Food, Food, Food....Food as Culture

Food allows us to experience and sample cultures different from our own without leaving our homes; it serves as a means of transporting, transforming, and maintaining cultures (p. 131)

Personal Thoughts...

I agree. The most productive and essential need of all living things that exists; even micro-organisms. Food, food, food, food. That’s everyone’s talk. Without it, can we even exist? Maybe if we can survive on water…but I don’t think so. However, in this chapter with a title “Dark Side of Food” puts me to think more in depth of how it has influenced every culture and its individual. The main thesis of this chapter tends to have a critical focus on "Women and Food". For once, I can actually say, What the F?! This whole chapter makes women look like the victim of all foods out there. What about men?! As I was reading, in my mind I was thinking that this is such a big contradiction. I can understand, that yes, food has affected the female image but this chapter just made women look bad. I am disappointed.


The Connection...

So, White and Walker stated that, "Women have used food as a vehicle to nurture and care for others; they have used food as a symbol of friendship and love" (p. 133). Then further adds, "...refers to food as a metaphor for the emotional lives of women" (p. 133). I can't say that I agree with this from personal experience. This may be true to some people, but not me. I love to cook. I make candy, eggrolls, spring rolls, fried rice, cabbage rolls, stir-fry, and your typical asian food, that includes Hmong food, too. I don't use food as a metaphor for my emotional life. I do use food as a vehicle to nurture and care for others because I feed them, I have to feed them. Basically, I think that everyone uses food as a symbol of friendship and love, that includes men!

For example:
It's your anniversay and you want your women to have the best night of her life to remember. So you decide to cook her favorite meal, and you know she'll love it because it was made by you. The same can go for women. Am I not right?

Girls and Food...

At first, I thought I was going to read about different foods in different cultures and how they relate to being used as a popular culture but I was WRONG! I wasn’t surprised to read about issues of eating disorders and the advertising media --- I see this everyday and I know, you all do too. From my personal experience, I’ve had friends who would always “I’m going on a diet” or “Dude, I’m too fat” or “I wanna be skinny like you.” Sometimes, I think to myself, “Why can’t you be pleased with your body? Maybe it’s not the best, but that’s what makes you look good.” I, myself, am a skinny girl who weighs less than 100 lbs. But this is something that I cannot do because I have high metabolism --- it’s genetic. I even try to gain weight! No matter how much I eat or try to eat, I can’t gain weight fast as everyone else. But I’m not like those girls who always think about their body image. I am satisfied with my body and how I look. And everyone should too because that's what makes you, YOU!

"Popular television glorifies thin as sexy, successful, and happy....young women with perfect bodies and faces who look great in small bathing suits" (p. 134). The media press lots of pressure on the image of the "perfect body". No one has the perfect body, in my opinion. It all depends on what your daily activities. Even supermodels are not perfect even though they seem like it. Think about all the weight lifting, excerising, eating plans that they have to go through just to get that image --- that's a long time. I think all this eating disorder and trying to loose weight and dieting is going way too far into people's brain. I'm not trying to say that you should stop dieitng and get fat, but what I mean is that you have the power to take control of what you eat. For instance, if you want to eat 3 burgers, go a head but you should also at the same time drink water (because it helps flush out all the bacteria in your body) and on the side, have some fruits (I love eating fruits) or green veggies.

Connection to Education...
In relation to education, I do agree that physical education is the harsh ; "they are forced to dress out and reveal their not so small bodies to a critical audience" (p. 139). I’ve seen fat people get picked or teased just because they are fat --- and it’s not a nice thing to see. I think that school should stress out a little bit more information about being healthy at any weight. During lunchtime, school should offer a salad bar or something nutritious such as more fruits besides the usual apple and orange. "Healthy eating habits and nutrition should be presented along with facts about eating disorders. School should food service departments need to plan and offer food that tastes good and market it in such a way to make students want to eat it" (p. 140). Most importantly, I think that teacher's should educate on the benefits of healthy eating and exercising to the body because it not only helps you maintain a healthier lifestyle but it'll make you feel good about yourself as well. I'm starting on my own healthy eating such as cutting back on the fast foods because all that fatty and oily food is not good for the body, and plus, it'll make me hungry another 2 hours later, so it really doesn't fill my stomach that much.

Anyways, before I end my blog, I just want to point out that the use of food and body image has done too much to affect the individual. Personally, you should avoid their message of "If you want to be this thin, then take this or that." All those weight loss pills, are they that effective?! Really, instead of spending $34 plus S & H, why don't you just make up your plan? It's less expensive.

Reality Check: Be proud of your body, be proud of what you eat, and be proud that you're surviving because of food. Don't let those model bodies get to your brain because they are just like you.