HW #4 - Your Families Foodways

  Although some of the foods that my family eats remain the same, most of the food that is eaten between me and my family has changed over the years. My grandmother’s food consisted of mainly Caribbean food and vegetables like plantain, chicken, eggs, fish (bacalao), maduro, legume, conch, eggplant, and tons of rice some of which she grew. My mother’s diet is exactly similar to my grandmothers except that the only difference between them is that my mom will eat some West Indian food like curry and maybe Chinese food and although she eats some different food this is rare because like my grandmother, she prefers the Caribbean food. My dad on the other hand, coming from Ireland, has a different view on what should be eaten. He loves potatoes (boiled or mashed), steak, corn, string beans, pizza, and any kind of pasta. Funny thing is they would rather die than to eat each other’s meal. My diet unlike my parents and due to them is very diversified. My diet consists of pretty much anything under the sun, American, Indian, Caribbean, Spanish, etc… I don’t think I've ever run into a food I don’t like, I mean I have my preferences but if it’s on a table I'll eat it. Possibly from the variety of flavors I ate starting from childhood (Guess growing up in a multicultural house has it benefits).
Here is what a typical meal from my mom and dad would look like:

Dad                                                                                                                  Mom

                                       

   Time is a huge factor in how generational food ways are changed. In my grandmother situation she had to grow her food and was affected by that, my parents were affected directly by what their parents ate and due to a combination of culture my diet has been spread abroad.

   I believe another main cause that diversifies the generational food way is the environment. The area I live in is very diversified and so are my neighborhood friends which come from India, China, England, and D.R. When we go to each other’s houses the meals are always different thus affecting how they and I are diverse when it comes to food not to mention other things. I totally agree with a quote from New York Times' Natasha Singer:

"The real problem is a landscape littered with inexpensive fast-food meals; saturation advertising for fatty, sugary products..... In other words: it’s the environment, stupid." Along with family culture, the environment that one lives in also plays a large role in ones food ways. My mom and dad where exposed in their own environments and ate accordingly and so and so do I. Most people when surrounded by expensive healthy foods and inexpensive junk most people, including myself, will head for the inexpensive junk. Due to the fact that my parents do not believe in steady allowance, and in fact think that all chores are a way of the child paying back the parents for living under their roof, when it comes to eating outside the best choice would be to to eat off of "dollar menu's".