Pickled cucumbers, sauteed beef with Japanese BBQ sauce,egg soup,rice(ofcourse),and korean noodles.
While interviewing my mother, I felt as though perhaps the way my parents and I approach food is similar to an extent. My mother said that she values a balanced meal no matter how busy her day is. There has to be vegetables,protein,and carbohydrates somewhere in the meal. Ofcourse I don't think as deeply as her about eating healthy, but I do agree that its important. I always approach food from their taste, but I also think my mother's balance diet approach affects my decisions on what I eat at the same time. I tend to avoid food that is too oily or greasy. Our approaches and priorities differ when it comes to food, but I think I make healthier decisions compared to certain teenagers because I am so used to my mother's cooking.
I then asked causally about my grandparent's approaches to food. I assumed in my mind that their meals has affected my mother's approach to food-but the answer I received was unexpected. Yes, my grandparents were very healthy people indeed. My grandpa owns a garden where he grows fresh fruits and vegetables to bring on the dinner table. He has the habit to buy meals for the day, so that leftovers can be avoided. But, my mother shook her head at my simple assumptions.
According to my mother-it wasn't really my grandparents who affected her approach to food; it was her school. Unlike schools in the U.S, there are mandatory cooking classes in Japanese school. In these classes, students would be taught the importance of a balanced diet. Students would also help out in making the cafeteria food (which tastes so much better than the cafetaria food here). This is probably why both generations (my grandparents and my parents) value so much on eating healthy. I thought parental teachings affected our approaches to food, but my mother's ideas changed my opinion: its the culture and teachings that affects out approaches.
After the interview, I came to the conclusion that the culture around us is the major factor to generational differences in foodways. My mother believes that some parents from the U.S lack in teaching their children about health and food diets. She thinks that if parents were to be more educating to their children about food, our views toward it would alter. I understand where my mother is coming from, but I also think these parents she refers to lack the food education
to provide to their children. Why are people so obsessive with whole foods and organic food? This is unnecessary use of money in my opinion. There is no point in eating all these organic food if its not eaten correctly-which goes back to the idea of a balanced diet. Both my mother and I believe that most humans cannot live solely from vegetables. Yes, my mother always provides the veggies in the meals, but she also mentioned how poultry and protein provides energy to our bodies-which makes sense.
I posted above a photo of a typical meal at the dinner table. This photo supports my mother's point about trying to provide a balanced diet-a little bit of everything. The photo in a way, reflects our culture of Japanese cuisine and the way we eat. I lack knowledge about other family's meals and origins for food, but I'm sure its quite different from my parent's. I think the main reason why my parent's food ways are so different than mines, is because of my mother's theory: Most schools in the U.S lack the classes that Japanese schools provide. Perhaps I would make even more healthier decisions if there were deep classes involving food and our health.
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