Food and Food Practices in the World - Essay Example

Food and Food Practices in the World By “We are what we eat” this saying is probably familiar to anyone in the world and it is hard to argue with its absolute truthfulness. By the end of the day any person has only one thing on his mind: food. The nature made us this way, and we can`t avoid eating as we can`t avoid breathing to maintain our life energy. Having used to this daily ritual we ignore the fact that each single piece of food we consume gives us something or doesn’t give depending on its structure and composition. We also got used to eating the products which are accepted in our family, in our culture, and in our country. It is not a surprise as well that each nation creates its own cuisine according to its views on what is useful for human body and what is not. The factor of the accessibility of certain products has the primary meaning as well: for the states that are situated in the desert vegetables will hardly become the principle ingredients of the dishes. So when speaking about food and food practices in a certain region it is important to consider its history, climate, geographical location, cultural and religious views. However, it is possible to have a look on food only to understand all this at once. For my essay I have decided to choose the countries which are different as much as possible: Vietnam and Germany. The people of these two countries were shaped in almost opposite conditions and have very different but very peculiar perceptions of the world. Asia and Western Europe can hardly be comparable despite an increasing role of globalization just because they perceive the most ordinary things in a very different manner. Looking closer at two culinary traditions of these countries will help to understand the perception of food and life itself in these cultures. Vietnam is not an isolated country and thus it was subjected to the influence of neighbors as well as visitors. Vietnamese borrowed the tradition of Chinese to eat with chopsticks and adapted to it very quickly. It is probably one of the most interesting and surprising habits of Asians. For Western people eating with chopsticks looks uncomfortable, weird, and funny. For Asian culture it is important to pay attention to how food is brought to mouth, and eating with chopsticks allows keeping the bowl really close to one`s mouth which is the symbol of sophistication and neatness. The choice of chopsticks is connected to the belief that knives should be used in food preparation only and for dividing food on the kitchen. It also coincides with Buddhism vision of “doing no harm” to the environment. All in all, knives and forks are regarded more dangerous and less applicable to mindful and accurate consumption of grain food which constitutes the majority of food in Asia (Wang, 2015). So what do Vietnamese eat? In all the geographical regions of the country rice is considered to be the primary ingredient in every day meal of all classes of Vietnamese people. It provides people with the most necessary elements and is available throughout the year. Another important element of Vietnamese cuisine is fish sauce which is used as both a dish itself and a condiment to rice and vegetables. It is also impossible to imagine Vietnamese cuisine without fresh vegetables, noodles, and fruits which are different in their taste. Herbs is another important element of cuisine. Despite a very broad choice of purely Vietnamese products there is a number of goods which were borrowed from other cultures. Hindu culture enriched Vietnamese cuisine with coconut flavors, karri, oyster paste. Even Europeans had their impact on Vietnam bringing bread, pastry, ice cream, and butter to the country. For Vietnamese cuisine as for the whole culture it is crucial to maintain this sacred balance of yin and yang which is evident in food choice preparation and service. Yin is believed to be present in everything that possesses feminine qualities: fluidity, cold, humidity, passivity, deficiency. Yang is regarded as anything that embodies masculine qualities: heat, energy, light, excess, energy. It can be demonstrated on a very bright example: when preparing cabbage and fish which are considered yin in nature, Vietnamese will mix them with spicy element such as ginger which belongs to yang (Edelstein, 2011). Therefore all the products have either yin nature (fish, rice, white vegetables, water) or yang nature (meat, red vegetables and fruits, spices, all the food made on fire). In preparation of a dish it is important to keep this natural balance and mind the season of the year and the peculiarities of one`s body. It is believed that a person can cure himself eating yang or yin food and restoring inner misbalance (Eldstein, 2011). So for Vietnamese as for many Asian cultures food is literally perceived as energy and their embodied knowledge of yin and yang is supported in every day meal intake. Germans are obviously very different from spiritually tuned Vietnamese and would not spend much time eating each grain of rice with chopsticks from a bowl. For some time German cuisine was not regarded as ethnical as it was composed of cuisines of various regions that belonged to different geographical zones. For the dwellers of mountain regions a lot of hot meat food and cheese was a norm. For Germans as for most Europeans food must be nutritious, healthy, and solid. It is probably connected with the nature of work of the nation and its history: Germans have always been warriors and workers that is why their food had to be substantial to give people as much energy as it is needed for physical labor. Woman was traditionally the one responsible for feeding a family. Germans historically did not have the climate appropriate for several harvests a year that is why the accent was made on meat. Romans were first who taught Germans to cultivate fruits but still fruits did not become the principle element of German cuisine. So meat, grains, vegetables, among which asparagus and spinach, eggs, cheese constitute the most popular products on the basis of which most dishes are made. German food is not spicy traditionally with Germans utilizing only the most familiar herbs such as parsley, thyme or caraway, Today Germany is famous for its sausages called bratwurst or brat that are usually made of veal, beef or pork mince and spices grilled or roasted. These sausages are served hot from fire with onions, cabbage, mushrooms and bread. Traditionally women in Germany made a lot of home bakery which included different kinds of bread, pies, and pretzels, and though most women do not sit at home as housewives today, Germans still value bread as it serves as a symbol of sun. Germans prefer hot food which can be balanced by a cold glass of beer. It is possible to say that this is the national beverage in the country as each little village can have several breweries that make local beer (Heinzelmann, 2014). It is interesting that the period after the World War II in which Germany defeated it became unpopular to eat German food and such dishes as pizza, mozzarella, Hawaii toasts, solyanka borrowed from all the regions of the world became normal for German cafes. Restoring national identity Germans were getting used to appreciate national cuisine again and was adding more and more flavor to it (Heinzelmann, 2014). Germans value family gathering around the table that is why in modern Germany most people prefer light lunch to more substantial home dinner with the whole family. That is probably what unites Vietnamese and Germans- high status of homemade meal cooked by a woman. While the attitude to the food of both nations are very different they both regard it is as the source of energy but Vietnamese brig their philosophical and religious knowledge to meal while for Germans food remains a source of energy and entertainment. References Edelstein, S. (2011). Food, Cuisine, and Cultural Competency. Ontario: Jones and Barnett Publishers Heizelmann, U. (2014). Beyond Bratwurst: A History of Food in Germany. Munich: Reaktion Books. Wang, E. (2015). Chopsticks: A Cultural and Culinary History, Cambridge: Cambridge Press. Read More