People usually have a specific item that identifies their personality. It may certainly be more than one item. Whatever the case may be, that item(s) represents in part or in whole that certain individual. In the same way, every culture has something that identifies them. The item could be either a tangible or an abstract object so as long as it calls to mind the culture as soon as one sees it or after it is explained to them. For this project however, I have chosen a tangible artifact. The artifact that I have chosen is bread.
Bread has fed man for thousands upon thousands of years. It goes back as far as the Neolithic era (Bread Online). Bread has evolved over the years. Wheat has been around since before recorded history. It is very likely that wheat was usually chewed at first (History of Bread Online). Then it was discovered that it could be crushed. Later it was discovered that when the crushed wheat was set over fire, it hardened and thus flat bread came to be. In Egypt around 1000 B.C. yeast was introduced into bread. The Greeks picked up after the Egyptians then it went to Europe where it became very popular for the Romans. Bread for the Romans was thought to be “more vital than meat” (History of Bread Online). Even a person’s social status could be identified with the type of bread they consumed. Since white flours were more expensive, the darker the bread the lower the social status. This is not the case today however. Now, darker breads are
Castañeda 2
more expensive and highly valued for their flavor and their nutrition (History of Bread Online). Bread was also one of the foods that kept the poor from starvation (History of Bread Online). I find this fascinating because it links very well with my project.
Alth...
... middle of paper ...
...e to stay with us because everything about bread is life.
The Downtown Chapel in Old Town, Portland becomes this bread for the homeless community there. It provides them with their daily needs both physical and non-physical. Bread, both in its literal and symbolic meaning, is what we humans need to live. Bread is what the homeless lack, but with the help of the Downtown Chapel they acquire that bread and thus the Downtown Chapel becomes for that homeless community their own personal staff of life.
Castañeda 8
Works Cited
“Bread". Feb 20 2010 .
"Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary". Feb 20 2010 webster.com/>. Rayment, W.J.. "History of Bread". Feb 20 2010
.
The New American Bible. Iowa Falls: World Bible Publishers, Inc. 1987.
Book three of the novel “Bread Givers,” written by Anzia Yezierska is set in New York. The story revolves around Sara Smolinsky, her family and the struggles they face in their daily lives. The main conflict in book three is Sara’s guilt for leaving her family and pursuing her career without seeing them for six years. For example, when she comes back to see her family, she realizes she is too late. Her mother is dying. Sara feels horrible that she didn’t come to see her mother and spend more time with her. She knows that she should’ve come to see her mother instead of investing so much time with school. Then, her mother dies a couple days later. She decides to stay and visit her father, Reb Smolinsky, often but doesn’t visit him after he gets married again only thirty days after her mother died. A couple months later, she sees Reb again but he’s working. She feels guilty for not supporting him and giving him money in his time of need. To see him working to get money for his greedy wife made her feel terrible. In the end, Reb can’t stand being in the same house as his wife and decides he wants to leave. He doesn’t know where to so Sara decides to take him in and let
The 1920s was a hard and painstaking era in American history. Many family's throughout New York lived in absolute poverty and saved week to week just to make enough to eat and pay the rent. Many Immigrants flooded the streets desperate for work while living conditions were harsh and many starved. This is just the case of the novel Bread Givers, written by Anzia Yezierska. In this story we follow Sarah Smolinsky, an ambiguous independent Jewish girl "trapped" by her religious traditions. Her story unfolds as she breaks away from her controlling parents and moves to work and go to school for hopes of being a school teacher. Her life is not easy and she must endure countless sacrifices just to get by. With the determination of her will she graduates college, but returns to her father to take care of him in his old age. In the begging of the story Sarah hates her father, and everything about him, and this relates to her hatred of his God and his traditions. From hatred of her father she refuses her Jewish traditions and religious beliefs to make a better life for her self in America. After accomplishing her goals, she can't ignore the emptiness of her fathers love. Sarah yearns with a wanting to be loved by her father. She begins feels remorse for him, and starts to remember her past and where she came from, returning slowly to her once lost traditions.
...on the homeless community. I previously held preconceived notions that the homeless consisted of people who were either unable to connect and form relationships with others or didn’t desire to do so. Yet, I observed most everyone greeting one another and reminiscing with those who have been absent from the community for a while, as well as, expressing concern for those missing. I recognized that the homeless may live in a non-traditional way, but they have established their own communities and are successful in forming and maintaining cohesive relationships.
Walter Martin, a Christian minister, once said, “A key to strengthening spiritual muscles and enduring hardship is finding strength in the Word of God.” Life in the American colonies was incredibly hard for early settlers, especially to combat sin and abuse from others. However, this fight against the struggles was made possible through the help from the Word of God. Life in the American colonies was harsh and challenging for settlers because the whites tried to be as holy as possible and the blacks were overexploited.
