Use commenting to respond to the following: Who is this piece intended for? To which DC/DCs does Kothari belong? Do you relate to her situation in any way: it does not have to be a situation that is specifically related to food! Think broadly. (write approx. 100-150 words)
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Prof:Â Dr. Ruth G. Garcia
Email: RGarcia@citytech.cuny.edu
This is a course in effective essay writing and basic research techniques, including use of the library. College-level readings are assigned as the basis for classroom discussion and for essay writing.
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In this piece “If You Are What You Eat, Then What Am I?” Geeta Kothari’s intended audience are the american residents that do not know what one may face when struggling with who they really are, especially foreigners. It goes beyond food, Geeta is facing issues with trying to fit in as a “normal” american that can eat fast food, microwave cooked meals, etc but as she gets older she realizes she misses her mother’s indian cooking. It is interesting how she was reminiscing on how upset she was as a child that her mother wouldn’t let her have the foods she later despised. Kothari wrote this piece to inform her audience that having a diverse background caused her many problems with finding her true self. She is very reflective and gave a clear, descriptive image of how her life was as a child and as an adult. I don’t know if this correlates to Kothari but as a child I was actually the opposite, I would rather my mother’s home cooked cultural meals over fast foods and microwave dinners till this day. I never struggled to find myself as much as Kothari did. I knew my roots and where I came from, never pushed myself to like things that I wasn’t familiar with. As I got older I started trying new things but always would prefer my parent’s customs, lifestyle.
In the following piece ”If You Are What You Eat Then What Am i ;” targets many groups of people or different one but the audience i think the author is targeting id people who are struggling to find who they are so they try to mold themselves into someone else .The dc i feel like Kothari belongs yo or struggles with is her friends she is always trying to copy whatever her friends are eating, for example when she makes her mom buy her tuna finish in the opening paragraph the problem is this community doesnt really support her she kind is just doing whatever there doing to fit in. I do relate to Kothari because i didnt know who i was for a while and i did everything else that people that i wanted to be around did because i felt like it was better to be them then it was to be me. At certain points i feel like Kothari feels the same way but as she gets older she realizes that she wants to be her and just be confident in her culture and her self .
In Geeta Kothari’s piece “If You Are What You Eat, Then What Am I?” is for audiences who are concerned about their own identity like Kothari. For example, immigrants or mixed-race children who have moved to other countries. I think it is originally a work for people who are agonizing between their own culture and new culture. Her discourse community is her family. Her parents keep reminding her and her sister that they are Indians dealing with the foods. They also gather at a place called home to eat together and sometimes at cousin’s house. Her family community would be the most basic, most important discourse community in all societies and people’s lives, learning not only about the harmony of family members but also about various social, moral, and educational things. The situation when I first came to New York and her situation felt similar. As a Korean and foreigner, I came to a strange city and experienced food, culture, and language that I had never experienced, and I also worried about my identity like her. Even though I don’t want to lose something Korean, I still have not found an answer between the questions about new things, but I think both can be the factors that make me.
In ¨If You Are What You Eat, Then What Am I? ¨ Kothariś audience is Americans that stereotype indians into groups of individuals that ¨don´t eat meat due to religious beliefs. ¨ The discourse community she belongs to is American- Indians. She Americans them because they view her as a part of a group of people rather than her individual self. Kothari struggles with the acceptance of herself while trying her best to meet the standards in her fellow indian community and also melting into the standard American melting pot. I can relate to her situation in a way because the same way she is stereotyped into these ¨indian standards¨ (mainly not eating meat for religious reasons), is the same way that many Dominicans are portrayed as being racist. It may sound like a large difference but the same way she is stereotyped due her being indian is the same way I have been stereotyped for being from the Dominican Republic.
This matter is something that has been brought up recently with all of the sad things going on with the BLM movement. In reference to the claim that Dominicans are racist, I believe that it is unjust to stereotype everyone that falls under the category of being Dominican as racist due to the past mistakes of uneducated individuals. I also can not justify the mistakes of others but it is not fair to say that ALL Dominicans are portraying acts of racism. In reference to this I strongly believe that its is up to the Dominican youth to break this unexceptable cycle by not only educating ourselves, but by also making sure that future generations don´t go uneducated of the reality of things. I manly relate to Kotheroi because towards the end she shows and side of being who she is and showing that she wants people to see her for who she truly is as an individual. This including her roots that come along with her and the ability to not feel ashamed or ¨too different¨ because of where she is from.
