American cuisine is difficult to define. We may be the land of the free, but we are most definitely the home of other peoples’ food. For this project, I chose to listen to three podcasts about how foods from immigrant cultures have become prevalent in the American culture, and how they have changed over time. I don’t believe that just because a food isn’t in a person’s normal diet that it should be winced at and pushed to the side. Without the people of other cultures, we would not even have bagels, a food we tend to consider American.
The first podcast I chose to listen was posted on The Sporkful titled Other People’s Food Part 1: White Chef, Mexican Food. This episode discusses how social cues and stereotypes determine how we feel about foods from outside cultures. Dan, the main speaker, invites chefs and various speakers to talk about when people discriminate their abilities to make and eat food solely based on their race and culture. The main focus Dan has is to uncover what happens when people cook a food from a culture they weren’t born into. For example, when we see an Asian-American co-worker or classmate bring in leftovers from a traditional dinner the night before, we might make judgments on the appearance or smell of the food that seem harmless, but could be upsetting to the person we are talking about. Nick Cho, a Korean-American from San Francisco states that these sort of unintentionally harmful comments can cause someone to feel more like a visitor to our country, when in fact they live here and are simply trying to enjoy a meal. Later on in the podcast, Dan speaks with a professor at NYU about an Indian chef that was never taken seriously when he tried to make American foods; he must stick with Indian food. Next, Dan speaks with Chef Rick Bayless, a white male that is known for his successful Mexican restaurants nationwide. Bayless has been criticized for his ability to cook Mexican food properly just because he was not born into that culture. Bayless even admits that he is somewhat afraid to make his menu unique and change up traditional recipes simply “because I’m white, I can’t really mess with other people’s food.”
The fact that people make assumptions about what a person eats daily, what they are able to cook, and how they view food as a whole based on their race or ethnicity can be very offensive. Food brought to the America’s from outside cultures should be appreciated. Cooking other people’s food is very important to make us well rounded as individuals.
Sporkful’s podcast opened up with a great deal of short audio clips from later on in the podcast as an introduction to the topic of the episode. Between topics, upbeat musical transitions were used. These factors made the podcast entertaining and easier to listen to than plain words. The way that Dan spoke did not seem very scripted; it seemed freely spoken and was very lively. Overall, I was well engaged in the entire podcast based on the stylistic choices and how Dan and his guest speakers engage with each other and the topic in an informal tone.
Dancing the Shrimp Dry: How Chinese Immigrants Drove Louisiana Seafood, a podcast by Gravy, discusses how dried shrimp have become a very important part of Louisiana’s seafood industry over time. Chinese immigrant workers have revolutionized the shrimp industry, making it Louisiana’s first product of global trade. Originally, these migrants came to America in order to harvest shrimp and dry them with various techniques, and then send the shrimp back home to China. Nowadays, most of the shrimp we eat in the US is actually coming from China, not Louisiana. The shrimpers of Louisiana built small villages raised just inches above the water level in the middle of the wetlands many years ago. Not only did they live in the middle of the water, they worked there too. These migrants were discriminated against and paid poorly for their work, and eventually banned from migrating into the US by the Exclusion Act (which was repealed in 1943). This reminded me of the three families in The Harvest, who were paid poorly for their farm work and had a hard time getting their entire families into the United States. Victor’s father worked extremely hard in order to bring his two daughters that he left behind in Mexico into the US to declare citizenship and be with the rest of the family. The Chinese shrimp farmers experienced similar hardships. The dried shrimp that was harvested has been used in various dishes in many cultures, such as Filipino food, Cajun food, and Chinese food. Without migrant workers, America’s access to foods of different cultures would be far from where it is today. Don Davis discusses that sometimes you have to Americanize food, sometimes vice versa.
In terms of style, this podcast was a bit dull. The podcast opens with a grabbing question and some music, which got me interested. As for the rest of the podcast, the only exciting part was the use of traditional Chinese music behind the audio, but at points got distracting. The music was a bit more intense and was used at too high of a volume behind the spoken words. This made it hard to follow what was actually being said. However, more upbeat non-Chinese music was used behind the audio at a lower volume, which was not as distracting. The tone of voice that the speakers used was very dull and monotone. This made it difficult to pay attention to the podcast; I had to listen three times in order to fully understand the topic.
