know where their food comes from and most of them really do not want to know. Its sad i mean these people could look at everything else but pass up as something so important to their lives as food is to our existence. I found the calling out of the people knowledge to be provoking in the sense that maybe it could change somebody to try to pay attention to such a thing more in the future. My overall impression is that i was surprised by a couple of different points, like the amount of produce that originated here and yet their new homes over in asia and europe are more common as the place of there origin. Zach K.
ReplyDelete"It happened independently and in many different places; stretched over thousands of years; and involved large numbers of individual plants and animals" (Mintz 115)
ReplyDeleteI thought this quote really captured a key point in the article that spanned out and connected to many of the other points she was making. Anything and everything that we currently have or ever had in this country was a product of migration or foreign knowledge. The article talks about the great migrations and slave trades that took place over the years and how, without these people, much of the staple crops we have now wouldn't be what they are. Migrations brought potatoes, tomatoes, and maize to name a few as well as their cuisines which is what really makes up a lot of the U.S. cuisine today. The cultivation of rice down in southern states wouldn't have been possible without the knowledge and techniques of the slaves that were brought to the states. I feel as though many people don't fully understand, or even want to understand, the history and origin of food. They just go through their days eating at nice restaurants or trying food without really knowing the questions where and how. If we refer to Long's food tourism article she does point out that there are those people who do want to know the background of their food. and they go out and experience new things and understand it as well.
The article was really informative and touched on many key factors and points that I honestly didn't even know myself. I gave a perspective on the history of the development of our food system and cuisine in the U.S. and also tied it to the current situation of our country. She pointed out the weak economy, turndown of globalization, etc. It is the knowledge of these that she said we need to really improve in order to understand our food system as a whole. I couldn't agree more with her. In order to improve the food system, we (both non-foodies and culinary people like ourselves) need to get better informed and start thinking about locality and culture as well as all the other factors around us. We're going to be part of a group that needs to help maintain the food industry and system in this country so it makes sense that if anyone should be up to par on these matters, its us.
James E.