I think the piece, by Geeta Kothari, “If You Are What You Eat, Then What am I?” is meant for people who are trying to get used to new places they have moved into, especially immigrants. Kothari belongs to Indian discourse community. Me and Kothari have a lot in common. We both are immigrants and we are both from a brown family. We brown people love to preserve our culture and share with other ethnicities as well. When we first came to America I was in the same situation as Kothari. I wanted to eat what other kids were eating, I wanted to wear what other kids were wearing and be more like my peers in school. I remember always asking my dad to cook American foods and I would always ask them to try out new things. It’s been so long since we have moved to America, but my mother still eats our traditional food and refuses to try new things. I thought it was just my mother and I always complained how she is old schooled, but now I understand I am not alone. This piece was so interesting to read and it put a smile on my face.
In “If You Are What You Eat, Then What Am I?” Kothari is targeting an audience of immigrants trying to adjust to a new lifestyle and culture, while still keeping their identity and values in another country. The discourse community she belongs is an Indian family. They aren’t used to prepackaged, processed food that many American eat like hot dogs, tuna, burgers, etc. When they visit their relatives in India, food is being prepared outside and they never ate meat. While Kothari learning each day how to cook with ingredients to make an American dish, her parent were afraid her and her sister would despise Indian food, even though that was not the case.
After reading” If You Are What You Eat, Then What am I? I believe this piece is intended to draw the attention of individuals who feel lost with their self-identity. In the reading the author Kothari communicates that she is a young girl from Indian descent who moves to the USA and struggles to find her identity. She narrates how this continues throughout her adult life. In my opinion Kothari belongs to an Immigrant-American focal Discourse Community. She explains the struggles to trying to fit in with her American friends because of the difference in food culture. While at the same time at home she feels like she doesn’t have that connection with her own heritage. She feels like she is not a true Indian like her parents. It is an interesting piece and it definitely hits home for me. I feel like it relates to me because of the fact that I too came from an immigrant family. I also struggled to find myself after moving to the United States at a young age. It is difficult for children to go through these big changes in life. It can be traumatic because they have to start over and leave their old life behind. They start with a blank slate with no friends, a new language and a different culture.
I believe the essay “If You Are What You Eat, Then What Am I?” by Geeta Kothari is intended for people who struggle with finding themselves. “They are supposed to help us negotiate the world outside, teach us the signs, the clues to proper behavior: what to eat and how to eat it” (Kothari). Kothari struggles finding herself through the changing of culture’s from Indian to American and seeing how they both are different. In my opinion, the DC Kothari belongs in is immigrant discourse community. Most problems immigrants face when changing culture consist of raising children, employment opportunities, and especially cultural differences.
In terms of relating to her situation, I always felt embarrassed or thought I was letting my parents down if I don’t grow up to work in the medical professions. Growing up in a jamaican household, I was always told to join the medical professions because that’s where the money is. Knowing myself, that wasn’t something I found interest in. Overall, changing culture’s is difficult for many. It’s hard to experience or do something new when you’re used to something else.
After reading the Piece ” If You Are What You Eat, Then What Am I?” Written by Geeta Kothari I believe that the group that this was intended for was for people that may have been or still are in the situation she was once in. People who may be in an identity war with themselves, they can’t decide if they should stick with their cultures or beliefs or change who they are so they could get a sense of fitting in. Which ever way they choose to go with they know they will be viewed as outsiders just for the simple fact that they may not look or act like everyone else around them. The discourse community I believe Kothari belongs in is cultured kids being americanized, she shares how her mother had to take certain courses just to learn how to make food that’s common and considered American. Kothari often switches from not liking her cultural food to wishing she learned how to make those same recipes she complained about as a kid. I find myself relating to her to an extent, as a kid I was never told much about my cultural although I never complained, I knew I was Mexican and my parents never let me forget that but once I started growing up I was told more stories and now I love to hold on to any piece of history. I am often afraid I’m going to be judged by people from my home country for living in America but I know who I am and where my roots come from.Â
In Geeta Kothari’s “If You Are What You Eat, Then What Am I?”, I believe her intended audience are immigrant children who grow up feeling “othered” by both their own people and the people of where they immigrated to. In her piece she mentions growing up wanting to eat american food and was frustrated with her mom when she could not replicate it, but then she visits back home and has some trouble eating food there. Not knowing where someone belongs in life can be very frustrating, especially for children who have not fully established their identity. She mentions feeling like she has let her parents down because of she cannot fully enjoy Indian food, but then she also finds that she cannot fully enjoy western food either. This is what causes the feeling of being “othered”, the feeling that you do not belong in both. She belongs to the immigrant discourse community. I do relate to her situation being that I also immigrated to New York from a very young age. I would grow up with my parents traditional cooking, but I found that I liked eating my schools cafeteria food. I too was frustrated with my mom when she could not make what I would see my friends eating, but I grew out of that quickly. When I visited back home I found that I could not relate with many of my cousins in both food but also slang, but that was also the way I felt here. This greatly frustrated me and made me feel like I do not belong in either places. I still have problems trying to figure out where I stand in this world.
