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| *Cooking can be described as a 'labor of love' and a quick perusal of cooking experiences can prove the truth of this statement. Just think of the ways in which the process of cooking involves work -the physical tasks of cleaning and chopping foods, the possibility of injury from sharp knives or other instruments, the chance of burns from hot grease or ovens. Doing a turn in the kitchen can also involve emotional work, worrying over the quantity and/or quality of your meal, feeling joy when everything turns out perfectly, and disappointment when the reverse occurs. There is also the work of buying and/or growing one's own food, as well as presenting the dishes one has slaved over.
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| *The families in the movies demonstrate their love for one another, laboring in (and out of) the kitchen to provide nourishment for both body and spirit ---> taking care of each other with food (e.g. what do you like to eat?).
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| *My particular interest is in the way these films use food to represent ethnicity and culture in African American and Latino families.
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| *The movies all celebrate the power of families to sustain their members through life's sorrows as well as embrace life's joys, using food as ametaphor for many emotional experiences.
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| *Place family meals in their broader contexts.
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| *Each film participates in a borad exploration of how food exists within a culture, giving viewers meaningful glimpses into ethnic '''foodways; here I accept the definition of foodways as 'the pattern of what is eaten, when, how and what it means''''.
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| *Part of my task in this essay will be to delve briefly into the history of various foods within these two heritages, and discuss how the 1960s and 1970s helped produce a more hospitable climate for ethnic foods so that films like Soul Food and Tortilla Soup could one day be made.
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| *Tortilla soup equals Eat Drink Man Woman.
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| *Tortilla Soup captures some of the very things that make Latino families strong, such as their emphasis on communications at meals.
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| *The three cinematic families exhibited here all find strength from their shared meals, so that they are able to overcome any crisis.
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| *SUMMARY soul food: every sunday the family meets at Big Mama's for a magnificent feast. Ahmad tries to keep the family together after Big Mama dies, by inventing a story so everyone will come to the house for dinner. Food thus becomes a major element of the film through the community and solace it provides the squabbling family members, serving as the glue that holds this northern urban clan together.
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| *SUMMARY once upon a time: Eat very simple most of the time. Charles's extended family and community shower him with support and love, again sometimes in the form of food. Cliff also encounters a white woman who demonstrates concern for his well being, and food is important to his friendship with her.
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| *SUMMARY tortilla soup: focused on a Latino family in LA, is a celebration of food and family in which the patriarch (semiretired chef) tries to hold onto his grown daughters despite their efforts at independence. Here the family meals are truly spectacular repasts, to which others who are not family members are also treated; the family's discussions during these meals are engaging and often conflicted. Everybody love over meals. The fact that so many emotional scenes erupt over the dinner table and are soon resolved strongly suggests that good food has the power to heal the many wounds families inflict on each other.
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| *Having briefly introduced each film, it is now time to consider the ways in which foodis used, first by dissecting the two minority cultures' foodways in terms of what is prepared, how it is prepared, when it is served, for whom it is served and most important, the meanings behind the foods.
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| *African American families feast on traditional Southern foods such as fried chicken, catfish, ham, string beans, greens, corn on the cob, mashed potatoes and gravy, macaroni and cheese, cornbread, adn desserts like the ubiquitous sweet potato pie. In Once Upon a Time occasionally this food is eaten, in Soul Food every sunday afternoon.
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| *Soul food, term introduced in 1960s and ever since used.
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| *Soul food was credited with being authentic black food by some in the black community, while others took a more ambivalent stance about the foods that survived slavery and became synonymous with poor blacks prior to the 1960s. ---> see bullet 6 appendix book.
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| *Big Mama: soul food cooking is cooking from the heart. This view equates soul food with the family, and the love that undergirds soul food cooking motivates Big Mama and countless other mothers to spend hours in the kitchen.
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| *Foodways include food selection and preparation. The cooking styles in favor here include frying, boiling and baking, with heart and feeling. Cook by vibration, I can tell by the look or smell of it.
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| *African American cooking style is a style developed that did not rely on written instructions, since slaves were denied literacy, and even after slavery was abolished, some blacks were unable to attend schools; a tradition was established of passing down cooking secrets orally.
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| *Most of the meals in Soul Food are prepared for the family's tradtional weekly gatherings, yet the audience catches a glimpse of Terri and husband Miles at home, discussing work issues over an ordinary dinner of pasta, salad and wine. The atmosphere at the couple's condo is in direct contrast to the raucous, good nurtured banter and love on display at Big Mama's house. The marriage between Terri and Miles is already on shaky ground at the start of the movie, which their simple meal and tense conversation at their home suggests.
