Food Choice

Naturally, there are limits with every choice we make. If I chose to attend the University of Michigan rather than NYU I would limit myself to a campus rather than living in the city. If I chose to travel to Europe during winter break I limit myself to seeing only a few countries rather than if I go during summer when I have more time. The decisions we make will always have consequences, whether good or bad. In Tracy Poe’s, “The Origins of Soul Food in Black Urban Identity”, the southern blacks made a Food “choice”. They chose to continue eating the foods that reminded them of where they came from and held meaning to them even if it would embarrass the Urban Blacks. They chose to continue eating their southern food for mentalist reasons. The food symbolized the hardships their family had to go through. Black slaves were forced to eat certain foods to keep them strong. Now that they could eat this food openly on the streets represented their freedom. The Blacks had access to the food they wanted, but what if they were not able to find the sweet potato or corn needed for their recipes?
Food “choice” can often be limited through materialist and mentalist means. An example of a materialist reason for how food choice can be limited is when the Italians immigrated to the U.S. and they were forced to make changes in their recipes. Harvey Levenstein writes that Italian food was the glue that bonded Italian families together. But because of the change in location they no longer had as much seafood available like they did in Sisley. Meat was abundant in America. Back in Italy meat was not a big part of their cuisine because it was rare and expensive. Now because of the change in location and the availability of meat, it made logical sense to incorporate meat into their diet and limit the need for seafood.
The choices we make many times are limited by our (mental) religious beliefs. Religious Muslims and Jews do not eat pork. The Hare Krishna only eats at