Food And Identity

How Can Food Make Up Who You Are?

Food is a vital part of every culture and is used to identify regions and people. When looking at the Red Teahouses of Uzbekistan. The Bolsheviks understood the popularity and importance of “Black” Teahouse culture in the area and decided to use them as a central component to mobilize the masses and spread various agendas and ideologies of the party. The teahouses had pre-soviet roots in Uzbekistan and were the most widespread non-religious social institute in Central Asia. Due to the sociability and location of the teahouses which would usually be located within a town or city center, the teahouses served as the ideal location to spread agendas and ideologies.

Tea and Culture

Food and identity are often intertwined. A striking example of this connection is the Uzbek black and red teahouses. For context, tea houses were significant social institutions in Uzbek culture where men could socialize and gossip while drinking tea. This made black teahouses a place that discouraged certain vices such as gambling and drinking. When the Soviet Union came to power, they used this preexisting establishment to create “red” teahouses. Immediately, we see in the name of “red” teahouses how food and identity are connected. The Uzbek teahouses transformed into a communist-controlled political institution which changed its function and identity 

Thanksgiving As Food Identity

Food and identity correlate in many ways. Food brings on tradition and ritual that people spend with their families and friends. Whether it is a holiday, an achievement, or a ritual, food is always present in the time of celebration. Usually, these same foods are used around the same time each year, bringing culture and nostalgia to people.

Thanksgiving brings a lot of American people together, eating turkey, stuffing, etc. Thanksgiving is a big part of American culture and identity, as we celebrate nation wide with our families watching football, the parade, and eating the food. Other nations have their own holidays in which they celebrate, bringing them a different identity they celebrate with their families. After reading Inventing the American Taco, we learned about the “land of seven moles” where chefs turned festival foods into restaurants for people to enjoy. This brings Mexico a culture and identity with their own foods, specifically tacos. Overall, food plays a massive role in culture and identity, shaping the holidays and traditions people celebrate.

Cooking Our Lives

Did you know that cookbooks can be read as historical documents? It may seem a tad outlandish, but it is true! Cookbooks can be some of the most valuable historical documents that historians can have at their disposal. Cookbooks seemingly simple lists of ingredients and processes actually lead to countless questions. For example, what exact measurements (or lack thereof) does the recipe utilize? Are the measurements understandable to a modern audience? Does the average reader have the tools necessary to measure the amount listed in the recipe?

As another example, the list of ingredients themselves leads to a whole host of questions. How accessible are the ingredients in your location (in terms of cost or simply knowing where to find them)? How much labor, and who is doing this labor, does it take to prepare the ingredients in the way the recipe calls for? Lastly, contrasting the terminology of older versus modern recipes also points towards the evolving social context. Could the average reader understand what ingredients from a cookbook one hundred years ago are? They may be something still utilized today but under a different name it would seem completely out of reach.

As these questions show, cookbooks are a wealth of information. Information that the authors of the cookbook expect readers to understand explicitly to some degree. What is not clearly defined, in terms of process or ingredients, is just as important as what the authors of the recipe take the time to define.

Perhaps a concrete example would illustrate these ideas better than continued discussion. As you read the discussion of the following recipe keep these ideas in mind as about this seemingly simple Mongolian recipe! For reference, the first image is a reference image for a traditional
Chinese measure and the second is of sweet Börek.

Measurements when cooking with older cultural dishes can be quite confusing at times. There were measurements in place that are not used by places outside of the origin of the dish. For example, Sweet Börek is a Chinese/Mongolian dish with Turkish influence that is very similar to baklava. What is so unique about it is its recipe for 32 Liang or Chinese ounces of walnuts. Most of the ingredients are fairly normal like water or honey. Where it differs is that it calls for something called “Kürshäk” which promptly sits right next to it the recipe says, Barley?

In modern times today, we can convert Liang to ounces. It equates to about 1.33 ounces per liang. With technology like this, it is not too hard to develop these unusual scales of measurement. What is difficult is the phrasing or wording that is used for ingredients. Like i previously stated the ingredient kürshäk is relatively unknown. The authors who translated this cookbook seem to know it is similar to barley but could be something entirely different.

Finally, on the recipe it calls for the cook to knead the dough, after a thorough mixing, into sanbusak shapes. If someone was creating this recipe without any prior knowledge to Persian cuisine or had images to look at of Sanbusak shapes they would have no idea how to create this pastry.

The average reader may find this specific recipe slightly difficult. Without technology to look certain elements up like measurement conversions, kneading patterns, or names of unknown ingredients I think it could be quite difficult for the average cook. If you get into the outside world around Europe Asia or the Middle East there may be an easier attrition to the recipe, but here in America the average American would have difficulty completing it.

Take, for example, this Bal-po Soup. Upon first glance, it seems fairly simple- just mutton, cardamoms, chickpeas, and Chinese radish. Yet, looking in the preparation, multiple other ingredients emerge. Saffron, black pepper, coriander leaves, vinegar, salt, and rice. Without reading through the entire recipe beforehand, an eager chef may find themself sorely unprepared for the recipe.

Even with all the ingredients, an American cook will struggle to understand the measurements. Rather than the standard measuring systems, the chinese ounce is heavily referenced. Additionally, the cardamoms are just described as “five.” It can be hard to find cardamom in its pod form in the United States, as the recipe refers to. This may cause challenges without preparation. Further, the chickpeas are described as half a sheng. A sheng is about 35 fluid oz. Does this mean that the chickpeas are dry or canned? The lack of description makes these ingredients hard to understand. Without a proper knowledge of the culture and region the recipe comes from, it may be difficult to correctly produce the ingredients and recipe.

Assuming we have all the ingredients and proper measurements, the recipe’s complexity continues. To make the soup, the first step is “to make a soup.” This makes little sense and does not become any easier to understand as the recipe progresses. In fact, it becomes more convoluted. Sub-instructions are embedded in larger ones. For the “Strain” step, the recipe discusses making a broth but does not explain how we get here or how it is used.

This Bal-po Soup would be nearly impossible to replicate without a working knowledge of the culture and soup itself. As the ingredients are embedded in the preparation, you must read the full recipe beforehand or have the traditional spices used in Mongolian cuisine. Not to mention expensive!