Food on the Fourth of July

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Food on the 4^th of July.(July 13, 2018)

The 4^th of July is not usually thought of as a food holiday. Officially commemorating the founding of the nation, it is, however, usually celebrated with food. Those foods signify summer as much as they do American-ness—hot dogs and hamburgers, ice cream, watermelon (I know that can signify racism also, but for many, it primarily marks the summer season), maybe sides like corn on the cob, baked beans, coleslaw and potato salad. Sharing those foods with others in festive meals on this holiday can give us a sense of togetherness and belonging to a larger community, the nation (to borrow from Benedict Anderson’s concept of nations as “imagined communities.”).

I’ve been reading a lot recently about culinary nationalism, the use of food in creating a national identity (See Priscilla Ferguson and Michaela DeSoucey). Food offers practices that can be shared, giving a commonality to a diverse group of people. That food can also be used to project particular images of the nation (called gastrodiplomacy when that is done officially by a government).

 

These concepts were in the back of my mind as I celebrated this past 4^th of July with friends, food, and fireworks in small towns in the eastern Midwest (Ohio). As the nation is awash with rhetoric about the dangers of “foreigners” and immigrants—as well as the very real impacts of that rhetoric on families being torn apart--the food that we were eating speaks a different story. It reflects the immigrant character of the nation and celebrates it. The two images here sum that up. Playing with red, white, and blue colors in food automatically points to the American flag and says patriotism. If we look more closely at the foods in those colors, though, we see the diversity that has always been both the reality and the strength of our nation.

The first one is made of fruit and white chocolate covered pretzels. Blueberries are indigenous, but cherries originated in Europe (eastern and southern) and western Asia, while red raspberries were brought to N America from eastern Asia by prehistoric peoples (wild black raspberries are indigenous). Strawberries in their wild form are indigenous to the Americas, but the kind we eat today were created in the 1750s in France (Brittany) from wild fruits brought from the European colonies in North America and Chile. Pretzels are said to have originated with an Italian monk in 610AD who made them for Lent of unleavened dough to resemble a child’s arms in prayer. Now claimed to be the oldest known snack foods (in the west, that is!), pretzels’ religious meanings are forgotten, and they are touted as one of the healthier snacks. The chocolate covering them? Originated in central America and “given” to the world by Christopher Columbus (in what’s referred to as the “Columbian Exchange.”). Assembled together into a flag shape, these foods suggest a more accurate account of American national identity than what is promoted by certain politicians and media manipulators today.

A similar dish suggests an even more obvious statement of the actual diversity of American identity. Again a flag shape, the layered bean dip is a popular staple for parties and gatherings. It consists of refried beans (mashed, cooked pinto beans), tomatoes, shredded cheese, sour cream, maybe chopped onions and jalapeno peppers, and is served with tortilla chips. Most Americans would immediately recognize this dish and associate it with popularized adaptations of Mexican food. While we could definitely talk about cultural appropriation here, we can also see this dish as representing the Hispanic contributions, not only to American food culture, but to American society in general. That it is part of the celebration of the nation says something about who belongs to the nation. We all do. This kind of “banal nationalism,” as Michael Billig calls it, demonstrates that on an everyday basis, the American people draw from the rich resources offered by the diversity of cultures that live here. Now if we can extend that appreciation and respect to the people associated with these dishes, we will truly be able to celebrate.

(I don’t usually include references on blog entries, but if you want to read more about the ideas I mentioned, here are the sources. There are lots more…..)

Anderson, Benedict. 1991. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London, UK: Verso.

Billig, Michael. 1995. Banal Nationalism. London, UK: Sage.

DeSoucey, Michaela. 2010. Gastronationalism: Food Traditions and Authenticity Politics in the European Union. American Sociological Review 75(3): 432-455. 

Ferguson, Priscilla Parkhurst. 2010. Culinary Nationalism. Gastronomica 10(1):102-109.