Subordination and Hierarchization of Food, Essay Example

The change in the global cultural setup has brought up several transformations in the society especially when it comes to the recognition of what is most important and worthy among all the cultures that are present in the community. It could be realized that somehow, with the many cultures present in single community, a number of aspects of cultural definition specifically occurs. In a way, food is one of the identifying factors that make one culture superior from the other. The foreign community where most immigrants settle into usually welcomes not only the people but also the culture and the food that they bring along with them. In connection to this, it could be observed that the most foreign communities measure the superiority of one culture to the other based on what mixes with their own culture more perfectly. Understandably, it could be noted that somehow this system works so much in the identification of a particular food to be considered gourmet and another set of food choice to be rather local and ordinary.

There are instances when part of the decision on what becomes a gourmet food and what becomes locally recognized to be an ordinary food choice is based on the ingredients needed for the preparation meal. It could be understood that somehow, some of the ingredients on some food sets are hard to find and are thus considered to be gourmet as they become harder to prepare. The rarity of the ingredients also make them rather expensive hence are making a great impact on how these particular food sets are recognized in the foreign society. Other meals on the other hand are less expensive due to the fact that they have less expensive ingredients. Notably, it is because of this that there are instances when some Mexican food choices could be easily bought alongside the streets and some others could only be found in choice restaurants and are treated rather special. The same thing goes with Indian food choices. The judgement over the fact that one food choice is more superior to the other somehow also creates a specific impact on the recognition of the cultural race from where the food choices come from. The identification of such reputation alongside the food that the race offers is definitely creating a sense of confidence among those who have received a particular condition of proper recognition from the society.

Observe that Ray’s article on the matter imposes that the proper conditioning of the attraction that the foreign country has on a particular food set does create a specific reputation on the group of individuals from whom such food choices come from. The sophistication of the preparation or its simplicity tells so much about the culture and the tradition of the nation from where it has been originally introduced. From here, the pricing of the food choices are also being given particular attention to. Comparing the three food choices, Chinese, Indian and Mexican, writers have strongly insisted that the reputation of particular food sets to be gourmet need to be based upon their sophistication and rarity. This is the reason why most Chinese Chicken food is easily found on regular food stores including sidewalk carts. Easy as it is to find chicken in the United States the preparation of the said meal is also easy hence making it a less sophisticated food choice. Notably, the same thing goes with some of the Mexican food sets. Some choice Indian food sets are however placed in the pedestal as these food choices are harder to prepare and are rather uncommon in the country. At some point, rice and chilli are not so much a part of the American culture until the entrant of the Indian and some other Asian cultures in the country. Believably, these food sets are also given the recognition especially in relation to how much acceptable they are in the American culture.