Stage 5 Sustainable Biomes

Unit 3 Cultural Patterns and Processes

This video shows how many different cultures can be combined in one thing. It talks about the currywurst, one of the most popular German street foods, which is a combination of ideas and ingredients from all around the world including German sausage, American ketchup, and curry spices from India. 

This relates to the culture unit by showing how different cultures can come together and create something that is loved by a lot of people. With this people from a country can get a lot of different cultures together in this one meal and understand other cultures later that help.  

Unit 3

As of late, all I seem to hear about from Germany is their anti-Islam protests and their lack of desire to host more immigrants in their country. This video, though three years old, is a welcomed change to that news. 

Bizarre Foods' Andrew Zimmermen puts it best when he says that food is the best way to learn about a people and that there is no better way to perform a sort of "diplomacy" with a people than by sharing food. A dish that combines elements from Germany, America, and India is just one of those melting pot foods that shows that globalization can combine elements of food to make one dish that becomes quintessentially German. The idea that this is a democratizing dish is also interesting. With some foods being considered exclusively for the rich and likewise some for the poor, currywurst shows that people no matter social class can agree on one thing, which is good food.

I can  see both sides of this, I would never eat a guinea pig because I grew up viewing them as pets. I think people are brought up a certain way and even when they move they take their customs with them.  I have a friend from china and lived there until he was 14 yrs old, he  had told me the city he was from they ate dog and cats. they view it as meat were we think of them as pets. 

This article is interesting because it is taking into consideration the ecological benefits of eating what we consider unorthodox meats. Raising guinea pigs for food would apparently leave a substantially smaller carbon footprint over a large, high waste producing animal like cows. Culturally, in South America guinea pigs are considered a delicacy, but I can't see culture changing in the United States to the point where we would give up hamburgers for grilled guinea pig.