The third podcast I chose to listen to was an episode by The Splendid Table called Slow Change. In this episode, Krishnendu Ray – chair of food studies at NYU – discusses how immigrant food has gradually become accepted into American culture. He begins to analyze the cultures of cooks in New York City and immigrant experiences with food, cooking, and culture. ‘American food’ is really just a cluster of foods from other counties that we have Americanized. From census data, he discovered that most of the bakers and butchers in New York since the 1850’s were foreign-born. American eating has changed over time, only accepting immigrant’s foods when they climb up in social and economic class. Currently, Italian food is at its peak popularity in the United States with many expensive gourmet Italian restaurants. You don’t really see expensive gourmet Filipino restaurants around, though. Americans have a sort of skepticism towards foods that are from foreign cultures because we are not accustomed to them. Ray’s research has shown that when we begin to accept the people of that culture, we begin to accept their food as well. Ray believes that our acceptance of other cultures can change by generation, making the statement that “every forty years, American cuisine changes.”
I was not too satisfied with the style of the podcast from The Splendid Table. The introduction to the podcast uses a bit of music, but after the one-minute mark, does not use any more music. The tones of the speakers are very monotone. The first woman, Lynn, is the only speaker who seems very motivated. Krishnendu seems to be reading from a script like a robot. The episode of the podcast itself was very busy, with too many varying topics. After the interview with Krishnendu, the episode jumps to discuss a few very unrelated subjects. However, the content remained interesting enough that I continued to listen.
Overall, I think all three podcasts had their ups and downs. The Sporkful’s podcast was in fact the most interesting; both by topic and by design. Having a monotone voice and less music, or even music that is distracting, can cause a listener to stray away from the important content that is being presented during a podcast. The podcasts by Gravy and The Splendid Table were flawed in the design department, but their content was still very interesting and overpowered the design flaws.
All three podcasts go in depth about how food from outside cultures actually helps to shape the American culture. Without the presence of foreign foods, our markets in terms of trade and economics would be nowhere near as advanced as they are today. If Americans can shed the current stigma that we have against foreign foods and the people that create them, our country could advance even further. Like discussed many times in class, we must break this stigma of saying “that’s disgusting” when it comes to trying new things. Like Rachel Herz states in That’s Disgusting, “the primary way that we come to have a position or belief about something is through cultural learning.”
If we break the stigma we hold against outside cultures in America, maybe the American palette will change once again.
The first podcast I chose to listen was posted on The Sporkful titled Other People’s Food Part 1: White Chef, Mexican Food. This episode discusses how social cues and stereotypes determine how we feel about foods from outside cultures. Dan, the main speaker, invites chefs and various speakers to talk about when people discriminate their abilities to make and eat food solely based on their race and culture. The main focus Dan has is to uncover what happens when people cook a food from a culture they weren’t born into. For example, when we see an Asian-American co-worker or classmate bring in leftovers from a traditional dinner the night before, we might make judgments on the appearance or smell of the food that seem harmless, but could be upsetting to the person we are talking about. Nick Cho, a Korean-American from San Francisco states that these sort of unintentionally harmful comments can cause someone to feel more like a visitor to our country, when in fact they live here and are simply trying to enjoy a meal. Later on in the podcast, Dan speaks with a professor at NYU about an Indian chef that was never taken seriously when he tried to make American foods; he must stick with Indian food. Next, Dan speaks with Chef Rick Bayless, a white male that is known for his successful Mexican restaurants nationwide. Bayless has been criticized for his ability to cook Mexican food properly just because he was not born into that culture. Bayless even admits that he is somewhat afraid to make his menu unique and change up traditional recipes simply “because I’m white, I can’t really mess with other people’s food.”
The fact that people make assumptions about what a person eats daily, what they are able to cook, and how they view food as a whole based on their race or ethnicity can be very offensive. Food brought to the America’s from outside cultures should be appreciated. Cooking other people’s food is very important to make us well rounded as individuals.
Sporkful’s podcast opened up with a great deal of short audio clips from later on in the podcast as an introduction to the topic of the episode. Between topics, upbeat musical transitions were used. These factors made the podcast entertaining and easier to listen to than plain words. The way that Dan spoke did not seem very scripted; it seemed freely spoken and was very lively. Overall, I was well engaged in the entire podcast based on the stylistic choices and how Dan and his guest speakers engage with each other and the topic in an informal tone.
