Food, Culture & Connections: How Food Unites Us to History & Heritage - Essay Sample

Introduction

Food cultures can connect people to an ethnic or religious group, a period, a geographic region, and a family. During holiday celebrations or festivals, many people pull out family recipes in appreciation of the special foods they have carried for years (Ream, 2016). These foods help to connect people to history or culture that has been handed down for generations.

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In many cultures, certain foods are gathered and prepared the same way at a specific time of the year or for each celebration. However, it is not just those food cultures around a festival, other practices, and traditional activities such as beliefs, and behaviors associated with food in daily life is also food culture (Ream, 2016). These traditions and practices may have been written down, but most of them are shared through oral history.

Asian Americans are well known for diverse cultures, histories, traditions, and languages with unique immigration stories. Among the Asian American communities exists coethnic communities that are different (Nesbitt, 2018). While there can be some similarities, there are more differences when comparing them. They vary in terms of tradition, culture, practices, and religion. And with the differences, together, the ethnic communities produce remarkable and very unique opportunities and resources in each respective community.

Foodways are a link to the past and an anchor to the future; it allows families to both seek out ways of living while also preserving the sense of community (Ream, 2016). Food culture has transformed into a fascinating new culture with a cutting edge, adventurous, and creativity. In life, food is necessary, but in literature, it is essential to thought the world.

The two key elements that are drawn from the Asian American diverse cultures altogether are; firstly, the meal composition with an emphasis on vegetable and rice and relatively little meat, and secondly, the cooking techniques (Ream, 2016). Eating is also a crucial part of the food culture; for instance, the use of chopsticks by Chinese. Asian American food preparation techniques include barbecuing, deep frying, boiling, steaming, and stir-frying (Nesbitt, 2018). The ingredients are carefully prepared; they are sliced, ground, and chopped before starting the cooking process.

Traditional Asian diet has a similar nutrient composition to the Mediterranean diet in that both are primarily plant-based, and meat consumption is not encouraged, maybe in small amounts and often a few times in a month (Nesbitt, 2018). Due to the Asian American diversity in language, social class, location, and other factors, caution need to be taken not to generalize or imply that food culture and habits are similar for all individuals of the community.

Unlike the first food society of the US, most Asian American likes to use fresh food in their cooking. They select and buy raw meats, seasonal fruits, and fresh vegetables, and live seafood to ensure freshness. They emphasize fresh foods because, in their culture, food preparation is meticulous, and its consumption is always dignified and deliberate.

Things we eat can say much about us, where we come from, who we are, our social, economic, and religious position, and our ambitions. Foods have become pivotal to our sense of identity and spirituality, and in most cases, it serves as the center point of religious and secular feasts. A spiritual example is the Jewish dietary laws that require unleavened bread called matzo to be eaten during Passover (de Tapia & Martínez-Yrizar, 2017). Besides, many religions view certain foods as unclean, and a taboo and members of the faith abstain from eating them. Such foods are pork among the Muslims and cow among the Hindus. In any of these cases, people and food are linked in an interrelationship that only reveals dominant ideas prevailing practices within a cultureThe Relevance of Foods and Foodways

In modern societies, foodways are often mobile, traveling, and settling to serve people and renegotiate a sense of place for migrants, refugees, or visitors in the streets and homes (de Tapia & Martínez-Yrizar, 2017). Food is also essential in signifying ethnic identity among communities in the diaspora and in maintaining connections to homes. Immigrants not only use different foods to show cultural differences and distinctiveness, but they also use it to make claims about the power and importance of ethnic food.

Today there are more Asian American immigrants than ever before, because of this colossal movement in America and around the world, the significance of foodways as a cultural marker and symbol of identity has not been more substantial (de Tapia & Martínez-Yrizar, 2017). The traditional foods of immigrants represent a connection to the past and assists in reducing any adverse effect of acculturation. Relationships with foods are so strong that they are often the only element that is still preserved when other factors have faded.

A good example of Asian Americans is the Sikhs. Sikhs are the followers of Sikhism, a monotheistic religion that originated from the Punjab region in South Asia in the 19th century. The Sikhs settled in the Central Valley of California, the most culturally diverse area in America. Throughout California history, many immigrants have settled in the central valley to work in agricultural production.