Bread was one of the first foods that was made instead of grown or hunted. Bread dates all the way back to the Neolithic era. By the twentieth century, Americans consumed bread in greater quantities than any other food. Bread has constantly evolved since the Neolithic age, but the manner in which it was served did not change drastically until 1928. Even before the bread-slicing machine, sliced bread was controversial. The act of slicing bread before it was necessary was banned during World War One (Bobrow-Strain). Thus, housewives were forced to cut bread at the table as needed so it would not go stale and be wasted. This prevented the bread from having to be thrown out unnecessarily and new bread, which could have gone to the soldiers, to be bought for the family (“Fascinating Facts”).
The cartoon shows the famous Bread March that happened on October 5, 1789. This cartoon depicts the women marching from Paris to Versailles. The flag the women are holding is a fictional flag that says “Blood or Bread”. The crossed pike and baguette symbolized how serious women needed bread to feed their children. The steak stick in the middle means that they would kill to get bread. There was an estimate of 6,000 women that were involved in the march. They walked 13 miles in the rain to get to Versailles for bread. After they went to King Louis XVI in the Palace of Versailles, they brought back the king and queen back to Paris which became there “prison”. All of these events had happened all during the French Revolution and during the Enlightenment.
to survive and thrive. Not only this, but it is also has an important societal function. Food is an important part of celebrations and sometimes dictates roles in societies. In Medieval society food was important for banquets, what was eaten by a person could denote what class a person was from, and was often mentioned in the literature. For my project I presented desserts, bread, and a couple of drinks. As far as the bread is concerned I made one loaf using beer and one loaf using water. The desserts were a strawberry tart, and Daryols, which is basically a custard or pudding pie. I also made two alcohol drinks, Mead, though very weak, and spiced wine.
Any sort will do but it is perfectly fine to use cheap white sliced bread as then you will know that all of the slices are a similar size, weight and thickness. You must make a note of the brand and use-by date so that anybody else wanting to repeat the Mold Bread Experiment can use the same type.
Little would one know that something as simple as the bread one uses to make their sandwich could cause so much havoc and debate in the late 1800s to the early 1900s. The debates over whether or not white bread was healthy, or whether homemade bread is healthier than store-bought bread consumed the minds of many Americans during this period. According to Aaron Bobrow-Strain, “well-meaning efforts to change the country through its bread ended up reinforcing forms of race, class, and gender exclusion – even when they also achieved much-needed improvements in America’s food system.” But what does this mean? Well, the varying belief on quality and health of bread was closely tied to who was making the bread. Through the production, distribution, and purchase of bread during the late 19th and early 20th century, one is able to discover the views on race and social class that surrounded the country during this period.
Bread has become a staple food in the majority of Americans lives. Through Bobrow-Strain’s novel of White Bread: A Social History of the Store-Bought Loaf (2012) he examines what has changed the patterns and perceptions of white bread and the industrialization of white bread through-out American History. Bobrow-Strain discusses alarming thoughts about what is done to the bread through control, money, likes, dislikes and the economics of the industrialization of bread. One of the main aspects of why white bread is examined so intensively in his book is because of how people associate it with a certain race, class or even gender. Bobrow-Strain shows the reader how white bread says a lot about who we are and who we want to be as a society.
Ruth Benedict’s anthropological book, Patterns of Culture explores the dualism of culture and personality. Benedict studies different cultures such as the Zuni tribe and the Dobu Indians. Each culture she finds is so different and distinctive in relation to the norm of our society. Each difference is what makes it unique. Benedict compares the likenesses of culture and individuality, “A culture, like an individual, is a more or less consistent pattern of thought or action” (46), but note, they are not the same by use of the word, “like.” Benedict is saying that figuratively, cultures are like personalities. Culture and individuality are intertwined and dependent upon each other for survival.
Foods from Africa, which have impacted North American cuisine are numerous, and common in the everyday eating habits of Americans. In the 21st century, Americans take for granted the history of the food they eat, and the origins of the foods that are eaten today. In the early part of the history of the United States, people of European descent brought recipes from home and adapted their recipes to the ingredients which were available. The slave trade was directly responsible for what many Americans think of as American food, and those foods are traceable to Africa. Because slaves incorporated their own foods into the everyday lives of their masters, some of the unique foods from Africa and their history are not well known today. American
In the Old Testament bread was thought of as one of the main basic human needs to sustain life. It was a main food source and was important for life. In the Old Testament in particular it is a source of hospitality and thanksgiving to God.
Not only is food indispensable for survival, it is also a subject that is important to the construction of cultures. Indeed, from the sociological perspective, there is a direct relationship between food and culture.
Food is the number one most important thing out of everything because it’s a necessity to keep one alive. There are some substitutes that can be made to keep the body healthy. For example, instead of using the common white bread for a sandwich, try using whole grain bread. Whole wheat bread consist of nutrients that most bodies need everyday. Just one slice of whole grain bread conta...