[Get Solution] Food and Culture on Television

In class, we have been discussing the different ways that people both inside and outside a culture define that culture as unique and identify themselves as members. We have also been looking at the historical processes through which people develop and come to recognize cultural practices. Food is an important cultural practice through which people identify cultural difference. For this assignment, I ask you to watch a television show that focuses on global food, to pay attention to the ways that people use food to define their culture. Find and watch an episode of a global food travel show like “No Reservations,” “Parts Unknown,” “Bizarre Foods,” or “Salt Fat Acid Heat,” preferably one that focuses on a culture and cuisine that you are not thoroughly familiar with. (Several of these can be found on Youtube, as well as on Netflix, Hulu, and other streaming services). Read over these questions before watching and then try to answer the following questions immediately after watching. These can be short answers, but please use full sentences and make sure to provide enough detail that someone who has not watched the same episode can understand your answers. 1)What episode did you watch? Briefly describe the episode. Why did you choose this episode? What is your immediate reaction? 2) Pay attention to the ways that people describe food. What characteristics define the food, and how do people, in conversation, distinguish this from other cuisines in the world? (Or, if they don’t talk about other cuisines, how do they explain the relation between the food and their home culture?) In addition to the flavors and ingredients are there special behaviors or ways of presenting food that they call attention to? 3) In addition to cuisine, identify 3-5 cultural elements which people use to define themselves as a culture (you can refer to the list from earlier in class). Note that this question is not asking you to identify things that strike you as different, but things that they use to define themselves. 4) Also identify 3-5 cultural practices/elements which are not different from your own culture (or do not strike you as different). How are these similar to your own experience? 5) Are there any “traditional” food or cultural practices shared in the episode (things done the old way even though they usually aren’t done that way any more)? How do people relate to this traditional practice? How do they explain its (general) disappearance? If there are no traditional practices shown, please do some brief internet research to identify traditional food practices of the region (include a link to your source in your answer). How do they differ from the contemporary practices shown in the episode? Why do you think that is? 6) Are there any arguments or discussions about the proper way of doing things? How do people explain what is right or wrong, and what forms of cultural authority are brought forward in justification? 7) Do people discuss other cultures/cuisines in addition to their own? How do they describe that culture? What is similar or different? 8)How does the host, generally, describe the culture s/he is engaging? His/her own culture? Is this similar to the ways that people describe themselves? 9) Who does the host talk to? What are their positions in the community? How does their activity around food culturally reaffirm their status? 10) Does the host provide historical context for understanding how this cuisine and/or culture developed? What do they say? Please do some basic internet research on the history of this culture and cuisine (share your link in your answer). Where do these practices come from? How have they changed over time? In what ways have they developed through exchange or contact with other cultures? How does understanding this history shape your understanding of the food and culture? 11) Reflection: These questions aimed to get you to think about the ways that people both inside and outside a culture define a culture, especially through food (although we might find similar things looking at music, clothing, social roles, etc.) What did you learn about the ways that culture is formed and defined? Did this challenge your preconceptions in any way?