“Our three basic needs, for food and security and love, are so mixed and mingled and entwined that we cannot straightly think of one without the others.” —M.F.K. Fisher
Our final unit is all about food, and not just about how we all like to or need to eat, but it’s about exploring the different ways you can use food to understand other aspects of your culture, or another’s. In short, any of the essays we read in this unit in some way explore how our relationship with food intersects with our cultural identity.
Some questions to consider as you start writing:
Have you ever worked in a restaurant? If so, what experiences stand out in your memory?
What food traditions from your family differ from those of your friends? What can you learn from those differences?
What restrictions do you place on your own eating, and why? Are those restrictions related to religion, environmental concerns, health concerns, or something else?
How does marketing inform the dietary choices you make?
Prompt:
Many argue that, as Americans, we are by and large ignorant (perhaps willfully so) of where our food comes from and how it makes it to our table. Write an essay in which you argue about the importance of understanding where our food comes from and how it shapes our identity.
Here are some ideas, if you’re stuck:
Take a favorite dish of yours. Maybe it’s a family specialty, passed down for generations. Maybe it’s a traditional meal served on a specific holiday. Maybe it’s just some comfort food you find yourself returning to. Then, in your essay, use that dish as a microcosm to talk about the macrocosm. In exploring the religious, social, historical, political, or philosophical implications attached to your chosen food, what truths about your identity (or your family’s, your culture’s, etc.) pop up?
Or, do you have specific restaurant experience? You could write an essay, using that experience (think “Working At Wendy’s”) to illustrate an argument about our society’s often fraught/complicated relationship with food.
Here’s another idea: “Consider the Lobster” was published in 2004 and, since then, climate change has only worsened. More and more, we are aware that our food choices have real environmental impacts. To what extent do those issues influence (or should) your food choices? Do these environmental issues outweigh the ethical concerns that Wallace raises in his essay?
Note: As before, you must use quotes (3 this time) from relevant assigned essays to support your argument. Any essays that I provide separately are fair game. If you use quotes from outside sources, that is fine, but those would be in addition to the 3 quotes from in-class sources. If you have a question about a source, let me know.
Basic Requirements:
1,100-1,200 words
MLA Style and formatting (12 point font, 1-in margins, proper title and heading, etc.)
Counterargument paragraph
3 body paragraphs that follow P.I.E.
A conclusion that follows one of the models discussed in class (see handout in Files)
An introduction that follows one of the models discussed in class (see handout in Files)
Close attention to grammar and mechanics
At least 3 quotes from assigned essays, properly formatted
Paper is written by you for this this
Paper is turned in on time
need 3 quotes from 2 different sources that are linked with my file and when you cite the sources can you use the page number of the text that I HAVE LINKED