P4

     Both Cate and O’Donnell’s articles discuss various roles food plays in the communities they studied. In both communities, the authors discuss how the food helps members of the communities relate to a specific identity within the community. In the Cate article, she discusses how inmates at a prison in California get creative with the limited food choices they are provided with, a skilled that has been labeled “spread.” She interviewed various inmates about what they use in their spread, if they spread at all, and in some cases asked why the inmates spread, rather than ate the food provided for them by the institution. She found that the inmates spread for various reasons, and had many different dishes with cultural influences from all over the world. One inmate in particular, Max Hackett, uses spread as a way to help himself cope with and overcome his addiction. He uses making spread as a way to “focus on good qualities,” and to bring himself “as much out of jail as possible.”(Cate 2008, 24) Hackett uses spread as a way to temporarily remove himself from the jail atmosphere and travel to any place he so chooses, based on what spread he makes. He does not want to be defined and recognized as just another number in the system, so he uses food to make his own creations that not only help him overcome a strong addiction, but also helps him define who he is through his creations.

     On the other hand, O’Donnell discusses a city in Southern China-Shenzhen. Since Shenzhen was developed recently, O’Donnell divides the city into two main parts, calling the people old and new “Shenzheners.” Those who first moved to the city and established it are referred to as the Old Shenzheners, while the New Shenzheners are their offspring and people who migrated to the city. O’Donnell also discusses how different the outlook of each group is when it comes to food. The Old Shenzheners, used to what the author refers to as “nostalgia for socialist meals,” which is what they had to eat during tough times, when they had to live off food rations or were denied rations from the government because of status rules. The New Shenzheners, however, often eat at chain restaurants that serve many “fashionable” foods, and have choices of what type of cuisine they prefer to enjoy on a given night. The difference in food preferences shows how different the generations are, both socially and culturally, with the Old Shenzheners holding strong to their socialist living, more concerned with benefiting society as a whole rather than an individual, while the New Shenzheners have a more capitalist view on food. The New Shenzheners believe more in benefitting the individual, which accompanies their desire to have more choices when it comes to food, and to eat more popular food.

     I found it very interesting that the Old Shenzheners were more stuck on their socialist ideals, even though their food no longer has to be rationed. I always figured that people who suffered through times of food rations, such as in WWII, they would want to have and eat as much food as they please, and whatever kind of food they please. I found it surprising that this was not the case. In the Cate article, I found it very interesting that each of the prisoners who made spread had either a personal reason why they do so, or a “signature dish” that either reminded them of home, or was just too good not to make.