Food Culture

After the class discussion on culture Tuesday, I was thinking about the part that food plays in culture. I’m not sure if we had discussed this, but it seems like a topic that is in the spotlight nowadays. Personally, I think the scrutiny is a good thing since our industrial food chain in the US has really run amok for sometime and we’ve let it.
The native foods of a region definitely say a lot about that culture, but what I’m really concerned with here is how we consume the foods we eat. When I say, “how you consume food”, I’m not talking about how you physically put it in your mouth. (Although that is diverse across different cultures) Really, I’m talking about how you acquire your food.
In the US, we like things fast and cheap and in excess. That’s sorta our thing and you can see it in how food is bought and sold here. Supersized meals, 99 cent burgers, drive-thru windows. When you walk into a restaurant, they’re immediately trying to get you fed and out the door, so they can turn around the table. But that’s okay, because that’s how we like it. So it works out well for the company as well as the consumer. It makes me wonder who started the whole thing. You can contrast this with Europe, where they expect you to sit, converse with your friends, and enjoy your food. They don’t even bring the check until you ask.
Lastly, I don’t know if anyone has read the “Omnivore’s Dilemma” by Michael Pollan, but he suggests that we don’t really have a food identity in the US. He also suggests that this “identity crisis” might even be a cause of the high rates of obesity in the US. It’s definitely worth a read if you can spare the time.