Blog Post #2
The first chapter we read regarding Mintz’s perspective went into full detail of what defines the word “cuisine”. In the beginning they touched on how food might make someone feel, thinking, and their overall emotional reaction to food. Which lead to the next opinion that how it is an individual idea of what “cuisine” is, for good food is good food whether that be your mom’s mac n’ cheese or a five star restaurant meal. Mintz also touched on the idea that “real cuisine” is regional and “haute cuisine” was simply created as a way to show social status. So cuisine is merely based on where you grew up and what you considered to be “real” cuisine.
Which leads me to Mintz’s second chapter we read which opens with the statement that there is no such thing as American cuisine. I agree completely with his statement, though I know there are many people who would argue that his opinion is incorrect. We, as a country, are such a large melting pot of different cultures and backgrounds. Especially considering that the majority of us are descendants of migrants that came to this country, “American food” is simply all of our individual backgrounds and regional creations placed on the large table that is America.
The third reading is one I found interesting. Ray’s study of restaurants and newspaper ad was a through background check that looked at the recurring theme of the term “restaurant” in papers since our country became recognized as one. At first the number were quite low from 1830-1955, due to the fact of an ever growing nation and that “restaurants” were considered a high class establishment due to the French ideals of fine dining. What they found was they had to change the term restaurant to more current terms of the times such as “tavern and saloon”, which is where they found a more popular response. However, they interesting spike in numbers since the 1960’s to present day are not only ads for restaurants or reviews, but also possibles incidents of crimes or important political meetings.
