Food and Culture

I guess it's safe to say that I've had the best of both worlds when it comes to my eating habits. For some, it may appear as a conflicting strain, but for me, it's all about variety.  I wouldn't have it any other way growing up with an herbivore for a mother and a carnivore for a father. Food was never a symbolic tradition in my family for my religion or for a specific heritage of my parents. However, I would like to make the argument that being a vegetarian or a straight up steak eater (with the cow still practically mooing) helped my parents establish the norms and values towards food in my household.

As a child, I always had choices when it came to food and every meal seemed to balance my parents' differences towards what they each considered to be good to eat. Vegetables and fruits were always included in every meal, while my dad made sure the protein wasn't cut short by pitching in with delicious BBQ chicken from the grill. My parents did a lot of home cooking, with whole wheat, veggies, hardly any fats or sugars, and lean meats. Learning not to eat fast food and fatty foods as a child has helped my into my adulthood with regards to making my food choices. I've been socialized to read labels and understand exactly what it is that I'm putting in my mouth.

As a result, I'm a perfect mixture of both my mom and my dad. Their opposite eating habits taught me that it's ok to have both. It's ok to eat veggies and eat meat. I have to say, I'll eat anything green, anything healthy and anything organic, but I still love my medium rare steak and a beer!!!

Here are two good reads:

Weaver, William. "Scribner library of daily life." Encyclopedia of food and culture.  The Gale Group Inc, London. Vol 1. 2003.

Haggard 2- Reference  GT 2850.E53   2003

Kegan, Paul. "The History of Culture of Japanese Food." Naomichi Ishige. Kegan Paul, London, 2001.

Haggard 3- Books  GT2853.J3 183   2001