Search

GEOGRAPHY EDUCATION

Supporting geography educators everywhere with current digital resources.

Open Search
Tag

food

Exploring Data to Learn about Human Development

“Hunger levels have increased across Africa over the last decade—In every region of Africa, hunger is more prevalent than a decade ago.The chart shows the increase in the share of the population that is undernourished, comparing 2014 and 2024 (the most recent year available). These estimates come from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.The situation across Africa is dire. In Middle Africa, where hunger is most acute, almost 1 in 3 people are undernourished. In Eastern Africa, the figure is roughly 1 in 4. Across Africa as a whole, it’s 1 in 5. This marks a reversal of a longer positive trend: over the preceding decades, hunger had been falling across much of the world, including parts of Africa. That progress has now stalled or gone into reverse. Conflict, extreme weather, and the economic disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic have all contributed.” SOURCE: by Esteban Ortiz-Ospina from OUR WORLD IN DATA

By many metrics, things are improving across the world, but it is important to not when they are not. What areas aren’t seeing improvements? In what ways are issues getting worse? For which populations and in which places are these issues most noticeable? These are questions geographers need to ask and the folks at Our World In Data are an invaluable resource for geography educators to not simply rely on what were learned back in college or narratives we hear in the news, but using current information about how the world actually is today. Hunger and nutrition from 2000-2014, most of Africa saw incredible progress, but since 2014, progress has stalled. Still better that than 2000-levels of hunger, but sustained progress is certainly a hope for the continent that is currently the least developed. What to learn why? Here is an article from Health Policy to explain these complex regional patterns that include economic, environmental, and political dynamics.

Tags: Africa, development, food.

0

Industrial Farming and Food Processing

This isn’t JUST about carrots and carrot production. We see a similar amount of intensive, mechanistic inputs needed for large-scale production, whether it is in the corn fields of the Midwest, or the oranges groves of Florida. Too often we fail to recognize the sophistication that is a part of every step in the agricultural, industrial, marketing, and distribution of the foods that we eat. The video is long, but the section from 1:50-3:00 that shows how humans aren’t needed in the harvesting process.

The marketing and branding behind “baby carrots” is brilliant, and the euphemism conceals with unnaturalness of the entire process.

SOURCE: Food Tech Today on YouTube

GeoEd Tags: food, food production, food distribution, scale, agriculture.

0

Croissants aren’t French and pizza sauce isn’t Italian – the national dishes that aren’t from where you think

“ The news that the world has America, not Italy, to thank for the tomato base on pizza has gone down about as well as putting cream in carbonara among Italian gastro-nationalists. In a new book called La Cucina Italiana Non Esiste (literally “Italian Cuisine Does Not Exist”), food historian Alberto Grandi claims, among other things, that Italians only discovered tomato sauce when they emigrated to the Americas, where tomatoes are native, in the 19th century.” SOURCE: The Independent

A food historian has kicked up controversy after claiming that there is ‘no such thing’ as Italian cuisine, sparking debate over the origins and ownership of food. But perhaps we should reconsider our ideas about so-called ‘national dishes.’

This article highlights great, everyday examples that shows how cultural patterns and processes change and why they matter.  Places and cultures are proud of what they see as their accomplishments that are foundational to their heritage.  Interestingly though, many communities jealously guard what they see as their contributions as dislike hearing that their other communities may have had a hand in that contribution. 

In an analogous example to those given in the article, Mexicans are very proud of their cuisine, but must remember that nothing is created in cultural or geographic isolation.  Street tacos made with meat cooked on a rotating spit (al pastor) came to Mexican after WWI and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.  Migrant from what are now the countries of Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Turkey brought the Middle Eastern traditional manner of cooking meat and it became a new thing when it can to Mexico.  So, is it “authentically” Mexican?  Of course it’s still authentic, but there is a tendency in some circles to judge something to be less authentic when the origins are more diffused.  I think we should resist the temptation though, to judge the value of a culture or a cultural trait based on it’s perceived “authenticity” or “purity.” Cultures all over the world have their own regional variants of flatbread—partly as a result of stimulus diffusion from other places and partly bringing their own local flavor and customs. Cultures are delightfully intermixed, and the diffusion of cultural practices is what leads to continual human progress that shapes our modern world.    

Towards the end of the article, they say: “does it really matter who invented tomato sauce on pizza? Or where your croissant is from? To acknowledge that one country might have had an impact on the food of another isn’t to be complicit in cultural appropriation. Point to any dish on a menu and you’ll have a hard time finding one that hasn’t got war, politics, economics, emigration or poverty to thank for its place there.”  In essence, geographic processes can be seen everywhere you look.

0

Bread Around the World

“Bread is known to be convenient, nutritious, and, of course, delicious. From naan in India to the French baguette, we take a look at 29 types of bread around the world.” SOURCE: Insider Food

Of course geographers love videos that highlight places around that world that give you the feeling of leaving your homeland to travel to a different cultural context in new place. Videos like this that give a quick tour around the world so you can sample from the visual delights, even if the culinary ones are off the table.  This Travel Insider video channel has a few great examples that show how distinct regional variations in food production create cultural distinct local customs.  Food production is inherently cultural, and these videos show how local flavor creates a series of regional variations.  Linked as well here is a great article showing the amazing diversity of breads around the world.

While I’m a fan of the “cheese around the world” video, I’ll include one other on the food theme–sandwiches from around the world–is embedded below.   

