Representations of Cuisine and Culture in the United States

Historical and cultural factors affecting cuisine representation

1) Make sure there is something about how the cuisine/culture that you are discussing is represented in the United States. Even if it is to say - I'll take this from real comments - that the cuisine has never really been embraced because of America's innate xenophobia. Case in point - Persian food - an amazing cuisine and culture with a very long history - has never really been adopted as a whole in the US because we have been at odds with Iran since 1979. Ironically, Hummus and Kabobs are very common in the US despite the fact that a lot of the rest of the cuisine has not really been accepted here for political and xenophobic reasons. So if you can't find any specific ways that the cuisine you are looking at is reflected in modern American eating habits, give an idea of maybe why that is, don't try to force something that isn't there.

2) Make sure your conclusions are supported by the data in your presentation (and ultimately paper). And make sure that your conclusions reflect what YOU have come up with in your research, don't write something because you think I am looking for anything specific. Another case in point - English/British food has NEVER been considered one of the world's great cuisines. : ) It is almost (and I can say this because my ancestry is British/German/Polish) looked on as being a culinary joke, particularly by the French. There is a French term - "a l'Anglaise" meaning "in the style of the English," which means either boiled or breaded and fried because the French think all English vegetables are boiled beyond recognition and all English meat is breaded and fried (as in Fish and Chips).

3) Wikipedia should never be used as a citation in an academic paper. Anyone can edit that, and there is a ton of wrong information. It is a great place to start research on a particular definition or idea, but then check out the sources that Wikipedia sites, they are likely to be more rigorous. Same thing with Yelp, Thrillist, food blogs, etc. I not only highly recommend, but I almost insist that you look at the 2 examples of papers I posted for the proper way to cite information, and email if you have questions.

4) As I've mentioned in some of the videos, try to look at historical subjects with some kind of empathy or understanding that the way we are living in the 21st century is SOOOOOO new. Up until the past 50 years or so - almost ALL food was fresh and organic - because there was no industrial agriculture, there were no refrigerators (until about 100 years ago), canning was mostly done at home, etc. We have a massive quantity of food available to us, but the overall quality of many of our foods has declined precipitously over the past half a century or more. Do not think that just because people 200 years ago didn't have Whole Foods that they weren't eating fresh food - they likely ate way more than we do because many of them likely were growing it themselves.

5) Bear in mind that culture and cuisine are passed on largely through our mothers and families and communities, not through "chefs." That again is an extremely recent phenomenon. Restaurants themselves are a very recent phenomenon (shout out to the French group). And some cultures, people who cook professionally are looked down on as being 'menial'. This Cult of Chefs that is prevalent today is new even in my lifetime, and in fact I went to Chef school about 3 years after I wanted to because I had to get over the idea of being in such a service position. I'm not sure if I mentioned but I've had students in the past ask me to teach them some stuff, and I would point out, for instance, "You are Mexican, why don't you get your grandmother to teach you how to make tortillas, that's not my background?" and they would say flat out "my grandmother doesn't want me to learn to cook, she wants me to go into engineering (computers, finance, etc)" as if learning to cook limits your professional potentials. I try not to take it personally but I totally get where the grandmothers are coming from.