[mcr3ative]

hey everyone~
I don't normally go to this section but I think it's more suitable to place this topic here. In relations to theskinnygirl's topic "Be honest girls, can you COOK?" I'm doing a research topic about Asian American women and the importance of preserving cultural ethnic foods (if it's even important or not important at all). I'd like to hear your feedback and opinions on this subject (and no you don't have to be Asian or a woman to state your opinion)

I have a cousin that's currently married and I noticed that she doesn't seem to cook for her kids. basically she mostly feeds her kids restaurant/fast food dishes and that's basically what her kids will be growing up with as their "home food". for me, I grew up with my mom cooking me a variety of home ethnic dishes ranging from soups, meat, vegetables and noodles, etc. now picture your kid taking a bite of McDonalds and saying, "YUM, this reminds me of mom", how would you feel girls?

For me, I'm a Chinese American and I mostly cook/make foods irrelevant to my own culture (like salads, pastas, baked goods, etc.) Thinking about it now, would it confuse my kids to feed them these types of dishes rather than my own ethnic foods?

In fact, I have a survey up for my research paper, if you guys can take a few minutes filling it out, I'd greatly appreciate it (sorry in advance if that's not allowed here D:) of course everything is confidential, I won't ask for names or anything, it's entirely up to you guys if you want to take it. It's located here, click on AAS 697 to take the survey: http://ibobochen.com/survey/

so to sum it up, what do you guys think? is it important, not just for ourselves but our kids too (if you have any or plan to have any) to continue passing down traditional ethnic dishes we grew up with?

(sorry for the very long topic >.<;)

[Atmosphere.]

Survey was long too, oh wells.. I just hope it didn't contain virus or spyware.....................

After I took that, it made me realize that I should definitely learn how to learn my ethnic foods. If I wasn't afraid to touch raw meats, I would make lots of bulgogi, ribs, etc, but I'm like afraid of it because of the stupid animal killing video T_T I almost became vegetarian from that! Anyways, I think it is important for our future children to eat your ethnic's food, I mean while they grow up, they will only know non-ethnic's food more and who knows started to hate its own ethnicity? o_o I rated to 9 for most of the questions that asked me on that survey.

[vivientww]

I guess it is important since that kind of particular cuisine were cooked and eaten by our ancestors, parents and yeah.

[mcr3ative]

Survey was long too, oh wells.. I just hope it didn't contain virus or spyware.....................

After I took that, it made me realize that I should definitely learn how to learn my ethnic foods. If I wasn't afraid to touch raw meats, I would make lots of bulgogi, ribs, etc, but I'm like afraid of it because of the stupid animal killing video T_T I almost became vegetarian from that! Anyways, I think it is important for our future children to eat your ethnic's food, I mean while they grow up, they will only know non-ethnic's food more and who knows started to hate its own ethnicity? o_o I rated to 9 for most of the questions that asked me on that survey.

thanks for taking it =) don't worry there's nothing bad in it XD

but yeah being a vegetarian for this situation is also interesting. I had a classmate that stated his opinion about this topic saying that he was a vegetarian and he's Pilipino so in a way, because of that, ethnic food for him didn't play that much of a huge importance in his life. I myself also don't work well with meat... though I eat it, I just can't touch raw meat xD

[younglove]

I don't think it's very important at all. Someday I hope all notion of national identity and race are gone and we live in a galactic federation.

Live long and prosper people.

[dlre]

i'm somewhere in the middle for this since i think food is important to your ethnicity but it doesn't define it on its own. different aspects does. of course food is usually the first thing that other people try and get curious about when it is related to your etnicity.
i would say i would like to have my kids know how to cook the kinds of food that their ancestors ate in the past but not limiting them to just that.
i know i am kinda confusing myself
just a note, i took your survey and it does have some pretty good questions but there is one that i thought you should fix a bit if possible. instead of leaving the choice to the question "what trait best describe you" (i think that was the question) to "all the time" you should put "most of the time" since i am pretty sure very few people cook all the time/eat parents cooking all the time/ eat take out all the time
just putting my two cents in lol

[efflorescent musings]

After dorming for a month, I realize how much I miss home food. So yes, I do think it is important know how to cook ethnic food. I grew up eating a bowl of steamed, white rice everyday and the dishes are chinese to the max. Of course, I would hope to cook delicious chinese food for my kids in the future but I would also like to cook other cultures' dishes as well. =]

As for your cousin... maybe she should start learning how to cook. My cousin is at the marriageable age and I can say that she can't cook as well. But it's never too late to learn.

[dOm0jo]

I think it;s important. =]]

[sake-nya]

I think it's important to be able to cook your own ethnic foods, especially for your own children.
I mean, I want them to know about their culture and to be able to thrive in it. Certainly they can grow up with Americanized aspects as well, but I feel like just having them understand their own Chinese culture is priority.

That's one of the reasons I'm learning to cook different Chinese dishes, haha. I want to preserve this culture no matter how many generations down the road my future family ends up being.

[sentuhmentalfo0l]

i think its really important
and mainly bc i love it so much so i cook it all the time!
and i def think its a way to preserve tradition with food

[Epiphanydawning]

This is an interesting question. ^^
It got me thinking because I stress the importance of culture a lot but I never really questioned why.
But yes, I think passing down traditional ethnic foods to our children is very important.
I think it's because my ethnic identity is a part of who I am and keeping up with the traditions of my family's people is like having the feeling of being home even if you're a thousand miles away. I feel closer, in a spiritual way, to my ancestors and my family as well as myself. Food and art is usually one of the first things people get to know as they learn about others' cultures because they are tangible representations. I want my kids to know who their family is and food is an important part of that because it's a big part of life in general.

