Cultural Identity and the Language of Food Essay example -- Cultural Id

Cultural Identity and the Language of pabulum Food is integral to cultural identity and is as much a part of culture as religion and language. Indeed, few cultures elevate aliment to a level nearing, if not exceeding, the status of their religion. Because I love to cook, to trust flavors in a way that results in something unexpected and wonderful, this paper willing discuss various words related to diet. Not actual food words, but words surrounding food. Interesting words like gastronomy and feast. ofttimes there is much symbolism related to these words from the fundamental composition that to eat is to live to the possibility that there are religious connotations to the etymology of some of these words.Given their reputation for affairs of the heart, as well as world the purveyors of cuisine, it is not surprising that many of our food words come from the cut -- such as gastronomy, saute, host and garnish. Gastronomy, refers to the art or science of severe eating. It c omes from Greek French gastronomie, from Greek gastronomi, gastro-, + -nomi, -nomy. Its Indo-European root word, gras, (Shipley, 133) simply doer to devour.According to the American Heritage lexicon (AHD), the word banquet has been move for a long time. The Old French word banquet, the likely cite of our word, is derived from Old French banc, judicial system, ultimately of Germanic origin and originally from the Indo-European *bheg (Shipley, 31). The sense development in Old French goes from little bench to meal taken on the family workbench to feast. The AHD cites the English word banquet as first recorded in a work mayhap composed before 1475 with reference to a feast held by the divinity Apollo, and it appears to have been used from the 15th to ... ...w York, NY. 1983.Davidson, Alan. Oxford Companion to Food. New York Oxford University Press, Inc., 1999.Elkort, Martin. The Secret sprightliness of Food A Feast of Food and Drink History, Folklore, and Fact. Los Angeles Jerem y P. Tarcher, Inc. 1991.Foley, Tricia and Catherine Calvert. Having Tea. New York Clarkson N. Potter, Inc., 1987 Jaspers, Karl. The groovy Philosophers. New York Harcourt Brace & Company, 1993.Kiple, Kenneth F., and Kriemhild Conee Ornelas, eds. The Cambridge World History of Food. New York Cambridge University Press, 2000.Oates, Whitney Jennings. The Stoic and foodie Philosophers. New York Random House, 1940.Shipley, Joseph T. The Origins of English Words A Discursive Dictionary of Indo-European Roots. Baltimore The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1984.Tannahill, Reay. Food in History. New York Random House, 1988.