Family, Food, and Culture

P2: Read the two pieces by Ahn and Nicholson. What cultural and personal significance do the authors attach to food? Compare how they do so? Did reading these pieces remind you of your own connection to food, and if so how?

            In Geoff Nicholson’s article Eating White, he tells a story about eating a meals in memory oh his mother. Through out his narrative, he talks about the memories he has growing up with his mother and the food that she would make for him and his family. Nicholson focuses on his mother’s diet, which consisted of eating foods that were primarily white. He talks about how many of the foods that he grew up eating were white because his mother only used ingredients that were white. Nicholson attributes white food with the memory of his mother as well as his childhood and his family. He also explains how his mother’s religion may have played a large role in here choice of diet. He explains how her belief in purity may have influenced her to choose foods that exemplify such a trait, in this case white foods. We, the reader, can see how food has a personal effect on him, and makes him reminisce about past experiences and m

            In the Ahn reading Home Run: My Journey Back to Korean Food, the author also talks about how food reminds him of his family, but also his culture. He talks about how he has dealt with living within the United States as a Korea American. He explains how growing up he had to live between two worlds/cultures. The one instance in which this is most clear is when he describes how his parents had two refrigerators. In one refrigerator all of the American food would be stored, and in the other, his parents would put the Korean food. Ahn talks about his struggle in determining his identity as a teenager, and how he came to terms with his culture through Korean cooking. He also talks about how food has brought him closer to his indigenous culture, and thus caused some sort of transformation within him. We see how his new found reinvigoration, he wished to pass on as much of his Korean culture to his son.

            In both articles, one can see how food is linked to family and culture. In both stories, the authors talk about a certain feeling of comfort that is brought on by the notion food. After reading both of these articles I also was thinking about my families cooking and how that reminds me of home. Personally, when I think of food the first thing that comes to my mind is green chili because it is one of the most famous ingredients from the region that I am from. Hatch green chili is an ingredient that my mother is always incorporating in every meal. For breakfast my mom would make some scrambled eggs with green chili and cheese. For lunch my mom could make a bacon grilled cheese topped off with green chili. For me, food is something that is tied to memories of my family as well as where I am from. It is something that I attribute to what I think as home.