Dancing the Shrimp Dry: How Chinese Immigrants Drove Louisiana Seafood, a podcast by Gravy, discusses how dried shrimp have become a very important part of Louisiana’s seafood industry over time. Chinese immigrant workers have revolutionized the shrimp industry, making it Louisiana’s first product of global trade. Originally, these migrants came to America in order to harvest shrimp and dry them with various techniques, and then send the shrimp back home to China. Nowadays, most of the shrimp we eat in the US is actually coming from China, not Louisiana. The shrimpers of Louisiana built small villages raised just inches above the water level in the middle of the wetlands many years ago. Not only did they live in the middle of the water, they worked there too. These migrants were discriminated against and paid poorly for their work, and eventually banned from migrating into the US by the Exclusion Act (which was repealed in 1943). This reminded me of the three families in The Harvest, who were paid poorly for their farm work and had a hard time getting their entire families into the United States. Victor’s father worked extremely hard in order to bring his two daughters that he left behind in Mexico into the US to declare citizenship and be with the rest of the family. The Chinese shrimp farmers experienced similar hardships. The dried shrimp that was harvested has been used in various dishes in many cultures, such as Filipino food, Cajun food, and Chinese food. Without migrant workers, America’s access to foods of different cultures would be far from where it is today. Don Davis discusses that sometimes you have to Americanize food, sometimes vice versa.
In terms of style, this podcast was a bit dull. The podcast opens with a grabbing question and some music, which got me interested. As for the rest of the podcast, the only exciting part was the use of traditional Chinese music behind the audio, but at points got distracting. The music was a bit more intense and was used at too high of a volume behind the spoken words. This made it hard to follow what was actually being said. However, more upbeat non-Chinese music was used behind the audio at a lower volume, which was not as distracting. The tone of voice that the speakers used was very dull and monotone. This made it difficult to pay attention to the podcast; I had to listen three times in order to fully understand the topic.
The third podcast I chose to listen to was an episode by The Splendid Table called Slow Change. In this episode, Krishnendu Ray – chair of food studies at NYU – discusses how immigrant food has gradually become accepted into American culture. He begins to analyze the cultures of cooks in New York City and immigrant experiences with food, cooking, and culture. ‘American food’ is really just a cluster of foods from other counties that we have Americanized. From census data, he discovered that most of the bakers and butchers in New York since the 1850’s were foreign-born. American eating has changed over time, only accepting immigrant’s foods when they climb up in social and economic class. Currently, Italian food is at its peak popularity in the United States with many expensive gourmet Italian restaurants. You don’t really see expensive gourmet Filipino restaurants around, though. Americans have a sort of skepticism towards foods that are from foreign cultures because we are not accustomed to them. Ray’s research has shown that when we begin to accept the people of that culture, we begin to accept their food as well. Ray believes that our acceptance of other cultures can change by generation, making the statement that “every forty years, American cuisine changes.”
I was not too satisfied with the style of the podcast from The Splendid Table. The introduction to the podcast uses a bit of music, but after the one-minute mark, does not use any more music. The tones of the speakers are very monotone. The first woman, Lynn, is the only speaker who seems very motivated. Krishnendu seems to be reading from a script like a robot. The episode of the podcast itself was very busy, with too many varying topics. After the interview with Krishnendu, the episode jumps to discuss a few very unrelated subjects. However, the content remained interesting enough that I continued to listen.
Overall, I think all three podcasts had their ups and downs. The Sporkful’s podcast was in fact the most interesting; both by topic and by design. Having a monotone voice and less music, or even music that is distracting, can cause a listener to stray away from the important content that is being presented during a podcast. The podcasts by Gravy and The Splendid Table were flawed in the design department, but their content was still very interesting and overpowered the design flaws.
All three podcasts go in depth about how food from outside cultures actually helps to shape the American culture. Without the presence of foreign foods, our markets in terms of trade and economics would be nowhere near as advanced as they are today. If Americans can shed the current stigma that we have against foreign foods and the people that create them, our country could advance even further. Like discussed many times in class, we must break this stigma of saying “that’s disgusting” when it comes to trying new things. Like Rachel Herz states in That’s Disgusting, “the primary way that we come to have a position or belief about something is through cultural learning.”
If we break the stigma we hold against outside cultures in America, maybe the American palette will change once again.