Kothari, the narrator of the story in 'If You are What you Eat, Then What Am I?' is very detailed in explaining the different aspects of her life when it comes to food. The main summary of this essay revolves around the food choices of Kothari as an Indian-American. Her family, who originally came from India have certain ideals set on how food should taste. Moreover , Kothari's parents expect their children to hold on to traditional foods. Kothari's mother goes about this by cooking traditional dishes every now and then. Since Kothari was a child she was curious about the foods that she couldn't have. She developed an internal struggle and a longing for different tastes. Her mother saw this desire in Kothari and felt the need to learn various America dishs to give her children a sense of belonging to this new culture.
From this essay, I see how different cultures can have different opinions on what tastes 'good'. It can be easily agreed that where a person comes from has the ability affect their different food options. Kothari also made me come to the realization that what I find tasty, may not be tasty to others and culture may play a part in that. In other words a persons culture plays an essential role in the food they consume.
All in all, the essay was exceptionally well written; especially the part where Kothari describes the different diet transitions that took place in her life, "...And how do we go from to Chef Boyardee to pasta and home-made sauce, made with Redpack tomatoes, crushed garlic, and dried oregano? Macaroni and cheese made with fresh cheddar and whole milk, sprinkled with bread crumbs and paprika. Fresh eggplant and ricotta ravioli, baked with marinara sauce and fresh mozzarella? " This enticing way in which Kothari described the different food changes to her daily menu, honestly had my mouth water. Then again, every type of food becomes desirable when one is hungry. Anyway, the main objective that I learned from Kothari's piece is that food is beautiful only to the sight of it's beholder. In other words, the beholder is the only one who can taste the sensation that a particular plate has to offer.
In response, I'm just going to go from top to bottom. I like how you summarized the story, it encapsulates it well. It seems to me that Kothari's parents had standards on more than just how the food should taste, but also the quality of the food. They didnt want her eating the trashy, processed american foods. I agree that culture is incredibly important to how you perceive flavor. In fact, the way you're raised physically causes some of your taste buds to become stronger than others, influencing how a person physically tastes things. I completely agree on the mouth-watering properties of her descriptions too!
ReplyDeleteThe way that you described the article made me put the article into another perspective. Originally I was confused on what to pull from the article, but your explanation made me see her standpoint in terms of culture-specific ideals. I also loved how she described the food.
ReplyDeleteIt's too good . But it is not contains about her visit to india and whole much things.
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