Monday, March 15, 2010

food and gloablization

Globalization, food labor, gender, and race seem so different but the truth is that they can all be interrelated at times. Centuries ago globalization of food and food labor began when food was spread from Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Not only was food shared among various peoples but along with the food came the ways it was produced and prepared. With farmers, mainly men, producing the main produce and women preparing the food for consumption, there were commonalities across the globe and if not they grew into the customs of the areas. Food is one thing that everyone in the entire world has in common since everyone has to eat, even if the food is different. Even within the same country there will be differences between races and the food that is consumed but how the food gets to the mouth tends to be very similar even between races and countries. Women working in domestic kitchens are common all across the world whereas if men are associated with food it is in a professional setting that is very public and supposedly more demanding. The few times in history that women have been paid for their labor in the kitchen was usually when they working in the homes of very wealthy people and prepared the meals for the family, not in a public setting. The globalization of food has caused not only the foods of different areas to spread but also the dishes and specialties that are associated with each food and with that comes who completes the task. Every culture is different in its own way but since everyone is human we are likely to have some similarities and once we have started to spread out and share ideas more similarities will appear and while everything will still be different there will always be something that links us all together, food and its processes.

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