Topic: Cultural Texts

Source: Observing my family's past dinner experiances and track record for eating together as a family unit, rather than eating meals seperately.

Relation: After reading about cultural texts, and how our society is completely structered by them, I began to consider what cultural texts in my life created my views of our society. My topic is a cultural text in the form of objective elements of culture, not physical manifestations.

Description: We know that, in any culture, food is an important contributor to our way of life. Something I failed to consider growing up was HOW we ate, not by measuring consumption speed or the capacity of a mouthful we can hold, but by thinking about how we eat in relation to others, more specifically our immediate family. Growing up I was blessed to have a family that provided me with the proper nutrition, and even more so to have a family that prioritized meals to be eaten together. Time magazine wrote an article titled, "The Magic of the Family Meal" in June of 2006 that focused on the importances of eating meals as a family. Within the article, I read some very interesting facts; one stated, "Studies show that the more often families eat together, the less likely kids are to smoke, drink, do drugs, get depressed, develop eating disorders and consider suicide, and the more likely they are to do well in school, delay having sex, eat their vegetables, learn big words and know which fork to use." Now doesn't that sounds like an unbelievably positive return for just choosing to nourish yourself at the same time of your family? Unfortunately in most families today that's not the case, data from a December 2003 Gallup Poll confirm that having dinner together in the evening is difficult for today's families. Slightly more than a quarter (28%) of adults with children under the age of 18 report that their families eat dinner together at home seven nights a week. Compared to the relatively similar nations of Canada and Great Britain, we still lag behind in numbers of families eating together. In a different area of the Gallup Poll mentioned earlier, Canada had a 40% rate for families eating dinner together 7 times a week, and Great Britain just short of Canada with 38%. However, in the U.S. at the same time, the data revealed only 28% of families ate together 7 times a week, the 10-12% lag changing the lifes of over 35 million people. To many this is no surprise, because the U.S. is known to have a hardcore work ethic, and according to a CNN report; in August 2011 we ranked #1 in average work hours per year, with a whopping 1,978 hours! It's not like people want to neglect their families or bail out on dinner when they can, people just need to work; and it's sad our society has pushed people to the point where they can't sit down and enjoy a meal with their families every evening. As I see it, the family dinner is key to shaping people, and good communication within a family will benefit from conversing over dinner. "If it were just about food, we would squirt it into their mouths with a tube," says Robin Fox, an anthropologist who teaches at Rutgers University. "A meal is about civilizing children. It's about teaching them to be a member of their culture."

Commentary/Analysis: I look back, and I cherish the fact that I was able to eat with my family every day, opposed to many people I know who were used to whipping up a quick meal to eat solo. Even today, I go to college over an hour away from where I grew up - where my parents live. Yet every night, I continue the tradition of dinner with at least one member of my family. I'm an Italian, one that holds onto the stereotype about motherly importance, so every evening I sit down and eat dinner with my mom. Preferrably I'd have my sister and dad there too, but my sister goes to college at UCSC and my dad has work back home to deal with. It's pretty surprising I've kept the tradition going, because in college you're expected to branch away from the normal routine, but some things just aren't worth giving up. Plus, after reading some other blogs it doesn't sound like the college nutrition standards aren't set very high. Having a mom that knows how to cook is definitly beneficial, with helping me try to keep my diet well-balanced, to teaching me some dishes in the process. I'm someone who believes in strong families ties, and I can say from experiance that family dinners every night growing up had a big part in shaping the individual I am today.

Works Cited: 
CNN - "Study: U.S. Employees Put in Most Hours"
Gallup - "Empty Seats: Fewer Families Eat Together"
Time Magazine - "The Magic of a Family Meal"
Personal Interview - Robin Fox