Virtual Discussion

1) Pick a food or a special meal that was important for you and your community while you were growing up. This can be something elaborate like an annual family or religious meal, but it can also be the kraft macaroni and cheese you made for your brother after school. Create a word web. Start with your food/meal in the center, and then map out how it builds community or identity. What is all the "social stuff" (technical term) that goes into this meal?

-Start with basic questions: where are the ingredients purchased? where do they come from? who prepares it and who eats it? when is it eaten? where is it eaten?

-Build to more complex ones: what memories does it evoke? what communities form around it? what identities does it reinforce? does it respond to social issues? 

2) write a one-page narrative (at least 250 words) describing this food and its preparation, try to be as specific as possible (what does it smell like, taste like, look like). Then, making reference to at least one reading explain what community forms around this food, and how particular qualities of this food (its preparation, buying the ingredients, its history) helps build and sustain this social group.