We are what we eat

In a class last night, we were to summarize recipes in order to learn how to see the recipe for what it was without giving an opinion on the recipe. I simply read the recipe because I didn't know the items listed. There were french words and vegetables I've never heard off, not to mention cooking utensils I didn't know existed.

The activity was meant to be an easy way for us to learn how to read for explication and not opinion and critique. It was meant to be simple.

It wasn't. It frustrated me, actually, only because it was assumed that we all cook foo-foo-fee recipes to "entertain our guests" and to have a cultural awareness of palates. I was thinking, these recipes are out of my reach. Where are the Kraft Macaroni and Cheese recipes where I also might boil kielbasa.

I left the class feeling connected to my quirky reality. Food represents class and class equates status. I found it very interesting that a simple exercise in looking at small recipes actually revealed a great deal about what is assumed about students: that we would have the language for such foods.

That's why I had beer for dinner.