Bugs for Breakfast is a very interesting video on the nature and habits of the people and what they like to eat

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Magdalena

Sociology 100

October 24, 2005

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Bugs for Breakfast is a very interesting video on the nature and

habits of the people and what they like to eat. It mainly features

why people eat what they eat. This video has a lot to do with culture

affecting the eating factors of what we eat. Culture is defined as

the complex system of meaning and behavior that defines the way of

life for a given group or society. In this case it defines what

people eat. In Bugs for Breakfast, the video explains that everyone

needs to eat no matter what culture that you may live in. In Africa,

Asia and Mexico it is not uncommon to find people that eat

caterpillars, grubs and ants. Rats and mice are commonly eaten in

Asia as well as Mexico. Even snake may be eaten in these cultures.

We may think that it is disgusting, but as the video says, “We eat

chicken embryos and slivers of pig for breakfast.” To me it does

sound disgusting to eat a lot of these different things, but the video

also explains that disgust is a learned response due to culture. The

point of this film it to desensitize us to the norms in our society.

If we were to be raised in Asia we would think no differently about

eating bugs for breakfast than you would eat cheerios with milk. This

is something that our culture has taught us. These are the norms.

Another example would be our love of cheese. Cheese is grass that has

been regurgitated by a cow and then reprocessed and finally becomes

milk. When the milk is transported to the processing plant the cheese

goes through a solidification process. An enzyme from the cow’s

stomach is introduced...

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doesn’t matter when you eat, but it all points to a cultural thing.

In some cultures not everyone dines at elevated tables. In Japan they

usually kneel and eat on lowered tables. I am a Japanese-American and

I still only eat at elevated tables or in front of the television. As

an example of culture, I am Japanese but I do not eat Japanese food

like nato or Nishime. I am a product of my culture. I am more

Americanized and would choose a steak or a hamburger versus oyaku

donburi. I do not even know how to use chopsticks. This is all due

to the culture that I was raised in.

Bibliography

1. Bugs For Breakfast, [Video Recording], Lake Zurich ,Illinois:

Learning Seed, 2001.

2. Sociology: The Essentials, Margaret L. Anderson, Howard F Taylor;

[Book], Belmont, California: Thomson Wadsworth, 2005

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