Cate and O'Donnell's connections to food

Reading both of these articles, I realize how food can be attached to many different cultures, even those that many would not consider a culture such as prison. In O’Donnell’s article “The Cultural Politics of Eating in Shenzhen, the author explores how the food economy in China, specifically in the city of Shenzhen illustrates how the people of that culture feel about the politics of that country. By following the history of Shenzhen, she shows how the opinion of food changed over time. The first people to populate Shenzhen saw food as a way to equate every person of the city. It played into the socialist believes that were throughout China. Food was shared by people of all backgrounds. The lack of hunger within the city was also seen as a way to show that their system was working. Then as people of different cities and cultures began to arrive in Shenzhen, the way that food was distributed throughout the city changed. It became more capitalist as different markets emerged to feed the different tastes of the migrants and the locals. This caused more social division within this city. Many people equated this to the current drive for capitalism within the country of China. While people wanted social change, it came with a price. This article showed how food was tied to the Chinese culture. People could use food to back their political beliefs, starving themselves for the good of the people of China from a socialist standpoint or creating different food markets to help themselves as an individual from a capitalist standpoint. Both views using food to help establish their point.

                In Cate’s article “Breaking Bread with Spread” the author shows how the food in a prison became an identifying part of their culture. In the prison, the food was created to be as simple as possible to accommodate all of the inmates taste preferences and needs. Because of this the inmates created their own dishes so that they could put their own individual flavor into what they were eating. By using what was available to them through the prison they were able to create their own culture within the prison. People of similar backgrounds dined together, tying the food to their own community. I thought that this article was very interesting because it explored a community that most people don’t consider. When a person is sent to prison they are often forgotten about until they reenter society. In this article O’Donnell explores the community that is created within the prison until the inmates leave. This community centers around the spreads that are created and shared.

                These two articles were very interesting to read, following how food connects with different communities. In both articles the people use food to help establish themselves within the community. This shows how while communities may be unfathomably different, they all connect to food.