Defining Identity through Food

The type of food a person feeds on has a lot of significance in life. Food is an excellent
source of identity and has meaning in life. Harris gives personal experience on food relating her
closely to African-American identity. She identifies with her grandma’s cooking, who was fond
of collard greens. She witnesses that collards has followed her throughout her life. Wong, on the
other side, gives personal experience on Chinese dumplings. He identifies with the Chinese
eating culture that he says may be odd, but it is his way of life (Wong). Ahn gives experience
dining at a Korean restaurant. Although he is a Korean, he left Korea to the United States while
still young. However, since he is a Korean, he finds identity in Korean foods. The three authors
give ideas concerning food and identity, exposing how food affects identity. Food is an essential
source for identity and should be a vital aspect in defining life of society.
Focusing on Harris’s identity, the food the grandma introduced to her has shaped her
identity even after getting out of her parents’ home. She loves collard leaves and relates to the
food with affection more than other food. Her identity is African Americans and relates to food
that has influenced her menu after settling in New York. Ahn has less identity with Korean
foods. Most of his early life was spent in the United States, where he had different kind of food.
However, since he wants to relate to Korean culture, he finds the best way to do it was through
food. He does not want to lose his identity as a Korean, and as such, he learns it the hard way.

Surname 2
Although Wong has been out of China, he still associates with Chinese dumplings that are
related to his culture.
Different aspects define culture in any society. Food plays a significant role in identity
and ha meaning to people of society. People who do not want to lose the identity of their cultures
relate to food primarily. In some cases, some people may feel they are losing identity and start
tracing their identity in food from their societal background. To them, food means much in
ethnic identity. For instance, Ahn feels he is losing identity after getting into a restaurant but
cannot feed as a Korean (ahn). That makes him be disoriented from his ethnicity and finds for
means to retrieve back to his culture. To Ahn, the kind of food one feeds on relates to him or her
to a particular ethnic society.
Food dictates how a person to associate with ethnic grouping. Earlier experiences on food
have long-term effects that a person identifies with until old age. The aspects are inheritable from
generation to generation, and people associate with food and feeding habits to trace their identity.
Wong wants to associate with Chinese traditional culture and find the Americanized Chinese
food unsuitable for the purpose. He wants to feed like his grandmother, who takes small bites out
of the whole dumpling rather than using ketchup and fork. Chinese Dumplings that were
introduced to him at an early age has influenced his life to old age. Feeding habits matter a lot to
him, and he feels Americanized when feeding on the dumplings using ketchup and fork.
Culture is like a skin; one cannot do away with it. Habits introduced to a person at an
early age cannot be laid off until old age. Harris was introduced to collards while young, and she
associated with them until she settled in New York away from her parents. The taste of leafy
greens followed her, and she admits that it reminded her of her blackness amidst the groves of
ivy. The collards defined her heritage and grounded her identity throughout her life. Harris

Surname 3
inherited the culture from her grandma, and he has preserved it. Greens are part of her diet, even
though she has advanced her cooking techniques.
Although many people lose their culture after integrating into other cultures, they still
hold aspects that associate them with their ethnic society. The majority of people living with
people of different ethnic groups want to preserve their identity and remain unique from the
others who are not of their ethnic group. While focusing on Ahn, he is of Korean origin but
living in the United States. Failure to feed like other Koreans in a restaurant led him to develop a
close identity with Korean food not to lose his ethnic identity. Food to him is a significant
component of culture, and he can only associate with his ethnic society through food. Wong is in
the United States, as well. However, he does not want to lose identity and hence likes the
Chinese dumplings related to cultural aspects. Feeding habits and many feeding utensils give him
his real ethnic identity. He does not like the Americanization of the Chinese dumplings feeding
habits since he associates it with losing identity. Therefore, regardless of having settled in a
foreign land, he expresses traditional aspects through feeding habits and the kind of food he
finds.
On the other hand, Harris wants to keep her African American heritage and be inimitable
in the multifaceted culture. She learned the art of incorporating greens in food from her grandma,
who seems to have kept the tradition (Harris). Harris likes her food and inherits the culture as
well. From the three articles’ analysis, food stands out to be a specific aspect of cultural identity.
The three authors relate their food taste to ethnic settings where they inherited the culture and
embraced it.

Surname 4

Work Cited

Ahn, Roy. “Home Run: My Journey Back to Korean Food”. Gastronomica, vol 9, no. 4, 2009,
pp. 12-15. University of California Press, doi:10.1525/gfc.2009.9.4.12.
Harris, Jessica. “In A Leaf of Collard, Green”. We Are What We Eat, vol 77, no. 13, 1998, p.
17. Wide Gardener.
Wong, Lily. “Eating the Hyphen”. Gastronomica, vol 12, no. 3, 2012, pp. 18-20. University of
California Press, doi:10.1525/gfc.2012.12.3.18.