Food Essay Pre-Writing Ideas

Food’s Role 

While I studied abroad in Italy during the January Venice Session in 2019, I took a course on the Aesthetics of Food Culture. During this course, we discovered the role that food plays during interactions with family and friends through analyzing film and different narratives. All throughout history, food is able to bring people together despite the circumstance. It’s used as a conversation and a way for people to bond. There are little nuances I never knew about regarding foods we claim to be “Italian” in America that are altered and not genuine to the real Italian culture. Spaghetti and meatballs are never paired together in Italy, but we combine the two in one dish in America. 

Food can evoke a sense of nostalgia and bring back memories we connect with each dish. I used to love walking into my grandparents’ house because it would always smell like freshly cooked rice and an assortment of Filipino dishes which meant we would be laughing and talking all night. 

The Shift in Food’s Role (Lack of Authenticity)

American food servings are notorious for being too large and I found that while eating in Italy, I was able to consume a full course meal without feeling uncomfortable considering the portion sizes were very much appropriate. In the documentary Supersize Me, Morgan Spurlock shows the effects of these huge portion sizes on his body. He finds physically and emotionally affected by the amount of McDonald’s he takes in every day. Food is proven to lose its authenticity and original role in our lives. It’s no longer meant to be carefully made and slowly enjoyed, it’s now a convenient way to fill our stomachs. 

Anthony Bourdain was a celebrity chef who discussed these little tricks behind ordering from restaurants in his book titled Kitchen Confidential. He explained what you should and shouldn’t order at a restaurant, explaining that restaurants will push food that’s nearly rotten and reuse old bread baskets, just a few disgusting things we wouldn’t want to experience while dining. In an ideal world, there wouldn’t need to be tricks and hacks you need to know before dining. 

Fast food restaurants and even regular dining establishments have changed food’s role and meaning to us. For some of us, we can’t always have a home-cooked meal every day and surround ourselves with loved ones at the dinner table all of the time. Fast food is made quickly and sold for cheap, a mechanical concoction created without any care or personality. When dine-in restaurants don’t care for their stored food and either keep it in unsafe temperatures or leave it sitting for too long, it can lead to an unpleasant experience. All to save money. 

The purpose of this food essay is to show the audience how this lack of care and authenticity can deteriorate the meaning behind food. 

Works Cited:

“From Our Kitchen To Your Table.” Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, by Anthony Bourdain, Bloomsbury, 2018.