Food

I liked the article but the author seemed to forget that we all have some food culture. every thanksgiving and Christmas my mom makes all the food for the events from memory (because she's not ready to share the recipes) and makes special dishes that we only see on these holidays. One paragraph stuck out to me specifically. The paragraph where she talks about how black women cook without using measuring devices and such. That measuring devices are a european device in cooking. She is completely wrong and did not do her research properly. Yes she is correct that measuring devices are a european concept but where she goes wrong is to imply that all use measuring devices make meals. I studied to be a chef for three years under 2 seperate chefs; 1 japanese (he barely spoke english) and the second a caucasian. Both of them would throw things at me if they ever caught me using any measuring device. They both explained, in nearly the same wording, that measuring takes away from the taste of the meal. Meaning that, if i used a measuring device then i would never be able to imagine what it will taste like as i make the dish. With every pinch or dash that i would add i needed to be able to recreate the taste mentally and using measuring devices would never allow me to be able to do that.
I know she is concentrating on her roots alone but her article truly applies to every culture across every line. The way Black women cook is really no different than the way a chinese man cooks. Smell is the strongest sense in helping to recall memories. I can still remember my granny cooking in her kitchen and when my mom remakes one of her dishes it takes me right back to grannies kitchen and i can imahinge her standing over the stove with her ever present cigarette hanging out of her mouth. This articel could have been written by any person to reflect on their own culture. But she makes it seem that the Black culture is the only one who can relate to this. For example, she says about being able to buy certain produce goods, chinese cannot go to a regular grocery store and find certain ingredients that apply to their culture. Whereas most white people can go to a grocery store and find what we need because those food items are our culture.