Assignment 2-Food Ethnography

Assignment 2-Food Ethnography

Instructions:-

Assignment 2-Food Ethnography

Name:

Instructions: Download, fill-in, and submit this form. You must maintain this document’s 1-inch margins, single-spacing, and 12pt font. Take note of the expected length given for each section. Please read the instructions given through the course website and other documents and make sure you complete Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.

Field Notes Write-Up

  1. Take the “jottings” you made during 1.5 hours of observation and type them into an expanded narrative of what you observed (This means that you should write descriptive text of what you observed. You must write in complete sentences).  The minimum length for this part of the assignment is 2 single-spaced pages of text. You may include photographs at the end of the document, but these are optional and do not count toward the page requirement.

[Begin text here]

Analysis

  • Perform a preliminary analysis. First, read through your narrative. Identify 4 of your observations of behaviors and/or activities and connect them to themes of food and culture that we have covered in course modules. These themes can be concepts, theories or observations, etc.  Discuss each paired observation-theme below in a separate paragraph (4-5 sentences) and cite relevant course materials within your answers as in-text citations using APA format (In-text Citations).  One of your four citations may come from a course video, but at least 3 must come from course readings.  Include a list of all your references below (see 2a).

Observation 1:

Observation 2:

Observation 3:

Observation 4:

2a) List the References you cited above in APA format here (not at the end of the assignment). For information on how to use APA style, visit ASU’s library guides: Reference List; Sample References

Reflection

3) Write one paragraph (4-5 sentences) minimum reflecting on your position as a researcher. How does your own cultural identity and background affect how you ‘see’ and understand the environment and activities you observed? We all have biases.  What are some actual (or possible) biases that you bring to this research?

[Begin text here]

Follow Up Questions

4) Imagine that you have been awarded funding to launch a 5-year research study at your restaurant/market/festival. Based on what you observed in your short time at your site, what would you want to know more about and why? In the space below, 1) pose 2 research questions you would follow up on in further research at your site, and 2) explain your reasoning for posing each question.

1.

2.

Optional: You may insert photographs here, if you would like. IMPORTANT: Please reduce the file size of the photographs before inserting them. Documents over 20MB cannot be processed appropriately and your assignment may not be received.

Solution

Assignment 2-Food Ethnography

Field Notes Write-Up

  1. Take the “jottings” you made during 1.5 hours of observation and type them into an expanded narrative of what you observed (This means that you should write descriptive text of what you observed. You must write in complete sentences).  The minimum length for this part of the assignment is 2 single-spaced pages of text. You may include photographs at the end of the document, but these are optional and do not count toward the page requirement.

All people eat. What they eat, why, where how, and when may differ. This undertaking is the main aim of food ethnography, to find out what influences people to treat food they way they do.

The study of diet and eating habits is essential as food is utterly crucial to human existence (and usually available insufficiently). Food ethnography has shown its value in debating and progressing anthropological theories and research methods. Food studies cast light on a broad range of societal processes including symbolic value-creation, political-economic value-creation, and the social generation of memory.  Scientific studies have shown the importance of the food arena in debating human behavior, and for aiding science to understand various in informants’ responses to ethnographic questions.

 Food ethnographies can be explored using seven approaches: food insecurity; instructional materials; single commodities and substances; food and social change; eating and identities; and eating and ritual. The most extensive anthropological studies among these subthemes are on eating and identities, food insecurity and eating and routine. Other topics receive coverage mostly limited to periodical publications and scientific papers, unlike the star themes that have books printed on them. 

Food is a communication avenue. There are overt to subtle messaging in all matters food-related: where one sits, who cooks when and what, what time is most comfortable enough someone’s plate leftovers. A plate of food is a history lesson. For example, South Korea has been significantly influenced by other countries in the recent past; initially, the biggest Westernizing influence came from the United States. It is now common to find South Koreans enjoying Western styled dishes and fast foods. Lasting cooperation between the two countries has meant more culture cross-pollination has occurred. 

Today like always, food is at the center of many sociopolitical, environmental, economic and cultural debates. Food is closely linked with immediate challenges for the present and the future: How can a ballooning world population be fed with diminishing resources? How can the current resources be better unemployed to deal with hunger, waste, obesity and malnutrition? How can we best adapt production to consumption practices? How do we employ technology and science to shape what and how we eat as well as deal with consequences that may arise? What is the role do notions such as ‘culture,’ ‘tradition’ and ‘identity’ play when food, dishes, recipes and cuisines traverse the world?

Such questions are demonstrated in the extensive literature on food inside anthropology. In the social sciences and especially anthropology, food is often considered an identifier of concepts such as identity, culture/nature, sustainability, care, hospitality, and belonging consumption and production health.

The world rapidly realizes that the simple act of eating faces significant challenges: from climate change to urbanization, to a silent raging epidemic of diabetes to gross inequalities on a world scale, from the future practices of agriculture to the increase in obesity. Food ethnography investigates how food connects and nourishes the power to construct and destroy, not only now but also and in the future.