GeoEd Tags: culture, place, video, food, food production, agriculture, worldwide. 

0

The All-American Mexican Pizza

Let’s first dispel some mistaken ideas about Taco Bell (Malcolm Gladwell’s excellent podcast, Revisionist History discussed Taco Bell extensively in an episode that was primarily about the concept of cultural appropriation in music and food). 

Myth #1: The Bell represents the Spanish Mission of the Southwest.  Fact: Glen Bell is the founder so the family name is the rationale for the iconic bell. 

Myth #2: Taco Bell makes bad, cheap Mexican food.  Taco Bell’s goal is not trying to make Mexican food, but to make an interpretation of Mexican food for a broader audience with a different palate. They search for the familiar in the unfamiliar and make it all seem new.

One of these “interpretations” of Mexican food is the Mexican Pizza (not a thing in Mexico).  While the name doesn’t sound American, the creation of this is a distinctly American concoction. The cultural creation of this on the surface seems like a simple mash-up, but the cultural dynamics are a little more interesting than that.  Yes, the fusion is of two familiar ideas, but the reaction to and how cultural innovations are received is culturally mediated.  This may seem surprising, but South Asian immigrants to the United States especially love Mexican Pizza (NPR article) because it 1) it has a combination of flavors and spices that is reminiscent of South Asian traditional foods, 2) it can be made to be vegetarian which aligns with the religious customs of Hinduism, and 3)  eating fast food with a friends of all backgrounds feels like an All-American activity for young immigrants and children of immigrants.

The cultural reception of the Mexican Pizza shocked Taco Bell executives since the planned for it to be a seasonal part of the menu, like the McRib is for McDonalds’.  Sure, it was partly supply chain issues, but they drastically underestimated that this particular menu item would culturally resonate beyond their normal consumer base as demonstrated by this tweet below:    

TAGS: culture, diffusion, food.

0

What Cheese Looks Like Around the World

“Cheese from all around the world comes in different forms, textures, and colors, from white to blue. It’s eaten in many different ways, and some cheeses have legends or myths behind their invention Let’s take a look at what cheese looks like around the world.”

SOURCE: YouTube

Geographers are drawn to videos like this that give a quick tour around the world.  The Travel Insider video channel has a few great examples that show how distinct regional variations in food production create cultural distinct local customs.  Food production is inherently cultural, and these videos show how local flavor creates a series of regional variations. 

While I’m a fan of the “cheese around the world” video, I’ll include some other of my favorites below.  Linked here is a great article showing the amazing diversity of breads around the world. On the food them, there is desserts around the world, sandwiches from around the world, street foods around the world, breads around the world, and off the food topic, but still very cultural, wedding traditions around world as a sampler for the channel.   

GeoEd Tags: culture, place, video, food, food production, agriculture, worldwide. 

0

The Perfect French Baguette

Baguette2

“While there are few symbols as quintessentially French as the baguette, its status – and quality – have been uncertain in recent years. Beginning in the 1950s, bakers began looking for shortcuts to make baguettes more quickly: relying on frozen, pre-made dough. ‘Those bakers at that time were happy,’ said Bouattour, as he led me past the fresh loaves at his Arlette & Colette in Paris’ 17th arrondissement. ‘But it killed our profession.’ In an attempt to save traditional French baguettes from widespread industrialisation, France passed Le Décret Pain (‘The Bread Decree’) in 1993, establishing that, by law, an authentic baguette de tradition must be made by hand, sold in the same place it’s baked and only made with water, wheat flour, yeast and salt.”  Source: BBC

Technological advancements and economic practices would have altered French baking practices, but to halt the change cultural purists took political steps to preserve the old cultural traditions.  The running of bakeries, and the winners of the prize for the best Parisian baguette have been bakers who come from immigrant families. Bakers with Middle Eastern, North African, and West African backgrounds are now key participants of shaping the most French of cultural goods.

Questions to Ponder: Why have bread-making practices become politicized in Paris?  How have immigrants changed French cultural practices?  How have French cultural practices changed immigrants?

GeoEd Tags: culture, food production, France, food, technology, migration, diffusion.

0

Healthy Nation Rankings: These Are the Healthiest Countries

"Maybe it’s something in the gazpacho or paella, as Spain just surpassed Italy to become the world’s healthiest country."

Source: www.bloomberg.com

This data offers excellent insight into regional developmental patterns around the world–it is very much worth exploring.  However I’m sharing this also for it’s mapping project potential; the data behind this map is available in the article and students can make their own maps with it.  

 

GeoEd Tags: mortality, medical, development, food, mapping.

Scoop.it Tags: mortality, medical, development, food, mapping.

 

0

Italy’s practically perfect food

"Pound for pound, Parmigiano-Reggiano can compete with almost any food for calcium, amino acids, protein and vitamin A – and is prescribed by doctors to cure ailments."

Source: www.bbc.com

While this article focuses often on the nutritional aspects of Parmigiano-Reggiano, I want people to notice the understated importance of place and the cultural ethos surrounding the production of this product. True, it is an economic industry for the region, but it is also a defining cultural characteristic of the place and a way of life. The place makes the product and the product makes the place. 

 

GeoEd Tags: culture, place, Italy, Europe, food, food production, agriculture.

Scoop.it Tags: culture, place, Italy, Europe, regions, food, food production, agriculture.

0

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