Authentic Cuisine

I really enjoyed reading both pieces of writing. I can relate to both pieces of writing since I have a Nigerian father and African-American mother. So I’m literally “African-American”. Personally I don’t like the term because for us we are just American; if we were natural born citizens we should be classified as just American or preferably black. Nevertheless, in Lily Wong’s essay “Eating the Hyphen” the persuasive language that she uses is ethos driven because she is describing her Chinese-American heritage in real authentic Chinese cuisine. Wong talks about how she eats her Chinese dumplings differently than how they are supposed to be eaten traditionally for example in the text she says “so whether or not it perverts some thousand-year-old tradition of the proper way to eat dumplings, this is what makes [her] happy” (Wong 43). Eating Chinese dumplings with a fork, a knife, and chopsticks with ketchup is unique in comparison to the way authentic Chinese eat their dumplings but that’s what makes her “Chinese-American”, Wong is literally a hybrid of cultures. I can relate to that completely in the sense that in Nigeria when you eat Egusi or Okra soup you’re supposed to eat it with FuFu, which is boiled yams or cassava plants pounded into a doughy paste to dip into the soup. For me personally I don’t like to eat the FuFu that often because of the texture so I usually eat the soup by itself. But when I went to Nigeria my aunts, uncles, and cousins thought I was weird because I didn’t appreciate the FuFu. So I can understand the feeling of not being an authentic Nigerian because I’m not, but I’m still proud of my heritage. In response to Bryant Terry’s short piece “Reclaiming True Grits” I agree with his criticism of how African-American cuisine is being falsely advertised as harmful and a major reason why African-Americans have the health issues with diabetes, obesity, and heart disease. The health problems in the black community definitely can be attributed to poor food choices but soul food is not solely to blame. Terry goes into detail about the diversity of African-American cuisine and uses persuasive language to dispel these stereotypes. I think Terry uses Pathos and Logos to convey his point to his audience with facts but also personal experience to invoke emotion. When he talks about the misrepresentation of African-American eating habits “romanticizing comfort foods that should be eaten occasionally and presenting these foods as standard fare not only rewrites history, but also normalizes unhealthy eating habits for African-Americans who are unaware of their historical cuisine” (Terry 83). Terry does a great job of showing how marketing and the media can alter opinions about how much of these foods were being consumed that much of a daily basis.