You Eat What You Are

You read correctly. You Eat What You Are: People, Culture and Food Traditions is the title of a book in reference (R 394.12 BAR) that I would do well to look at more frequently. When students are assigned papers on a country, they are often asked to write about the foods and eating habits of the people in that country. Two options stand out in the front of my mind when I am confronted with that request. First, we do have several cookbooks with recipes from various regions. Sometimes they help, but oftentimes they provide mostly recipes and not enough information on their cultural context and eating habits in general. CultureGrams provide a summary paragraph on the food people eat in each country. Students are often satisfied with one paragraph (or say they are). But there is much, much more.

You Eat What You Are is not far from CultureGrams on the shelf. Some entries are regional. (Latin America, for instance, has one entry for all countries south of Mexico.) Others cover areas within countries. (Scotland and Wales each have their own entry.) All of Sub-Saharan Africa is covered in a mere 23 pages, broadly broken down by region with Somalia and Ethiopia being the only individual countries covered as regions within the African breakdown, leading one to believe that culinary information about many indigenous cultures has been lost. (There are eight pages on Welsh cuisine alone). Italy, by contrast, is covered extensively, with subsections on 15 regions. (I found the historical overview of Italian cuisine particularly interesting.)

Of particular interest is the section in many entries called 'Special Occasions,' and the glossary of terms appearing at the end of each entry provide a delicious overview of the kinds of dishes the region in known for. The Danish Aebleskiver and Kaernemaelkskoldskal (buttermilk soup) are listed, for example. I was particularly taken with the Dutch Taai-Taai, "soft and chewy gingerbread cookies made in shapes of men and women, served at the place setting of each guest for St. Nicholas' Eve, December 5." (p. 117) It's well worth a second look.