Home > Bibliographies > AAST298J (Spring 2004)

Food, Identity, and Culture by Maria Montessa Garcia

Books

• Alejandro, Reynaldo. The Food of the Philippines: Authentic Recipes from the Pearl of the Orient. Boston: Periplus, 1999.

  Alejandro is a Filipino chef who has written many cookbooks relating to the Philippines. The Food of the Philippines is not only a cookbook with over 80 recipes but also includes insights into the importance of food in Filipino culture. Distinct flavors, ingredients, and methods of food preparation are described for 120 different ethnic groups in the Philippines. Food is community building in the sense that food brings together people who identify with a certain taste and familiarity.

• Asia Society Group. Asia in New York City: A Cultural Travel Guide. New York: Balliet & Fitzgerald, 2000.
• Barer-Stein, Thelma. You Eat What You Are: People, Culture and Food Traditions. 2nd ed. Buffalo: Fire Fly Books, 1999.
• Brown, Linda Keller and Kay Mussell. Ethnic and Regional Foodways in the United States: The Performance of Group Identity. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1984.
• Chang, Kwang-chih and Eugene N. Anderson. Food in Chinese Culture: Anthropological and Historical Perspectives. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1977.
• Claudio, Virginia Serraon. Filipino-American Food Practices, Customs, and Holidays. Chicago: American Dietetic Association, 1994.
• Cohen, Warren I. Asian American Century. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2002.
• Counihan, Carole M. and Steven L. Kaplan. Food and Gender: Identity and Power. Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1998.
• Fischer, Barbara (ed.). Foodculture: Tasting Identities and Geographies in Art. Toronto: YYZ Books, 1999.
• Frankenthaler, Stan and Sally Sampson. The Occidental Tourist: More Than 130 Asian-Inspired Recipes. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001.
• Hahn, Emily. The Cooking of China. New York: Time-Life Books, 1968.
• Khare, R.S. and M.S.A. Rao. Food, Society and Culture: Aspects in South Asian Food Systems. Durham: Carolina Academic Press, 1986.
• Sandler, Sandra Takako. The American Book of Japanese Cooking. Harrisburg: Stackpole Books, 1974.
• Solomon, Charmaine. Southeast Asian Cookbook. Seacus: Chartwell Books, 1972.
• Steinberg, Rafael. Pacific and Southeast Asian Cooking. New York: Time-Life Books, 1970.
• Sucher, Kathryn P. and Pamela G. Kittler. Food and Culture. 3rd ed. Belmont: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, 2001.
• Watson, James L., ed. Golden Arches East: McDonald's in East Asia. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997.
• Weiss, Allen S. Feast and Folly: Cuisine, Intoxication, and Poetics of the Sublime. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2002.
• Wong, Jane S. Apple Pie Fourth of July. San Diego: Harcourt, 2002.
• Wong, Sau-ling Cynthia. Reading Asian American Literature. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993.

Films

• Masters of the Wok. By Su Yung Li and Michael Lerner . University of California Extension Center for Media and Independent Learning. Videocassette. 1984.

Journal Articles

• Freeman, Michael. "Food for Thought." Geographical 70 (1998): 46-51.

  This article focuses on unusual delicacies popular in Asian and South American countries. Freeman explains major differences in diets around the world. Throughout the article Freeman names some of the "bizarre" foods such as egg and duck embryos in the Philippines and ancient eggs from China. Food that is strange and unusual to one culture may be the norm to another.

• Turgeon, Laurier and Madeleine Pastinelli. "Eat the World: Post Colonial Encounters in Quebec City's Ethnic Restaurants." Journal of American Folklore 115 (2002): 247-268.

Newspaper or Magazine Articles

• Kurlantzick, Joshua. "Fast Food from Asia". U.S. News & World Report 26 Feb. 2001: 48.

  Fast food franchises from Thailand, the Philippines, and Japan have come to the United States, but Kurlantzick questions whether these Asian franchises will be successful here. One concern is that many of these franchises do not have enough start up capital so in order to be successful in America investments must be raised. In order to compete, the restaurateurs have to form partnerships with American firms.

• Nathan, Joan. "Home Cooking: East Meets South at a Delta Table." New York Times 4 June 2003, late ed., sec. F: 1.

