Blog 1
Title: The Art of Barbecuing
Topic: Food, Ethnocentricism,
Social Norms
Source: Birthday
party barbecue in Half Moon bay at close family friends house- 7 people there
ages 19-40
·
Group of close family friends
·
1/28/12 Saturday afternoon
·
Very sunny
Relation: It is a key
part of American society, a right of passage for every American child, eating
at a barbecue. Whether at a baseball game, or a hot summer day by the pool, or
even just making a family meal, eating burgers and hot dogs has remained the classic
for every barbecue. One of the most important factor of barbecuing is what you
are cooking your food on, “a grill can be seen as part of the American dream,
my father was in constant competition with the other men in the neighborhood on
who could throw the best barbecue and make the best food with their original
recipes,” said Janet Skeens. A grill is what every “America man” has to have; it
is a representation of stereotypical masculinity in American society and it
seems to bring family and friends together creating a tighter community. Things
like tailgating football games and having annual 4th of July barbecues
have become important American traditions. Barbecuing is one of the most common
food customs in American culture and because of this I found myself wondering;
what made other countries not like American food more compared to others? Why
isn’t American food a global standard if we are so globalized? Then I started
to think of what other countries have food that is known as a countries
specific food. Even though many other countries obviously grill food it must be
different then the way many Americans would grill a certain food item. While in
Paris this summer I heard multiple groups of American tourists in restaurants asking
if they could get a hamburger, even when it was not on the menu. Some adults in
one of the groups loudly complained about the restaurant’s servers, they even made
very inappropriate comments on how the waiters smelled. This group was soon
asked to leave but I couldn’t believe the behavior I had seen from adults, I
was so embarrassed to be an American. That was just the first instance, later on
four different occasions, I saw waiters send Americans away at the restaurants because
they have no time to be bothered with rude tourists. I wondered if this
behavior from both sides was a common thing. This example shows ethnocentrism
from the two groups; ethnocentrism is “thinking one's own group's ways or
common practices are superior to others" or "judging other groups as
inferior to one's own in comparison to everything". This example shines a
bad light on both groups because they are both fitting into the stereotypical
“fat rude American family ” and the “stuck up Parisian waiter” personas. Doctor
Ken Barger from Indiana University in Indianapolis explains ethnocentrism by
looking at the words meanings “ Ethnic refers to cultural heritage, and centrism refers to the central starting
point... so ethnocentrism basically refers to judging other groups from our own
cultural point of view.” But I digress, even though other cultures may see our
love of hamburgers and greasy grilled foods as a gross obsession, the act of barbecuing
is about much more than just the greasy food. Barbecuing with friends and
family creates a bond between all the people working together on the grill,
this is the same bond humans in hunter gather groups made while they provided
and ate meals together. Barbecuing brings families and friends closer and helps
maintain strong relationships. During hunter gather times it meant the group
would take care and provide food for each other, they were a community. Even
though the food being made has changed drastically since the hunter gather
times to present day the bond formed while making a meal together is the
same.
Description: After
not feeling sun for what felt like months, I stood on the 4th story
deck of my godmother’s house in Half Moon Bay soaking in the warm rays. My
godmother’s girlfriend yelled to me from the street to run down and help bring
in the groceries. Three trips later, the eight over following paper bags were
on the counter top and the food items inside them were being put away quickly. Only
4 hours until we started to barbecue, the countdown began. Have you ever thought about the build up and hours before barbecuing,
to me the time before we start can be just as important as grilling the food,
people arrive you still prepare a lot of the food before hand, any last min
shopping. First you have to buy all the food- pick your grocery store
option, where will you get certain food, will you get things based on the
season? Then, if you are like “36% of the Texas population on any weekend” (Texas
travel website) you end up going to a fast food place or pizza to add an
appetizer to the bbq feast. The second big step is prepping the food; this
normally involves multiple people if you want diversity in your food. Everyone
has their own way they like to grill so each member of the group has to put in their
two cents, my godmother, Christie, wanted her burger still bleeding; her
girlfriend, Janet, only wanted sausage if it was burnt; my boyfriend, Jack,
wanted to put steak seasoning on his burger then use a special additional
burner that he brought himself; everyone continued to add suggestions
throughout the grilling. It was finally getting close to barbecuing time! The 4-burner
grill was heating up to around 450 degrees and 7 plates filled with food were
standing by. We piled everything on to the grill, everyone kept rearranging the
food on the grill, each person trying to take control and put their food on the
best grill spot. We then started to switch off jobs of turning and flipping the
meat but all stayed within at least 10 ft of the grill. I had never noticed how
people seemed to “hunt” their food. We all seemed to swarm around the grill
keeping our food in eye site but still waiting patiently. I couldn’t even help
doing it. Finally, after an hour and some random snacking off the grill, we
were ready to eat. Now here’s how I
realized how close barbecuing made our group and I’m sure it could be the same
for any type of cooking or baking with a group of people. We passed the
food back and forth making sure everyone’s plates were full, and then all
together took the first bite. After a few seconds sounds of pleasure filled the
kitchen; everyone started raving about the food, complimenting each other on
the great meal we had all made together. As I talked about before, grilling can
be stereotypically seen as a male ritual in American society but I view it much
more as an American norm that promotes unity and allows a community (even if
just a group of friends) to create something together. Barbecuing can even be
referred to as a form of art, a creation of a beautiful thing, by creating such
a positive moment with a group of people that care about each other, where
everyone has contributed and is enjoying something. Those moments seem to be very
hard to come by these days.
Commentary/Analysis: While
reviewing my research the first thing that really stood out to me was how much
stereotypes played a role in my observations. I had the stereotype of a “fat
American family” and the “rude Parisian waiter” already in my head when I watched
the interaction between the people in Paris. In fact, after seeing that I tried
to look specifically for rude Parisian to fill the stereotype I had heard. I
had even heard rumors that some of the locals would not respond to anything
unless it was spoken in perfect French. I realized that when you look for
something in the world it’s normally really easy to spot, so I started to
stereotype almost every French person I saw. After I left Paris and traveled to
Amsterdam I realized how stupid I was to ruin my time in Paris by just focusing
on a stereotype. I then changed my view the rest for the trip but found it was
still hard to look past stereotypes that I have learned from the states because
many stereotypes have become jokes and commonly said things in American
society. Comedians like Dave Chappelle and Russell Peters do a great job of
calling out society on creating these stereotypes of cultures and people but
they also seem to promote them. There is a lot of controversy on whether these
comedians seem to help or hurt modern day racism. Americans that believe in
ethnocentricism are probably some of the people that are convincing and telling
people ridiculous stereotypes about other cultures because they view that
American society is superior to other societies and cultures. Negative
stereotypes seem to do nothing but cause issues between people. But it seems no
matter what people are constantly adding and changing their society and how
cultures are viewed and people view them selves. Comparing the negative issues
concerning stereotypes and the positive influences and bond building benefits
of barbecuing mark a clear winner because barbecuing even breaks stereotypes.
It is part of American culture and creates a great bond.
Works Sited
Janet Skeens, Personal Interview on 1/28/12
Texas travel website- http://www.visithoustontexas.com/visitors/fast_facts/
Doctor Ken Barger from Indiana University Indianapolis