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| *A scene near the end of the film: Terri, Maxine and Bird meet in a restaurant for lunch ends without anyone ordering lunch due to their inability to agree on any matters (house sale of big mama e.g.). That no food finds its way to their table, in light of Big Mama's sudden departure, supports the primary message that food symbolizes love. Its absence here indicates animosity and the unrelenting conflict two of the sisters - Terri and Maxine - carry over from childhood.
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| *Foodways in Tortilla soup: Mexican American heritage is highlighted, presenting a vibrant cuisine that melds indigenous and Spanish influences over several centuries in the southwest.
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| *more attention for Latino cuisine due to the Chicano movement in 1960s and 1970s.
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| *The food served in the Naranjo home and in Martin's restaurant reveal a love of fresh fruits and vegetables, among other ingredients. The very first image in the film is of hands picking vegetables, then grilling peppers and cactus. Fish is on the grill, bananas are frying, and there is other food preparation; as the camera pulls back, viewers discover the hands are those of Martin Naranjo - a man of prodigious culinary talents. Ordinary fare such as corn as well as more exotic but genuine Mexican fare such as octopus simultaneously grace the screen.
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| *Not only does Martin cook for family and patrons, but he voluntarily furnishes a friend's daughter with authentic lunches of Mexican American cuisine in lieu of the meatloaf and other bland foods her own mother has prepared for her.
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| *Frying and baking in Tortilla soup. Alo roasting vegetables and twists on ordinary practices like baking in parchment.
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| *Carmen is also a good chef, boyfriend scene.
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| *'''Beyond the level of basic nutrition, what we see in the foldaways represented in these three movies is a fairly universal view of food as a representation of love.'''
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| *Big Mama's sage words at the start of Soul Food, that 'green beans, sweet potato pie, and southern fried chicken would settle any disputes,' bespeaks the power of food to smooth ruffled feathers and promote love or at least calmer sentiments among the combatants. Even the act of teaching someone to cook can become an act of love, wherein the teacher wants the pupil to bring happiness to others through food. ---> my work is een ode aan mijn vader als kok en een moment voor mij om te leren van hem, in zijn keuken en vervolgens deze proberen na te bootsen in mijn keuken, de keuken van een kunstenaar.
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| *Big Mama represents the countless mothers (and fathers and other family members) who prepare their children's favorite foods because the love them.
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| *Men as well as women express their love through cooking.
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| *There are many hands preparing food, and some of the hands basting meats on the grill are very likely male hands. Grilling is something most men have at one time or another performed at home or at a park; it is traditionally viewed as a 'masculine' activity, unlike baking or boiling ----> performance werk! maar in films gebeurd het door 'schone' handen. Mijn werk kan weerzin opwekken qua hygiene.
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| *The male cooks here are thus more like apprentice chefs, responsible for less important tasks or meals while the featured dinner remains in female hands (Once upon a time)
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| *Martin Naranjo in Tortilla soup is different from the men in the two African American films since he is a professional chef - a largely white male occupation that has status and can earn a substantial pay.
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| *He also cooks the meals at home for his three grown daughters. His meals are veritable cornucopias of colorful entrees and side dishes.
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| *Martin insists of coming on time home for dinner.
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| *Martin sense of taste has started to fail.
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| *Food is central to Martin's life, so it is not surprising that he announces his marriage proposal to Alice's mother Yolanda at dinner.
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| *The last gathering of the film, another family meal, brings good news about Martin and Yolanda's baby girl, due in a few months. This special occasion is heightened by the fact that Carmen's new restaurant is the site for this dinner. Carmen is finally able to live out her childhood dream of being a chef by turning her back on a business career in order to find happiness in the kitchen.
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| *Food is the vital connection among family members here and in the other films - a most ordinary part of life, but one that allows expression of individuals' devotion to one another.
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| *Love is the most powerful emotion engendered by the preparation and eating of food, but it is symbolic of other feelings and ideas represented in these films.
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| *Food, along with table settings, can symbolize wealth or abundance (extravagant, over the top food, spectacular, many dishes e.g.).
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| *Tortilla soup: usually lavish spectacles of food that the families are fortunate enough to afford.
