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For this Observation decided to try Mediterranean food. After looking at different menus; I had made this choice the food was similar to the type of food am accustomed to. The object of this observation was to try something wasn’t familiar with. The reason why I chose the restaurant did was because know myself.
If I would have tried something to different and ended up not liking or appreciating the food, I wouldn’t have stayed and properly completed the assignment. When it comes to the food I eat can be very ethnocentric. I am a very picky person when it comes to food; I don’t like to try many new types of food. Even when it comes to just fast food restaurant’s get the same meal every time. I feel that it would be a waste of time and money if I bought something new and didn’t even finish it because I thought it wasn’t good.
Even though I had decided on a food that was similar to my king; I was still skeptical on the food was about to eat. During this experience I defiantly wanted to avoid Role Conflicts. I had decided to sit in a corner area of the restaurant that allowed me to be observant but not disrespectful. After the experience was over I was happy with the overall outcome. Even though food wasn’t the greatest I was able to finish it and the assignment correctly. The area of Fresno that this took place in is considered to be upper class society. There isn’t many people of that culture in that part of the neighborhood either.
The menu certainly fit in with the community the food being high priced. I was expecting to see a lot of different cultures inside the restaurant but that wasn’t the case at all. The restaurant was very clean and had very nice d©cord. I don’t know much about the culture but from what I have seen from movies and various other things the colors that scheme that they had in the restaurant fit very well with the culture. Not knowing much about the culture, figuring out the culture was difficult. What stood out most to me was that many of the items involved either lamb or garlic if not both.
As stated early am not the type of person to change eating habits. After looking at the menu for some time I had decided to try the trip-tip gyros with rice and bread. Also decided to get the gyros without onions. I am not a real vegetable eater but I had decided to leave the tomatoes. While eating this it had really surprised me that was leaning more towards actually liking the food then not. The Trip-tip was good but was marinated very different than other ones I have had. It had a big hint of garlic in it. I wasn’t really able to taste the tomatoes either.
My perception of the food wasn’t changed extremely. I did like the food but not that much that would just go and eat it on any day. The face that had liked the food was very surprising to me because that am so picky. This assignment has opened me up some more that I will consider different things and not just be so ethnocentric. Also I used to just think other cultures cooked with different and “nasty’ foods. After I observed other plates being served as well as my own, that’s not the case at all. They way that meals are prepared and cooked are different not the food they are made with.
The biggest impact on my life was the way that think about different cultures. These different cultures come to America to change their lives but still have to keep their self-identity and they find that within their culture. The personality and identity is within their culture and not just the life they are trying to life. Used to just think that if people want to come to America then they should just live the life we have here; but now that have been in this class and assignment I see it a lot differently. I can honestly say that my Social Imagination has changed with this assignment.
It truly was heartwarming me to be able to connect with this culture in a way haven’t experienced. Causality had a factor in this as well. When one simple idea in my mind changed it started to mold the others that had already had in my head about the different culture. Even though there wasn’t much communication with someone of the culture it gave me a change to be opened up to many cultures. This assignment could very well be a deductive approach to culture. Before we get to know anything about a culture we have pre deceived ideas about them and then as we get to know the culture the ideas begin to get changed or analyzed.
There is no Reliability in the change in heart I had; this is because other cultures are still different and doesn’t mean because accepted this culture that I would be able to another. I wasn’t able to receive much of a Generalization because there wasn’t many people at the restaurant at the time I was. There was a few people but they were either nurses or doctors seeming to be on their dinner break from the hospital. The culture analysis was able to receive was a very small Sample; the employees were of the culture of the restaurant. From what I could tell they weren’t originally from the United States.
The Material Culture was the hardest for me to figure out. I am not an art person so I can’t really tell where they were from. From the way the restaurant was laid out I do believe it was art from their culture. Don’t know if I just wasn’t able to figure out who held the master status or maybe the master wasn’t there or n their break. The last observation I was able to make was the Gender roles. I observed that the males were in the kitchen cooking and making the decisions. The women were the ones taking the orders and doing the smaller roles such as cleaning,