The Meaning of Food

I watched a video called "The Meaning of Food". It was on my netflix que but it was a PBS show. It was really good. It had different segments that talked about how food was connected to life and culture and personal identity. Only an hour long, it would tie to my food and culture unit for my Intercultural Communication class. Or be a nice small unit for the nonverbal chapter in the Interpersonal Communication class.

When I went to pbs.org to see if the video I also found a whole bunch of additional eductaional resources. There are self quizzes that students can take and there are sample assignments for different grade levels. Two quizzes jumped out at me for class one was on food rituals around the world connected to new born babies. Another resource that would make a great crossword puzzle has to do with unusual food served around the world that people outside of that culture might view as "weird".

But the most powerful insight I gained from watching this video was the introduction to a book called "In Memories Kitchen". It is a collection of recipes gathered from women in one of the concentration camps. The juxtaposition of these starving women dying of malnutrition finding hope in the sharing of their favorite recipes (one many of them would never get to make again) is something that will lingers with me for a long time. From what I learned the original manuscript was sewn together with a needle and thread and passed on to someone after the war who honored their memories by publishing it, not as a cookbook but as a tribute. They talked about how some of the recipes are missing ingrediants, some do not have all the directions, some seem to just end begging the reader to wonder what it was that caused the author to end so abruptly. One entry ends with the directions to "wrap in pink paper" as if the hope of humanity rested in the perfect completion of these simple directions. In a time when those in power where trying to eliminate a whole race, to strip individuals of their identity the sharing of recipes must have given them a sense of uniqueness and at the same time a sense of community. I am requesting this book for Christmas because I feel the need to honor these women and the memory of their kitchens. And that is the most important thing I learned on sabbatical today.