TL - Food is for Function Lesson
Food is for Function
Although there is a great deal of controversy among scientists about the effects of ingested food on the brain, no one denies that you can change your cognition and mood by what you eat.
- Arthur Winter
Not only can you change your cognition and mood by what you eat, but what and how you eat describes your preferences, mannerisms, socioeconomic status, number of friends, size of family, family dynamics, and much more. Food is one of the few things that we encounter multiple times daily that appeals to all of our senses. We are closely linked with what we eat. Because of our intimate relationship with food, it has overwhelming descriptive power in language. The description of food causes us to make multiple inferences without even realizing it. Food divides regions and cultures all over the world. Take the boiled peanut, for example: On an average summer Saturday, how many peanut stands do you pass? If you leave the South and drive for hours, I assure you will pass a whopping zero. Why? Because food is often associated with particular regions.
Revisit the letter by Percy that we read in the first topic and pay specific attention to his description of food. Then read the articles below about food culture in the colonial period and reflect on what kinds of inferences you can make about the islands of Percy's journey and his destination of Jamestown. How can writing about one subject in a letter provide the audience with a working knowledge or understanding of an entire culture?
Reading Assignment: "Percy - Virtual Jamestown"
Reading Assignment: "Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner - The Food Timeline, Colonial America"
Reading Assignment: "Williamsburg Also Celebrates What African Americans Ate"
Click here to access "Williamsburg Also Celebrates what African Americans Ate" by Gretchen McKay online Links to an external site. OR click here to download a copy of the article Links to an external site.
Reading Assignment: "What's for Dinner?"
Click here to read "What's for Dinner? Wampanoag Food" Links to an external site.
RESOURCES IN THIS MODULE ARE OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES (OER) OR CREATED BY GAVS UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED. SOME IMAGES USED UNDER SUBSCRIPTION.