Ahn and Nicholson Readings

In the first piece, Ahn’s "My Journey Back to Korean Food", the author describes how he rediscovered his connection to Korean culture through food. In this piece Ahn shows us how over time he began to lose touch with his own Korean culture after moving to America and acclimating to its culture. After learning how to cook Korean food by watching his mother and using this knowledge in his own cooking as he grew up, he was able to reconnect to his heritage. Ahn shows how through creating food that both combined his Korean roots with the more European styles of cooking he was able to find a good balance in his culture. In his story preparing the food was the main catalyst for reconnecting with his culture. With each meal that he made he was able to think back on when he was younger and had a stronger Korean influence in his life. This provided him with the desire to further connect to his culture by studying the language. Reading this piece reminded me of how eating the food of my own heritage can help me feel more connected to it. Whether it’s eating the delightful Norwegian Christmas lutefisk or eating German sausages at my grandma’s house, I feel more connected to my heritage which isn’t always easy nowadays.

Comparatively, in his piece “Eating White” Nicholson describes how he feels connected to his mother who has passed away by eating her favorite foods. His mother loved to eat all white foods, not caring about how healthy or tasty they were. Reflecting back on his childhood Nicholson was able to see how this was a defining part of her character, seeing how this changed over time. By eating his mother’s favorite foods Nicholson was able to stay connected to her, despite the fact that she has passed. The food was important in this instance because it showed how she viewed certain aspects of the world, and allowed Nicholson to reflect on the memory of his mother. In both essays, the writers used food to stay connected to a certain aspect of their life that they had lost or left behind. Through preparing and eating the food they were able to reconnect to their past or their culture.