The essay “If You Are What You Eat, Then What Am I ?” was intended for people who feel disconnected from their culture and struggle to assimilate when being brought up in another country. Kothari and her family belong to the an Indian discourse community, they are from the same country, eat similar foods, and practice the same beliefs. Being that they live in America, Kothari’s parents experience the struggle of having to manage two different cultures when teaching their children. “They are not like other parents, and they disappoint me and my sister. They are supposed to help us negotiate the world outside, teach us the signs, the clues to proper behavior: what to eat and how to eat it.” (Kothari). She states this in regard to how she feels about her parents raising them and how they teach them. Her parents are essentially giving them some aspects of both cultures and allowing them to explore on their own, even when it doesn’t align with their beliefs as they grow older. Though this leads to Kathori feeling lost, she has to continue to push herself into learning being that she was caught up trying to understand American culture without her parents.
i personally can relate to what she is going through because my mother is Taino (native American of Puerto Rico) and she did something similar like this with me. She didn’t give me a clear-cut set of instructions on what to follow, or told me specific things to do for our culture. She taught me multiple aspects but still pushed me to learn American culture without having me feel restricted or lost.
In “If You Are What You Eat, Then What Am I?” Geeta Kothari’s intended audience is for immigrants might have difficulties identifying their discourse community to which they belong. I think Kothari belongs to Indian’s food culture discourse community because she truly finds herself who she is, where she is from, and what she believes. Even though she was trying to blend in with the American food culture, she prefers her own food culture in the end. I understand her points when she associated with her American friends in school, and she wanted to get involved in their food culture. She felt a little embarrassed and peer pressure. It seemed she did not belong to that group. However, she missed the taste of Indian food when she got older, which she realized the food’s values in her culture. Likewise, when I moved to New York, I was lovely into American cuisine. I could not resist the new food’s taste like pizza, hamburgers, French fries, hotdogs, etc. However, when I get used to those high calories’ food, I stopped it, and I like my Chinese dishes better.
In Geeta Kothari’s “If You Are What You Eat, Then What Am I?”, the intended audience are immigrants trying to adapt to a new life in a different country. She writes about her struggles in adapting into a new culture while still having strong ties to her own culture at home. Belonging to Immigrant, Indian as well as the new student discourse communities she tries to understand and immerse herself into a new culture and a new cuisine in an effort to find her identity and fit in. I do relate with the struggles she writes about. I am an immigrant myself and when I arrived in New York City I was exuberant at the different new types of foods and cuisines I could experience in my new city. I made an effort to try as many new things and experiences as possible as well as adapting to the new culture I was immersed in. I believe many immigrants go through the same situations Geeta Kothari describes in her writing. Adapting to a new culture while at the same time desiring to keep the roots that helped mold her into the person she becomes.
In “If You Are What You Eat, Then What Am I?” by Geeta Kothari, I learned that growing up in an Indian family there are some restrictions to the foods they are allowed to eat, and being with foreigners, food becomes very tempting at times. I think the discourse community Geeta belongs to is, Indians growing up in America; although her story could be relatable to all inmigrants, whom are adjusting to the American lifestyle.
Geeta also makes sure to include her discontent towards her parents for the fact they are not prepared to guide her through these confusing times in her life. I think I relate to that part of the story, because I myself was raised as an inmigrant child and I experienced this part of her story firsthand. Meaning that I had it hard adjusting and making new friends with a language barrier, and cultural differences. It’s never easy to feel excluded from an activity every kid likes, trying new food in Geeta’s case, but we learn to adjust through time.
These are insightful comments on the piece. Nice Work! As many of you point out, this piece speaks to those of us who have had the experience of struggling with our identity vis-a-vis the community we’re living it. But as Evan points out, this speaks on different levels and in different ways to different groups. So that, as Ashley points out, this can be for the society that does not understand the person or group that is different!
In her article “If You Are What You Eat, Then What Am I?” Geeta Kothari is targeting both immigrants who are dealing with two different cultures and Americans who may not understand what it’s like to live with two identities and to have different life, food and beliefs. Kothari belongs to the indian immigrants discourse community. They all came from the same background to the new country facing nearly same difficulties. I can relate to her situation remembering my first day at college trying to find something to eat, it was pretty hard. I did not know what is a tuna sandwich and never heard of the bagel. I got used to most of the food in the USA but still crave my country food, it has the taste of home I ‘ve been missing.