Cuisine

by Annie Zhao in-depth editor

People often seek what’s more comfortable to them rather than to be exposed to unknown territory. This alienation of other cultures, especially a culture's food, has become increasingly relevant in society. People cherry-pick their favorite ethnic foods, but often dismiss other parts of a culture’s food as a whole.

“Food is a big part of culture,” English teacher Shruti Upadyay said. “To me, food is what people congregate around and food is what unites families as they sit at the table and interact about their day. There is history behind the food you have — the tastes of the food, the spices that you use, the ingredients that you use.”

Upadhyay’s family and ancestry comes from Gujarat, and they are “primarily vegetarian.” So, learned from her mother and grandmother, she cooks Indian food and her children especially enjoy a dish of homemade bread with shredded zucchini, carrots, garlic and lots of spices that she prepares. Thus, culture is ingrained and intertwined with what someone eats and how they will eat it, like with chopsticks, with their hands or with fork and knife.

“When I was a kid, I brought paratha, the bread that you make,” Upadhyay said. “I had a kid in elementary school that goes, ‘Oh my god, what does that smell like?’ and I said ‘It's just garlic.’ So, because you are not aware of something or because it's different, this doesn't mean that it should be a bad thing. Instead, we should be curious about [new foods]."

This trend of unawareness amplifies itself during childhood, especially around elementary school, where kids aren’t exposed to food that varies from their culture’s food. When senior Artur Breternitz brought Cassava root, many kids questioned what it was to him “out of curiosity,” yet he also saw comments with “malicious intent” thrown at other people who brought food. Wavering from simple interest to plain hostility, these remarks tend to force kids to shun away the prospect of bringing ethnic foods to school.

“I have never brought homemade food to school,” senior Ruth Workineh said. “So, in elementary school, I [ate] whatever the school would provide, like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches [or] chicken sandwiches. Now, I’m very proud of my heritage and my background.”

As students grew older and went on to high school, some grew out of the mindset of acknowledging others’ feelings and rather focus on their own wellbeing. Shame turned to appreciation. This sense of understand brought homemade food back onto the table for consideration.

“I stopped being self-conscious about my ethnicity and stopped thinking about what people think about my food,” junior Sarah Liao said. “Now, [my culture] is something I can be proud of now. When I was younger, I always felt a little different and had a need to conform to society.”

Even though student’s attitudes towards ethnic food shifted, the media's ignorance persisted. In James Cordon’s “Late Night Show,” the challenge of “Spill Your Guts” was where celebrities either answered the question or ate the food. The exotification of certain types of food as “disgusting” or “grotesque” serves to be harmful as some cultures view those same foods as everyday dishes to enjoy.

“On ‘Spill Your Guts,’ [celebrities] ate the 100-year-old egg, which is similar to a fermented duck egg,” Liao said. “[But], I love and enjoy eating it. So the fact that they were making fun of it and saying how gross it was is not okay. It’s not respectful. The reason why they yuck those [types of] food is that it's not part of their culture, and they're not used to it.”

Food is part of one’s identity that should be treated and viewed with respect. Media’s portrayal of ethnic foods as “unusual” permeates biases against various cultures. Thus, the alienation of certain types of food leads to a loss of appreciation and understanding of different cultures.

"For my kids, food is a medium to keep the culture alive," Upadhyay said. "Our culture gives an individual a sense of identity. If we want to build a more empathetic world and have more cohesiveness, then you have to at least value that people have differences and learn from those differences. There's always something to learn from another culture."