Just Looking ...

In class we discussed what is considered "ethnic" food and came up with a list of foods that, in Canada or Toronto, we considered to be termed "ethnic". Linking this to previous terms of cultural capital discussed in the first term, I venture to suggest that through our consumption of these ethnic foods (which were discussed as being Indian or Japanese on the North American context) we acquire cultural capital. Because every one on this planet eats food we use the different types we eat as a signifying system to communicate something about our tastes or cultural identity on what we choose to consume. This idea can also be connected with the idea learned in class of and imagined national identity where a persons "nationality" is based on their cultural differences such as the food they consume, which prof. Kalmar says to be based on a conception of a nation tied together by history. The idea of "ethnic" food as holding a cultural identity on the basis of how it is cooked and consumed (which creates the differences between different cultural foods) can be seen in this light as being purely symbolic and if we take the leap in connecting ethnic foods with the concept of an imagined national identity can be viewed as having no real basis in reality. So, is the idea of ethnic food purely imagined?