  Chinese immigrants arrived in the Mississippi delta region after the Civil War, during Reconstruction. Plantation owners wanted cheap labor without using the newly freed blacks so they hired the Chinese immigrants. In this article Joan Nathan narrates her visit to the Chow family. The Chow family tells Nathan the story of how their parents came to the Delta. As Chinese Americans, they explain how it is significant for them to keep their Chinese culture and also incorporate American culture. They fuse their knowledge of Chinese cooking with southern Mississippi ingredients such as stir-fried collard greens with oyster sauce and garlic.

• Salkever, Alex. "America's Asian Markets Expand into Superstores." Christian Science Monitor. 8 Dec. 1998: 3.

  This article focuses on the expansion of Asian supermarket chains in the United States. Asian supermarkets have become a trend not only among urban Asian communities but have spread to suburban neighborhoods. Customers are glad that Asian markets are more available and accessible to them. They do not have to go far to get the ingredients they need in order to make authentic Asian food. Major supermarkets are also seeing the trend and have expanded their international aisles to include more Asian foods.

Newspaper or Magazine Articles on the Internet

• D'Cruz, Nicole. "Buying and selling the Asian Identity." The Gazette Online. 20 Mar. 2003. Date Accessed: 13 July 2006. <http://www.gazette.uwo.ca/2003/March/20/campus_and_culture2.htm>.

Websites

• AsiaRecipe.Com. July 6, 2006. Date Accessed: 13 July 2006. <http://asiarecipe.com/>.

  Asia Recipe is a website that spotlights different countries in Asia and gives detailed information about each country's history, customs, religions, and culture. It highlights each country's food dishes and the importance of those dishes to their culture. Methods, ingredients, a glossary, myths, and even remedies are illustrated in this website.

• Hill, Patti. "Cultural Diversity: Eating in America." 2001. Ohio State University. Date Accessed: 13 July 2006. <http://www.ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/5000/5253.html>.
• Kai-Hwa Wang, Frances. "Harry Potter, Asian-American Living, and Raising Our Children with Culture(s)." 2006. IMDiversity.com. Date Accessed: 14 July 2006. <http://www.imdiversity.com/.../wang_multicultural_parenting.asp>.
• Köçümkulkïzï, Elmira and Daniel C. Waugh. "Food." December 29, 2001. Silk Road Seattle - Traditional Culture. Date Accessed: 14 July 2006. <http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/culture/food/food.html>

  This web site explores food culture of the Central Asian nomads. The food in traditional cultures is determined in a large part by religious rituals and beliefs, as well as what kind of crops or livestock the land can sustain. It illustrates some of the stages of food production and discusses the role of food in the rituals of daily life. It also discusses the role that food played in the history of people.

• Le, C.N. "Asian Cuisine & Foods." 2001. Asian-Nation: The Landscape of Asian America. Date Accessed: 13 July 2006. <http://www.asian-nation.org/asian-food.shtml>

  Asian Nation is a website created by C.N. Le. This website is a source for information on the historical, political, demographic, and cultural issues that make up today's diverse Asian American community. The food section of the website gives insight into the importance of food in Asians cultures. It describes the three main dietary cultures of Asia (southwest, northeast, and southeast), tools used in Asian cuisine, and the 'fusion' of Asian American cuisine.

• Nguyen, Kathy. "Great Food with Soul." The House: Asian Fusion Cuisine. Date Accessed: 14 July 2006. <http://www.coastnews.com/food/house.htm>.

  In this article, Kathy Nguyen interviews the Tses, a Chinese-American couple who reinvented traditional Asian cuisine using local ingredients and streamlined American techniques. They opened two restaurants in the San Francisco area. Asian fusion cuisine is meant to symbolize the newer generation's identity as Asian Americans, not just Asians.

• Olver, Lynne, ed. "Asian American Cuisine." June 10, 2006. Food Timeline - History Notes: Asian Cuisine. Date Accessed: 14 July 2006. <http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodasian.html>.
• "Suinn-Lew. "Asian Self-Identity Acculturation Scale." February 3, 2006. Antioch University New England: Multicultural Center. Date Accessed: 14 July 2006. <http://www.multiculturalcenter.org/test/test_titles32.cfm>.