And because Vietnamese food is delicious.

[Meenuh]

I took the survey for you.

It's important to me. I've been learning how to make a lot of traditional korean dishes. I don't want to lose those foods later on when I don't have my parents to cook for me anymore. I think it's important to embrace our american culture considering we are living in the US but its also important to not forget a part of who we are.

I know people will probably just say "go to out to eat korean food then" but a lot of the foods I eat at korean places don't even come close to the stuff I eat at home. Some of it doesn't even really taste like korean food! Especially the kimchi! I rarely ever go to a korean food place and eat the kimchi and say "wow this is good!" Most of the times I say to myself "This doesn't even taste like kimchi at all..." Like it literally doesn't taste like kimchi to me. I don't want it to come to that point where I forget about my culture's foods and in the future my children as well. I want them to be able to enjoy a part of our culture since american food and culture will be around us in abundance.

I also noticed that throughout highschool I maintained a healthy weight of 100lbs (i'm very short ). I ate your typical korean food like rice, fish, tofu, kimchi, and all kinds of different veggie dishes. We rarely ate meat. I stayed at that weight until I graduated highschool and started eating out. I gained 30 lbs.

[pekkles]

I took the survey

I've been cooking for myself this year at uni, and I find myself thinking "finally, proper food" when I make Chinese dishes- even simple, non-recipe stuff, just having bought Chinese vegetables or whatever at the market, makes me think "ah, dinner!" It also makes me proud, that I'm cooking and learning the different dishes I grew up eating. I'm also learning to make foods from other cultures, ie Korean, American, Japanese, Vietnamese, etc, but I try the hardest with Chinese, and am the most proud of successes there. Part of the reason is definitely because I want my kids to grow up eating delicious, homemade and authentic Chinese food like I did. While I wouldn't say food is the complete definition of ethnicity and identity, I think it certainly accounts for an essential and irreplaceable part of it.

[hun_wun_gal]

As much as me and my mother see eye to eye and we never will i can honsetly say there are alot of traditional chinese foods that can never be found anywhere else even if restaurant made it won't taste the same and some home foods are not classed as "restaurant" food and are hardly found on a menu.

So i am a bit worried when it comes to cooking, but also the daunting fact that cos we run a takeaway, my handling of a huge sized wok isn't my ideal utensil........but i wuld like to learn...........some day. It may not be the only thing about ethnicity but food plays a big part. I mean HK is known for a variety of great food but home cooked meals will always be that something different.

[BB`]

Yeah. I learned to cook after I moved out on my own. I missed my parent's recipes so I googled them.

[momoxai]

I personally think food's a very important part of culture and by cooking food, you're preserving your culture. I know there are a bunch of Chinese and Japanese foods with whole stories behind them and I really love it when my grandparents tell us these kinds of things. But as much as food is part of your ethnic culture, it's also part of your national culture. Living in Hawaii, a cultural mixing pot of sorts, there are many different types of foods from around the world and it's reflected on our dinner table. My mom likes to cook Indian, Thai, Korean, Japanese, American, Italian, Mexican, etc. even though she's Chinese.

Plus, a lot of ethnic foods I eat can't be duplicated by restaurants. My grandma makes traditional Okinawan dishes you probably can't find in any restaurant in this country, and everyone knows jook, jai, and gau are different for every Chinese family.

I know when I'm older I'll look back at the foods my mom made and smile. It sounds corny but it's true. I can't wait to cook foods from my childhood for my children...I guess I have to learn how to cook first, haha.

[fvoisine]

It's uber important. Im Chinese too but my family grew up with a lot of Western cultural influences so we ate a lot of Western food in our childhood. If not for my location and my mother's insistence on preserving our 'culture', I truly believe my family would have all grown up on American food alone. Somehow, eating my own ethnic food does make me feel more Chinese, in an odd way. Hm, to emphasize on that, when I was younger and ate Western food for my 3 meals, I never felt really close to my ethnicity (:

[juyoon]

Personally, I believe one's ethnic food/cuisine is a treasure one must acquire.
It's a link to one's heritage and specific taste that has brought joy to the palate of your forebears.
It only has significance if you treasure your ethnic roots.

[wishEXTASY]

I think it's pretty important, though I'll admit most of the things my mum makes is just vegetables stir fried in chicken broth. I'm probably going to stick to the standard rice though. I like western style food, but I can't imagine myself eating it every single day.

I can imagine myself in the future cooking a mix of Asian dishes from Japan, Korea and China. I just adore food from Japan.

[gwendah]

i think it's really important . it's a part of our culture&ethnic identity . food is a pretty good representation of your culture , even in the same country in different areas there are different foods&knowing how to cook certain foods unique to your province or city helps give you a sense of who you are&where you came from . i think cooking your own ethic dishes brings you closer to your family&your ethnicity in general . it's something that connects you to them , no matter how far away from your homeland or family you are . when my mom cooks pilipino food it makes her feel more at home&comfortable . i want my kids to know how to cook our ethnic dishes because it's a way of preserving our culture&it will also bring them closer to their culture . i hope it will give them a sense of who they are&where they came from . i hope when they eat our ethic dishes they will feel very close to home&i hope it will help them appreciate their culture . i can't wait to cook dishes my mom cooked for me for my own kids [x