Ethnic Food Observation Paper

Words: 673
Pages: 3

Kyra Myles
Dr. Kim
Sociology 11-12:15 TT
October 30, 2017

HW #8 The term “Ethnic Food” can be defined as food that pertains to a group of people sharing a common and distinctive culture, religion, language, and the like. The first action I took in my observation of what could be referred to as the “Cultural aisle” in my local Walmart was to read the sign above. At this point I noticed for the first time that what I thought was the cultural aisle was named the “Hispanic foods” aisle. I found this very interesting for two reasons. First, because I am employed at Walmart and, so I have been down that very aisle a few times and never noticed this. And second, because the aisle is in fact, not at all specifically dedicated to Hispanic culture as suggested but to a variety of cultures. Despite this fact the aisle was given the name “Hispanic foods".
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I have grown quite accustomed to certain traditional foods I would eat when I lived in Jamaica and so I often go to the “Hispanic foods” aisle to find familiar items such as mackerel, coconut water, ackee etc. All of which originated in Jamaica. When I consciously read the sign for the first time whilst examining its implications and realizing that it was named “Hispanic foods” I was both perplexed and slightly offended. As I continued my observation and made my way down the aisle (for the first time truly examining the products it consisted of) my confusion grew. I couldn’t help but wonder how such a wide variety of products could be categorized under one very narrow title. I immediately realized that stereotyping played a big part in the issue I was coming to terms with. Stereotyping is commonly defined as “a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a person or