Molly Farris

Response Paper #2
In his article, Me, Myself, and the Others, E.M. Anderson has three main connections.
These connects are food and identity, food and location, and food and politics. He
explains we dont just eat to eat, we eat to connect with ourselves and the world around
us. Enrique Salmon uses a short anecdote from his past to go farther in depth on the
basic thoughts Anderson has discussed. He explains that in his culture people use food
to connect to their roots, to their home and how we are politically involved.

E.M. Anderson made the connection that food connected people to their identity. He
explains that Food as communication finds most of its applications in the process of
defining ones individuality and ones place in society. People of a certain culture tend
to eat mostly foods from their culture. Enrique Salmon stated in his chapter In My
Grandmothers Kitchen, The richest memories of my family are associated with plants.
Anderson explained that food was also used as a form of celebration in many cultures.
Salmon described, Epazote, cilantro, salvia, yerba buena, and, of course, chili pequin
embodied the mural of flavors expressed at the table. These foods not only were eaten
at home but also were central figures at fiestas, weddings, and other gatherings. We
use food as form of connecting with out culture and our family. Salmon explains, My
identity and culture as a Mexican is reaffirmed whenever I eat tamales. Just one simple
food can make a person feel more pride for there culture than anything else can.
The second connection food made by Anderson is with location. He explains, People
identify themselves in terms of localitywe are consuming geographies. Salmon

spends most of his chapter talking about traditions that is family still has. He connects
his food with a location by saying, Of course, we ate our family version of tacos,
tostadas, burritos, and other northern Mexican cuisine. If you were to ask someone
what their favorite food is, one would most likely get the response of Chinese, Italian,
Mexican, Japanese, etc. People connect what they eat with where it comes from and
what culture it comes from.

The third connection that Anderson makes is that eating food is a political act. He
explains, Even political ideologies have their food cultures. Salmon also believes that
eating is a political act. He notes, Through our choices to eat locally or to eat food that
has traveled 2,000 miles to reach our grocers shelves, we support a process.
Everyone that eats support a process to make our food and get it to our tables. To grow
our food there has to be laws followed and inspections done so we are theoretically
apart of a major political act.