Running head: SOCIAL AND CULTURAL FOODS 1

Sylvia Smith
Marywood University
Social and Cultural Foods
5/1/2017
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Through my experiences taking Social and Cultural Aspects of Food I was able to learn a

great deal about perspectives. Learning about new perspectives was the basis of this class.

Understanding why those perspectives matter particularly in the health field is the practical

application of learning about various cultures. This class gave me insights into perspectives of

peers, people living in other countries, and even some professors and staff at Marywood. Starting

the process of becoming culturally competent helps me as a future worker in the health

professions to understand potential clients and patients without as much bias as when I first

began this course.

This course offered me an opportunity to experience other cultures in a classroom setting

without fear of being judged for not yet understanding much about the cultures of people

throughout the world. Before starting this course, I told myself I already knew enough about

other cultures and ways of life and that this would be a redundant course for me. However, a few

weeks in one of our first guest speakers came into the classroom to talk to us about Africa. Sr.

Jane Wakahiu spoke to us about the diversity in Africa composed of over 50 distinct countries.

Through Sr. Janes story I became more aware of my lack of cultural competence and thought

back to one of the first assignments about the dangers of a single story. I wrote on the forum

about how it was important to bring an open mind and I had unknowingly done the complete

opposite. When Sr. Jane spoke to our class about African traditions and foods I was then able to

see the shortcomings of my own cultural competence. I loved learning about the work Sr. Jane

helps to lead bringing better education to other Sisters in Africa.

After Sister Janes discussion, I realized I had to be more aware of my own tendency to

overestimate my own understanding of anothers viewpoint. From that class on the parts of the

course I most looked forward to and enjoyed were the guest speakers perspectives and own
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personal stories about their own cultures and heritage. Sr. Kims story drew me in from learning

about the gender differences in Vietnamese culture when compared to what I am used to in

America. Gender differences were also discussed when we studied the religious views of

different people. Islam has stricter views about the roles of each gender in relation to the society.

Our guest speaker helped to explain why this is such an important part of her culture and

religion. This got me to think about the gender roles and bias I may already have from my own

family and society. In my own house my parents follow traditional Catholic family structure.

Growing up my mother was primarily at home and my dad worked late most days. When my dad

would get home from work my mother would call us to the table and we would all eat together.

My dad is still generally always served first. I never realized this was an aspect of my own

culture and that other people in their own families have different traditions than my own. Gender

norms are widely different across the world, however even in the Middle East I was somewhat

surprised to learn that most dietitians are women. In a field dominated by the female gender it is

necessary to learn about the gender norms of different religions and cultures in order to remain

professional and respectful.

Another aspect of this course that I enjoyed, aside from the guest speakers, was the

opportunity to prepare, cook, and taste foods from the various cultures we studied in lecture. I

enjoyed the lab period because it brought the class together to discuss the material we learned in

lecture in a very tangible way. We would try the different foods and then the conversation would

naturally shift to which foods we enjoyed and which we might not have enjoyed and why we

enjoyed them. It was just one more way we could asses our cultural competency first hand using

our senses.
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Overall, I enjoyed most aspects of this course, but felt we could have gone over U.S.A. a

little less in order to make more time for other regions. I think we could have spent more time on

Africa and had Native America and Alaskan Native lab with the American section. I also felt

like the bulletin boards got repetitive because both sections were doing the same material at the

same time. I enjoyed working with my lab group to come up with creative ways to show what we

learned in lectures and discussion through the various responsibilities. The finance lab sections

took longer to complete due to my lack of using excel on a regular basis.

In the future, this class would be great for any student who hopes to work with other

people, particularly in the health field. I eventually hope to work in a clinical setting so this class

for me was a way to see through other perspectives and learn how to realize the bias I have so

that I can be more aware of them when working with future clients and patients. I am learning

continuously about how to be more culturally competent. We learned in the start of the semester

that cultural competency is a process that takes time. The steps we learned to help us gain

cultural competence were to ask questions, skills, knowledge, encounters, and desire to learn.

These are steps Ive already started to implement in my own life. Once I started to become more

aware of my own bias and perspective it has become much easier to want to learn more and

become more knowledgeable.