Analysis

  • Perform a preliminary analysis. First, read through your narrative. Identify 4 of your observations of behaviors and/or activities and connect them to that we have covered in course modules. These themes can be concepts, theories or observations, etc.  Discuss each paired observation-theme below in a separate paragraph (4-5 sentences) and cite relevant course materials within your answers as in-text citations using APA format (In-text Citations).  One of your four citations may come from a course video, but at least 3 must come from course readings.  Include a list of all your references below (see 2a).

Observation 1:

Food is a Language

Food is often overlooked whenever people discuss major communication channels. However, it fulfills many of the criteria necessary to be considered a medium. Like speech and print, the role of food echoes many definitions given to language. Food occupies an integral role in our lives it is always in the background. It has an uncanny ability to capture our attention through taste, smell and sometimes even sight. In a sense, food is an extension of whoever cooked it. On the dish, the eater will not only be able to gain insights into the character of the cook but also some of the cultures that have influenced their life (Coleman, 2013).

Observation 2:

Food & Culture

Everyone has their opinion about food. Serve two people with the same dish and you may get two different feedbacks. Since one has to put food in their body, it is subject to a lot scrutiny from individuals. They way one consumes their food say a lot about their upbringing, aspiration or preferences. Preparation of food also borrows heavily from an individual’s skill and sometimes art. Through the food preparation process, one crafts a culinary message that can be deciphered by how it looks, how the food smell and tastes. The ingredients also help one articulate their message. A good example is how certain foods are reserved for particular occasions (Coleman, 2013).

Observation 3:

Challenges Facing the Food System

Despite crossing over to the 21st Century with a lot of promise, food security remains evasive. With the population rising, and food supply not catching up as fast, the world is facing a major crisis. Billions of people go to bed hungry every day due insufficient food supplies while others eat so much food and are at risk of the diseases brought about by over consumption. Environmental degradation has also catalyzed food insecurity in all corners of the globe. Unreliable weather patterns make it a nightmare for farmers both psychological and economically. Political instability also affects some of the most arable corners of the world which have a high potential of becoming food baskets of the neighboring areas (Chrzan, & Brett, n.d.).

Observation 4:

Science Is Responding

Science through its various disciplines is on the forefront of trying to not only understand the phenomenon of food but also factors that influence it. It is from these studies that solutions to improve the food quality as well as food security for a better society. Through scientific innovation especially in communication and transport, food recipes are now able to break geographical barriers and reach places hitherto unknown to them (Chrzan, & Brett, n.d.). Locals from this are will also infuse the recipes with their own in the process giving rise to new recipes. This convergence of culture will only continue as the 21st century continues shrinking the world into a village.

2a) List the References you cited above in APA format here (not at the end of the assignment). For information on how to use APA style, visit ASU’s library guides: Reference List; Sample References

Coleman, L. (2013). Food (1st ed., pp. 12, 22, 24). London: Bloomsbury.

Chrzan, J., & Brett, J. Food culture (1st ed., pp. 12, 32). New York: Berghahn Books.

Reflection

3) Write one paragraph (4-5 sentences) minimum reflecting on your position as a researcher. How does your own cultural identity and background affect how you ‘see’ and understand the environment and activities you observed? We all have biases.  What are some actual (or possible) biases that you bring to this research?

As a researcher, one cannot escape their background as it makes up an essential part of their personality. It is hard not to see things from your personal perspective as one tends to subject phenomenon through their established value system. As a South Korean who grew up during the internet boom, it is hard to be influenced by Western culture especially it’s diet. However the recent past has seen some Western imported diets especially fast foods as causes of an array of lifestyle diseases. It is difficult to shake off the notion from your mind with the effects beings so dire and being discussed over the media.

Follow Up Questions

4) Imagine that you have been awarded funding to launch a 5-year research study at your restaurant/market/festival. Based on what you observed in your short time at your site, what would you want to know more about and why? In the space below, 1) pose 2 research questions you would follow up on in further research at your site, and 2) explain your reasoning for posing each question.

1.

  1. How do you like your food and how? Does it play part in your identity?
  2. What foods do you dream of sampling? What is the future of your favorite dish?

2.

  1. By identifying what the respondent likes, one can infer a lot about their personality and background. What one eats defines not only who they are but also who they associate with. With these answers one can begin to understand what the individual is about Vis a Vis the culture around them.
  2. Capturing aspirations of the respondents will also help the researcher understand how they aim to not only evolve themselves but also their recipes. By understanding what a person want to maintain and gain, one can extrapolate what it will take for them to achieve it.

Optional: You may insert photographs here, if you would like. IMPORTANT: Please reduce the file size of the photographs before inserting them. Documents over 20MB cannot be processed appropriately and your assignment may not be received.