The Past: Aleppo, Syria
My ancestors initially came from Spain and were forced to leave to Syria during the Spanish Inquisition. My ancestors took a lot of the food from Spain to Syria such as
olives, nuts, as well as
olive oil. When they moved to Syria they would make their
own bread (the pita type of Syrian bread pictured on the right). They would also make their own
hummus (bottom left) and
baba-ganoush (above), make from
chick peas and
eggplants.
People would generally have their own small farms with
lambs and
chickens. They would use a lot of
lentils because they were easy to store year round as well as
rice and
beans. My ancestors would spice many things with
local fruits such as
dates and
apricots since they grew in the wild. Their would always be a bowl of
pistaccio nuts and
almonds since nut trees grew in the area as well as olives at every meal. My ancestors lived in Aleppo, an inland city in Syria, but I imagine that people who lived on the coast ate
fish as well.
Today: New York City, United States
Today, I eat an assortment of foods from many different cultures such as Thai, Chinese, Indian, Japanese, and Italian as well as fruits and vegetables. I often start my day with a
granola bar and
coffee, and have a lunch I can eat up easily in the microwave. When I have time to cook, I often make
stir-fries,
fish, or
meat. I definitely don't eat food that grow in the region like my ancestors in Syria did. I don't even know how I would begin to eat the food that naturally grows in the New York City region or if that is even possible.
Is Michael Pollan Right? Have Modern Americans Lost Their Food Traditions?
I don't know about everybody, but I definitely have!
I also tend to agree with Michael Pollan's claim that Modern American's don't have strong food traditions. I think about what my ancestors use to eat, and it was all based on what was readily available to them based on what the land could support and what could grow naturally. It's strange to think that in the past, even people who lived in cities had livestock and small gardens to support their eating habits. This connection between what our land can support and what we eat seems to be completely missing from modern American food culture.
Are All Americans Hopeless?
Although some people may say it is possible for some Americans to eat locally or eat the foods of their cultures, I believe this does not extend to a significant population of the American people. So much of American culture is fast-paced, and really thinking about what we put into our bodies takes time, thought, and money. Often, if I don't pack ahead a lunch from work, there aren't that many options about what I can eat outside of the local deli. I'm looking forward to learning about how I can change the way I eat in small ways as we examine American food habits throughout this unit.