The great valley of California, which is also known as the central valley, is one of the most notable structures in the world. It is divided into two valleys, the Sacramento valley and the San Joaquin valley (Benson & Helzer 2017). The valley is one of the most productive regions on earth. The valley is utilized for irrigation, and more than 250 different crops are grown in the valley. The predominant crop types are cereal grains, cotton tomatoes, nuts, grape, vegetables, and fruits. The availability of lands to cultivate led to Asian Americans to settle in the valley (Benson & Helzer 2017).

Since there settlement in the Central Valley, the Sikhs population has grown considerably. To the Sikhs, food goes hand in hand with worship. A standard meal called langar that was established in around 1581 during Guru Arjan's time, it is an integral part of Sikh religion and always served at the end of gurdwara gatherings (Mann, et al. 2017).

Langar is open to anybody to mark as Sikh philanthropy and a medium for service. It provides a way of expressing gratitude for the divine reward when its participants sit and eat together without gender, age, or status distinctions, they share the fruit with others, and it offers opportunities for service when participants help to cook, serve, and clean up.

Although Sikhs have some specific food taboos, like eating ritually slaughtered meat, they always serve vegetarian dishes that include dairy products such as cheese, yogurt milk butter, and ghee (Benson & Helzer 2017). Other Sikh dietary practices include the" all iron lifestyle," which entails using iron utensils and flatware, and they only eat food that is strictly prepared by members of the Sikh community.

In the preservation of food culture, Indian women are primarily the transmitters of cultural and religious practices within the household and local surroundings (Benson & Helzer 2017). They tend to be responsible for food purchasing and preparation; hence, the least Americanized diet, which makes the meal, they serve a traditional Punjab Indian fare. Langar served in gurdwaras are the second least Americanized meals. In the gurdwaras, they serve traditional Punjab Indian dishes such as roti, barfi, daal, laddu, and pakora (Mann, et al. 2017).

The fusion cooking and cuisine evolution occur when ethnic demarcations soften, and some people blend traditional with modern cooking. This style is sometimes reflected in the central valley in Sikhs' homes. This fusion occasionally happens with the request of the younger generation (Mann, et al. 2017). Another notable fusion is found in Kerman town full of Punjab immigrants and Latinos, the stores are full of sacks of basmati rice, and spice jars of turmeric. Some Indian stores sell tacos too.

Even though the Sikhs have a unique food culture, they face different challenges in making sure they prepare their traditional food. Acquiring ingredients for traditional fare has proved to be the major challenge faced by the Sikhs in Central Valley (Benson & Helzer 2017). They suffer due to the location of ethnic restaurants, stores, and the distance they have to cover to reach them.

The Central Valley is a diverse region with an agrarian base that hosts many ethnic grocers who supply necessary components and traditional ingredients to a Sikh vegetarian diet. This has enabled food consumption and preparation in homes of Sikhs to largely, remain traditionally Indian Punjab fare.

References

Benson, H. L., & Helzer, J. (2017). Central Valley Culinary Landscapes: Ethnic Foodways of Sikh Transnationals. California Geographer, 56. http://scholarworks.csun.edu/bitstream/handle/10211.3/193760/CG2017.pdf?sequence=1#page=33

de Tapia, E. M., & Martínez-Yrizar, D. (2017). The potential of paleoethnobotanical evidence for the study of Teotihuacan foodways. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 9(1), 39-50. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12520-016-0414-0

Mann, S. K., Roberts, L. R., & Montgomery, S. (2017). Conflicting cultural values, gender role attitudes, and acculturation: Exploring the context of reproductive and mental health of Asian-Indian immigrant women in the US. Issues in mental health nursing, 38(4), 301-309. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01612840.2017.1283376

Nesbitt, E. (2018). Sikhism. The International Encyclopedia of Anthropology, 1-12. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9781118924396.wbiea2186

Ream, H. L. (2016). Ethnic foodways in the making of transnationals: Central Valley Sikhs (Doctoral dissertation). http://130.17.111.21/handle/011235813/1037