Effects of Culture

I have grown up in American pop culture and have done a minimal amount of traveling in Canada and Mexico. These are countries that are not all that foreign to most of us, neighboring the United States to the North and the South. Due to my lack of travel, I have had little experience with what other cultures might see as acceptable foods to eat versus the perceptions and diet that I have grown up with. For the most part, I do not view my eating habits as being all that different from those around the United States. In Western Washington, we likely eat more salmon and sea food than some part of the country that is land locked like Kansas or New Mexico. There are regional differences, but I do not find them to be all that different from me. In the U.S., we have taken elements of different cultures and adopted them as our own from immigrants throughout much of the 21^st century. Reflecting on the definition of a culture, I find myself at a loss. I use the word often without much thought to how I would define it. Perhaps it is a group of people who share anything from common heritage, interests, and/or traditions. There is much more to a culture than that, but these are the first things that come to mind. If most of my friends were vegetarians, that is a sort of culture that would likely influence my eating habits and change them based on that culture.

Ethical sourcing in the global food system, edited by Stephanie Barrientos and Catherine Dolan. Sterling, VA : Earthscan, 2006.

Location in library: Haggard 3 -Books HD9000.5 .E85 2006

Increasing the contribution of small-scale fisheries to poverty alleviation and food security. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2005.

Location in library: Wilson 4W -Books SH329.S53 I53 2005