Hw # 4 - Your Family's Foodways

Since your born, your family begins to affect how you approach food. You become surrounded by a certain food, either your parent's favorites or their native foods. When I have friends over and my mom cooks native food they sometimes ask me what some of the food is. Like once a friend asked me what the green squares in the salad was and being the first time I was asked this, I looked at her like she was crazy. Their called nopales I explained which in English means cactus. Which shows that you only know and are accustomed to the food that is being served in your own household. So when I approach these foods I see them as normal, while someone outside my family may find them as weird. My parent's parents mostly ate their own produce and lands "gifts." And to this day, my grandfather still owns and has chickens, roosters, plants and trees, all in his backyard. I personally love his lemon tree, because there are always fresh lemons for lemonade. Although my mother grew up eating this way, she doesn't eat this way anymore. We buy our food and cook it or just buy it already made. To me growing our own chickens to eat is weird... sounds masochistic.

Every time I go to Mexico and stay with my grandparents, I must become used to eating a certain way. For them the use of a fork and knife is unnecessary. Not that they eat like savages, but there is just no need of it. All you need is a tortilla, and whatever you’re eating whether meat, beans, rice or vegetables and your choice of salsa you'd just dunk it in all at once or just one and take a bite. And because they are so used to eating this way they've made it an art, eating neatly and not dropping a single thing. Unlike me, I had salsa dribbling down my chin or rice coming out of the tortilla. I hadn't quite mastered the skill yet. As you can see my family even affected the way I ate because I have eaten with a fork and knife my whole life. In my house I wasn't allowed to eat without a knife and fork, because it was bad manners to do so. And one thinks "everyone must eat this way" mentally until the day they leave their house and realize that there are other ways.

The food choices you make and learn to make can also come from your family. For example at my home our fridge is not stuffed with junk food like cookies, cake, etc. My mom makes sure of that; it is filled with vegetables, homemade drinks, milk, meats, etc. Very balanced, so for my siblings and I a snack was a handful of nuts or fruit and once in awhile a slice of homemade cake. So it has definitely affected my daily eating, and I have become used to having some sort of vegetable on my plate. But this way of eating goes AWOL when I'm not at home because I get to eat what I choose. And I'm afraid this might continue to happen when I no longer live in my house. Although sometimes I feel bad about the choices I make and throw in something healthy in my meal. These choices also affect how long we live, my mother got to meet her great - grandmother! She tells me about how her great - grandmother would go to the wild carrying a long knife called machete, cutting fresh plants and wood along the way. She grew up livng in rural area, tending to goats, eating only dreid meat, fresh vegetables, tortillas and a bit of salt and she came to live 98 years old. Like Rossi said " The older the generation the healthier they eat." leading to a longer life span.

Inventory:

- Bottom three drawers filled with vegetables and select meats

- second level is water, milk, salsa, fruit, corn and flour tortillas, and deli sliced ham and cheese

- top level is filled with gatorades due to older brother, my and my little brother not allowed to drink this. Older bro gets away with it because he no longer lives with us.

- more salsa and milk on top level and a couple of leftovers we eat next day of it being made