We Are What We Eat

1162 Words5 Pages
Alexandra Donaldson Leslie Gumbrecht English 121 October 4, 2014 We are what we eat—the cause and effects of food Our world is a world revolved around food. The food we consume controls every aspect of our lives. Food affects our health, our environment, and our way of life. Food also helps establish culture throughout the world and defines us as people. Food is one of the biggest, if not the biggest aspect of culture. Some would argue that food is culture. As people we need to define ourselves and one of the ways we do so is by what we eat. By saying we eat this and they eat that a sort of identity is formed within groups. What you eat is a way of affirming your roots and ancestry. To read about what our ancestors did is interesting, but it’s not as powerful as to reenact what those ancestors did and put ourselves bodily in the place of those ancestors. Icelandic people eat delicacies of their Viking ancestors such as sheep head, lamb testacies, and rotten shark in order to stay close to their Viking heritage. Many cultures consume food that would be considered taboo to other cultures. By eating these difficult foods you’re proving that you’re a member of the community, that you’re willing to do these hard things in order to demonstrate your connection both to the past and the present. Not only do different cultures eat what some might call outlandish food because of the cultural aspect but also to gain healthful affects from them. For instance in the documentary The Taboo Delicacies men in Asia would consume bull penis in order to enhance sexual desire and pleasure. In India men and women would consume a dish called cutipie, which was animal fetus, in order to help with back pains and aid with pregnancies. Food has a direct affect on our health. Unfortunately America is number one most unhealthy country in the world. Every 18 minutes four Americans will
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