I believe\nthat it is impossible to fully address the issues in our modern food system\nwithout also addressing issues of socio-cultural identity. If the aim is to\ncraft a future in which the food system, at each node, both produces and<\/em> benefits, we must acknowledge the\nimportance of the actors present\u2014namely, people. The leviathan that produces\nand procures food in the United States, despite its seeming inevitability and\nautomation, is still entirely dependent on living, breathing bodies. This\napplies from every possible lens through which we analyze the situation. The\nreason for the food system\u2019s existence at all, of course, is to provide\nsustenance for the population. In that sense, it is dependent on the bodies\nwhich consume its products. The maintenance and continuation of the system,\nfrom a production standpoint, is also dependent on bodies; from the farmworkers\nin the fields to the owners of the farms, from the drivers of the freight\ntrucks to the stockers of grocery shelves, and all the incalculable niches\nalong the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Every single one of those bodies\nhas an independent mind, and the distinctly human strong will to identify. Of\nthe millions of agricultural workers in the United States today, an estimated\n71% percent of them are immigrants\u2014meaning that a huge majority of the workers\ntoiling in the fields, providing food for American tables, are carrying with\nthem strong identities, rooted in the traditions of another country. Though\nthis is a huge demographic, with numerous urgent problems that need address,\nagriculture is only one facet of a sprawling industrial food system that\ndepends on the bodies of immigrants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because the food system is so\nmassive, operating on numerous levels that intersect in many different ways and\nat different loci, an effort to construct a \u201cmodel food future\u201d must be equally\ncomprehensive. Considering the fact that at every point throughout the food\nsystem there are agents operating within different matrices of cultural\nidentity, it would seem that glossing over identity as a major aspect of a\nconstructive overhaul leaves an alarming gap in what needs to be a concerted\neffort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The basic notion here is that in\nmany ways, identity and food are inseparable. Our daily human existence depends\non food, and thus it follows that the ways in which we procure, produce, and\nconsume it shape the way we approach the world around us. This has both\npositive and negative impacts on social interaction. Taking a historical\nperspective, because we are social animals that rely on eating, the interconnection\nbetween food and identity presumably dates back to the advent of higher\nself-awareness itself, and has played out repeatedly since in ways that serve\nto separate distinct groups, and reinforce conceptions of inherent social\nstratification. Cultural identity now most often refers to nationality, though\nthat is a relatively recent development. Prior to the 18th<\/sup> and 19th<\/sup>\ncenturies, identity was modeled on observable difference\u2014most apparent in\nphysiology, and quotidian habits such as particular foodways. For instance,\nSteven Shapin notes that, from the perspective of the Spanish imperialists in\nLatin America, \u201cthe right foods\u2014those to which the colonists were accustomed,\nnotably wheat bread and wine\u2014would, it was thought, protect the colonial body\nfrom the physiological risks of the New World environment, while eating local\nfoodstuffs would transform it into the flawed native body.\u201d (384) <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the modern age, food production\nand consumption has become increasingly expressed through the realms of big\nbusiness and the state, which Shapin points out gives new meaning to the phrase\n\u201cyou are what you eat.\u201d Not only does the material substance of the food affect\nour constitutions, but the new \u201cstate of affairs opens up a new idiom in which\nfood choices can count as moral and political comment.\u201d (Shapin, 392) In other\nwords, the addition of modern notions of identity such as nationhood and\ncapitalist socio-economic standing have only reinforced the connection between\nconception of self and the food that one consumes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These new aspects of cultural\nidentity have come with an increasing need for maintenance of tradition.\nGlobalization, since its relatively recent inception in the early 16th<\/sup>\ncentury, has snowballed from a novel approach to trade to a way of life so\npervasive that it will soon be forgotten that there was ever any alternative. As\ngeographic mobility increases, the spaces between cultures and tradition\nshrink, and their norms are enacted not simply by being in a particular place,\nbut by willful conscious action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For most of human history,\ncultural norms were just that: normal. For the most part, one did not choose\nwhat or how to eat, what language to speak, or where they wanted to settle down.\nManners of everyday life were dictated by where one was born, and to what\nsocio-economic station. However, as globalization has taken its hold by means\nforceful and otherwise, individuals are now able to see outside of their\ncultures; as easily as turning on a tuning in to the radio, switching on a\ntelevision, or glancing at a pocket-sized screen. With such an overwhelming\nglut of information and foreign cultural influence, it no longer requires being\nan immigrant to feel significant assault on one\u2019s traditional values.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One study on the food preferences of the populace of Arag\u00f3n, a Spanish province, highlights the fact that strong\npreferences for local, traditional food lie mostly within the aged demographic\nliving in small towns. The authors of the study go on to conclude that more\nthan material factors, \u201cchoice is determined by the meaning conveyed by food\n(cultural belonging, social prestige, health, etc.)\u201d (Cantarero, 889) In other\nwords, the portion of the population who, from the relative isolation of old\nage and rural living, bear witness to the seas of strange social transitions\nswirling around them, feel the strongest urge to enact and reify their\ntraditional values through their eating habits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This urge can be seen in identity formation within immigrant populations as well. The isolation of age and geography discussed above can be reflected in the nature of transnational living. Even in an urban setting, boundaries are drawn that effectively isolate communities of predominantly different identities. Versions of Chinatown, Little Italy, Koreatown, and Little Manila can be found in cities across the United States. In places with high concentrations of transnationals such as these, the typical food system becomes transfigured to reflect that particular identity. Such boundaries and acknowledged differences serve to easily create an insider\/outsider dichotomy that can be detrimental to concerted efforts to contribute to progressive food movements.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What is the Connection Between Immigrant Identity & Traditional Cuisine OR, Why Does Identity Matter in a Discussion of Improving the Food System? I believe that it is impossible to fully address the issues in our modern food system without… Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"geo":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/cefie-portfolio-s20-garfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/cefie-portfolio-s20-garfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/cefie-portfolio-s20-garfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/cefie-portfolio-s20-garfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/cefie-portfolio-s20-garfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/cefie-portfolio-s20-garfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":132,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/cefie-portfolio-s20-garfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103\/revisions\/132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/cefie-portfolio-s20-garfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/cefie-portfolio-s20-garfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/cefie-portfolio-s20-garfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}