Thursday, February 17, 2011

Food, Glorious Food!

This week we talked about the relationship that food has with culture. It is intertwined and unbreakable and we can tell a lot about a person by what they eat, the way that they eat, and the superstitions that they have around food. We talked about food encounters that we had with other cultures. I was one of the only Mexicans at my elementary school and when it came to the age of sleep-overs, I began to notice the differences between my friends and me. Every Sunday morning my family eats menudo. It is a tripe soup that is seasoned and mixed with hominy. It never had occurred to me that people would look at this as strange.

Although our family does not go to church, it is customary for Mexican families to go to church and then flock to the local taqueria to get menudo. Few of my friends ever tried it and most that did were not fans.

I remember in elementary school looking at other kids eating their lunches and noticing the difference between my lunch and my best friend's who was Korean. I always got the cafeteria hot lunch, but my friend's mom packed her lunch daily. She always had intricate tupperware. One was always filled with rice and the others had veggie rolls, seaweed, or meat. She had a Yakult to drink daily. I remember thinking that it was so odd to eat seaweed and refused to try it. (It is now one of my favorite snacks.) You can tell a lot about a person based on what they pack for lunch.

3 comments:

  1. Yes, you can definitely tell a lot about a person based on what they pack for lunch! I used to drink Yakult every day when I was a kid! It's very popular in Asia.

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  2. Filipinos also have Menudo, but with different ingredients. We don't use offal as main ingredients in this dish. However, we do use liver, at least my mother does, for her menudo. When I make mine it's mostly chicken and a lot of vegetables.
    It's great that you've tried other foods. There's a lot more to go... :) Try Ethiopian, Moroccan, Yugoslavian(Baltic area), Indian, Malay, and whatever else that's out there. Experiencing other cultures food is awesome.
    It's alsogreat that you added pictures.

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  3. I have trouble attaching myself to a culture, and in turn qualifying a food or cuisine as related to me. I am adopted, so all I know has been due to nurture. I do not know what ethnicity I am. given that I do not know what I am, I try to dabble in all types of culture and cuisine. I will try anything once. I find trying new food exciting. I have never tried menudo. I have heard of it, and i would like to try it. The tripe doesn't sound very good, but how do I know if I don't give it a try. Sushi I one of my obsessions; I could eat it every day.

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