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| *Presentation, however, can reveal as much about a family as can exactly what they consume. The Naranjo dining room table regularly displays fine china, wine glasses, and silver. The fancy table setting is befitting their elegant, upper-middle-class home, while the Joseph and Young families dine with more modest tableware.
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| *A bourgeois meal trend found only in Tortilla soup is starting off the meal with a soup, such as squash soup or tortilla soup. None of the other cinematic families feature soup as a distinctive course of their meals, and when soup does appear on the menu it is featured by itself as the total meal.
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| *Not all of the meals in Once upon a time are so modest, and the sense of security that a large meal can generate is another potent way that food becomes symbolic in these films.
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| *In Soul Food, everyone from Ahmad to Big Mama finds stability in their weekly dinners.
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| *Security and tradition are literally served up each week, with stories passed down through the generations along with recipes and feuds. The dinner table, laden with good food and surrounded by loving family and friends, is the scene of good times - jokes and laughter shared by all, children and adults enjoying memories of past dinner and dreams of the future.
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| *The Naranjo daughters feel secure enough at their family dinners to each announce momentous news to Martin and the others at the table.
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| *Andrew tries to win Martin over by praising the meal, calling Martin an artist, despite Martin's insulting remarks about Brazilians.
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| *Orlando tries to win Martin's friendship by complimenting his cooking. Tortilla soup starts off the meal, which Orlando praises so highly that he declares it better than his mother's soup. The conversation further turns to food when Orlando invites Martin to a baseball game, offering to treat him to hot dogs. The horror on Martin's face vividly expresses his dismay at such pedestrian fare, so Martin volunteers to bring more 'acceptable' refreshments.
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| *Home may be the place where surprising, even shocking, news is eventually digested, but people need acceptance when they feel unwanted. Fatih (Soul Food), Big Mama nonetheless welcomes to her Sunday table because she is family no matter what occurred previously.
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| *Yet Ahmad by fooling family members with a story about Big Mama's money, manages to gather everyone at Big Mama's house for dinner, including cousin Faith. She and almost everyone there feel uncomfortable in this situation, but at least the adults manage to act civilized long enough to talk through their problems and work together in a crisis - putting out the fire set off when Ahmad accidentally leaves a towel on the stove.
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| *Akin to acceptance, friendship is a consequence of some of the meals prepared in these films---> once upon a time: Punk shares her pie with Cleve and Cliff & Mrs. Maybry.
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| *So many other symbolic uses of food abound in these films, but one of the more touching aspects of sharing food that they demonstrate is that food brings comfort or solace to someone hurt or grieving (emotie eter). ---> soul food.
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| *A very tradtional use of food to console people occurs after a death, during a mourning period or funeral reception. When Mama Pearl dies in Once upon a time, after a long illness, friends bring food to Poppa's house, alerted to her death by trolling of a bell, this being a close-knit black community. In Soul Food uncle Pete after hearing of the death of Big Mama confuses Maxine actually with Big Mama, remembering his father catching catfish and killing pigs to make smoked sausages. He find refuge in the past where life with his family was simple and the food flavorful as well as plentiful.
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| *While the above examples link food to sad emotions in various family settings, a very positive use of food in an individualistic manner grants some of the cooks here the opportunity for self-actualization, even gratification.
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| *The pride in cooking that family members display in Soul Food is duplicated by Tortilla Soup's Martin and Carmen. One the established chef and the other the aspiring chef, they gain satisfaction from cooking Latino dishes for loved ones. They compare their cooking, Martin asserting that Carmen's is too spicy whereas Martin's food is too tame for Carmen. Both express creativity in the kitchen using food as the medium of expression for their talents. Martin is able to rescue overcooked restaurant food at a private party, turning it into a completely new dish with a French name. Carmen takes unusual ingredients to aarive at 'Nuevo Latin' dishes for her boyfriend, and later for patrons at her restaurant.
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| *One last example of food's symbolism in all three of these films is the use of food as a reward or treat. Martin treats youngster Alice to wonderful Mexican foods for lunch in Tortilla Soup as he gets to know her mother Yolanda better. Ahmad, victorious in a big basketball game, prevails upon his mother in Soul Food to prepare a victory dinner with his favorite dishes.
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| *There are doubtless many more uses of food in these three films that this essay cannot address in such a short space. The important thing to remember about food and its uses in Soul Food, Tortilla Soup, and Once upon a time when we were colored is the powerful way food is shown to facilitate communication among family, friends, and community. It has been said that in sharing food and talk, people can become more connected.
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