Where do we go from here?

“Food is also about pleasure, about community, about family and spirituality, about our relationship to the natural world, and about expressing our identity. As long as humans have been taking meals together, eating has been as much about culture as it has been about biology” - Michael Pollan, The Botany of Desire.

Further Reading:

Cheese and Culture by Paul Kindstedt

>Salt by Mark Kurlansky

Cod by Mark Kurlansky

Sweetness and Power by Sidney Mintz

A Moveable Feast: Ten Millennia of Food Globalization by Kenneth F. Kiple

The McDonaldization of Society by George Ritzer

Dubious Gastronomy: The Cultural Politics of Eating Asian in the USA by Robert Ji-Song Ku

Further watching:

Food on the Go - tracing the Italian food culture and conceptions as it has traveled to New York and Buenos Aires, and what traditions have remained or shifted

Salt Fat Acid Heat – chef and James Beard award winner, Samin Nosrat, hosts this four part series based on her book of the same name. Nosrat travels to four different and distinct regions to discuss each one of the integral food categories of salt, fat, acid and heat and how each one has transformed food around in the world. Each region and culture hosts its own traditions and practices concerning what food products they utilize, how they are used and what they mean. Despite foods perhaps originating in specific regions, Nosrat’s deep dive into these culinary powerhouses show how food practices around the world are influenced by one another and not so strictly bounded as some may believe

Ugly Delicious - David Chang (of Momofuku fame) travels the world and talks to individuals in and out of the restaurant industry about how food can be useful to breaking down cultural barriers, stereotypes and misconceptions, as well as how “the same” food has been transformed in different parts of the world by different ethnic groups e.g. crawfish (crayfish) in Texas

Parts Unknown with Anthony Bourdain – by now this one likely speaks for itself. Outspoken and adventurous Bourdain took us on adventures with each one of his television shows, but Parts Unknown took his passion for food beyond the glossy and glamourous. Eating with locals and spending time where many dream to explore, Bourdain and his team brought the politics, history, culture and people to the forefront in this series.

Eat, Cook, Love – a three-part CBC documentary goes beyond ingredients and looks into why we eat what we do, how we eat it, and who we eat it with in various cultures and how practices and behaviors do not follow national boundaries.

Travel Man – hosted by the hilarious British comedian Richard Ayoade, this series takes an offbeat approach to food cultures. Ayoade convinces his celebrity friends to travel with him for 48 hours to both well-known and lesser-explored countries and cities. There are always surprises to be had with the food and drink they experience.

Mikey Chen and Strictly Dumpling – this is one of the ways I got really hooked on food and the pushing of cultural boundaries. Mikey Chen, originally from Xi’an, China, lives just outside of New York City and travels the world in search of the best of everything. His two YouTube channels (out of five total) focus on his food travels. His special obsession with spicy food often has him exploring certain regions of the world, like much of South East Asia, but his taste buds have him exploring all the good stuff in between. The food he grew up with in China seems to make him less adverse to trying out foods that many others may turn away from like stinky tofu and different offals from various animals. But, perhaps most importantly, he has said so himself: he can get food “just like home” in places like Vancouver, New York and areas of California. This showcases the diversity that migrations bring to new homelands. I love that Chen’s story is one of migration, globalizing practices and translation of cultures.

Sushi: The Global Catch - focuses on the rise of the global sushi market and how this has and continues to affect marine ecosystems.

The Search for General Tso – highlights the infamous Western-Chinese dish, General Tso’s chicken. Through the creation and journey of this dish the documentary shows the narrative of the Chinese immigrant experience of the late 20th century.

Viet-Cajun Cuisine: Part of the “Ugly Delicious” series features this decades old “fusion” style - I'm particularly calling out this style because I think it is extremely interesting considering food cultures and migration. Here is a quick piece on one of the chefs who had a role in its roots. Born out of what some might call “fusion” cuisines themselves: Vietnamese is traditional Vietnamese and French; Cajun is the result of French colonists to maritime provinces of Canada forcibly removed by the British and eventual settlement/ availability of products in southern Louisiana.

Figure 1: Viet-Cajun boil, a mixture of Vietnamese flavours and Cajun ingredients

But this style of mixing Vietnamese flavours and recipes with Southern US ingredients like crayfish, has become popular. Interestingly it has seen its biggest boom Louisiana but in Houston. This is because many in New Orleans, including those with Vietnamese heritage, believe that crawfish should not be “messed” with – they have more strict boundaries concerning what is “Cajun”. Yet, in Houston there was just enough flexibility that many chefs found that bringing the gap between familiar and Vietnamese spices was a success.

*All images taken from Creative Commons

**Most if not all of these are available through streaming/online services such as Netflix and YouTube