Rudy, "Of course, in Guatemala, Bananas are better" (3)

The reading seeks to point out the major difference between a Culinary Tourist who intentionally seeks the experience of (unfamiliar) foodways of another as opposed to the extended stay visitor who has to deal with the new foodways of the host country. The extended stay visitor is likewise exposed to a more frequent and prolonged exposure to the culinary system which normally leads to greater acceptance of what was previously unacceptable (derived from perceiving the foods as inedible, unpalatable or strange) can lead to a greater understanding of the adopted community as opposed to total rejection which can blight the entire experience. The visitor goes through a number of stages namely:

• The initial reaction to the “foreign” would normally be rejection but circumstances such as limited access to familiar foods, lacking the funds to pay for it, or when the food is prepared for you forces the visitor to at least partake in the less “offensive”.
• An intense longing for food that reminds them of home leads the visitor to create a sense of “familiar” by recreating recipes/foods that remind them of home. This may even lead them to eat anything linked to their home country although they might have never eaten it at home.
• Acceptance of the cuisine of the adopted country after actually realising the food is enjoyable. Food items that they would have rejected at home even take on new meaning when they notice it “very good” The new foodways become an integral part of their lives. After returning home some will try to recreate the adopted dishes as it has become an important part of there life and the memories do linger.

Rudy, "Of course, in Guatemala, Bananas are better" (2)

I don’t have any religion, so I have never thought of the life of being a Mormon Missionary. Well, from the reading I can see that they travel a lot, and they also have great opportunities to experience other cultures. However, as the reading discussed some of the missionaries did not have great and enjoyable experience with local unfamiliar food they had.

“Exotic, Edible, and Palatable” are the three realms of experience to enrich discussions of food ways. Unlike tourist, missionaries always have extended-stay in the different countries, different places. The length of their stay always forces them to eat exotic, inedible, and unpalatable food. Also as missionaries, they always involve active of persuading other to proselyte for whom were interest in. They have to spend a lot of time with others, to live with them, to eat with them to seek to establish a relationship for teaching about the LCS faith.
There are so many examples of missionaries being served inedible and unpalatable and exotic food. The food is different from where they from. The most difficult thing is to gulp down the nasty soup with an appropriate manner. For my opinion, inedible just means that the food is different or unfamiliar with once own culture, it doesn’t really mean it is “inedible.” Once you have the word “inedible” in your mind you always feel it is “unpalatable”. However, there are also some enjoyable experiences of missionaries. They get along with local people; they are willing to accept the exotic food. Once they accept the exotic food, they will not even think about whether or not it is edible, and the food will become more palatable. Once when you leave the host country, you may still miss the food in there.

It doesn’t mean that we all have to accept all the chicken beak, but being a exploratory eater in a host country will form relationship, communication, and comprehension between us with the local people.

Rudy, "Of course, in Guatemala, Bananas are better" (1)

In this article, Ruby, basically distinguished the difference between culinary tourism and extended-stay eating. Tourists experience culinary tourism is more likely to explore exotic, palatable and fantastic local food. In contrast, people travel to other location for extended-stay is more likely to experience traditional food which are not necessary palatable. Ruby also talks about how food plays an important role of our lives such as our culture backgrounds, and how food changes in our life perspectives.

One of my professors in the past once told me the first time she went to China was for leisure and she loved the food there in China. She had all kinds of traditional Chinese food. She went restaurants to experience famous Peking Duck, and BBQ Pork and other exotic and palatable food in China. That was a great experience of her life.

However, when the second time my professor went to China was for work and she had some unpleasant experiences with Chinese food culture. She was teaching North American Sociology in Shanxi University in Shanxi, China. She told me Shanxi unlike Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou are very developed cities. It is still a developing city. Local people from Shanxi have stronger culture backgrounds. To the local people, inviting her to experience traditional local food even in their homes is the most important thing to do to show her their respective. Most of times, they would kill a life chicken in front of her and cook the whole chicken with bones in a large pot. The most disturbing part for her was the fact they put the whole cooked chicken in front of her with the chicken head facing her. At the end, she had to tell the host that she is a vegetarian. She also told me she went to McDonalds almost every week because she missed home-fries and cheeseburgers even though she use to hate McDonalds before she went to China the second time.





As my own story, I use to hate kiwi-fruit before my family moved to New Zealand. With the years I lived in New Zealand, I started to love kiwi-fruit. Kiwi-fruit tastes different than it is in China. It seems to be bigger, sweeter and fresher. After I moved to Canada, I really missed the real New Zealand kiwi-fruit.





As above, the way of people experiencing food is not necessarily pleasant all the time. It depends on the culture backgrounds, understanding of food, even the producing areas of a particular food.