NATIONAL CUISINE

 

Valeria V. Bondareva [ Bio ] (Samara, Russia)

 NATIONAL CUISINE AS MEANS OF EXPRESSING AND SHARING  NATIONAL AND LOCAL CULTURES WITH AN INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY STUDENT COMMUNITY 

We are what we eat
Hippocrates

 Abstract
In a multinational and multicultural university classroom the issue of expressing and sharing national cultures with the academic community is becoming more and more urgent. One of the effective means to let students experience cultures represented by their group mates as well as to motivate them to teach their own cultures is national cuisine. Being a part of culture national cuisine is a reflection of national history, character and mentality, a means of national self-identification. It is the “text” understood by everybody and in this respect can be considered a form of intercultural communication. It gives students the opportunity not only to learn but to “taste” other cultures.

Key Words: national cuisine, national culture, local culture, international university student community, cross-cultural communication, rituals, traditions.

 Introduction

 University student communities are becoming more and more multinational due to the process of globalization which means students from different cultural backgrounds are to spend most of their time (both in and out of classroom) together peacefully coexisting. In this respect, there arises an issue of sharing local and national cultures represented by the students, which would not only increase students’ awareness of other culture values and norms but also might make them better understand their own culture. To succeed in socializing international students, help them integrate into the university environment and avoid cultural “bumps” and misunderstanding the faculty and university bodies should take effort to find ways of motivating students to express and share their cultures with multinational university community thus facilitating cross-cultural communication.
We believe that one of the effective means to do this is national cuisine.

National Cuisine as a Part of National Culture

 

 „We are what we eat”, – said once Hippocrates, and this is very much true for several reasons. First, national cuisine is not only a means of satisfying a person’s vital need for nutrition, it is an important form of social communication, a traditional value, expressing symbolic meaning. Just think of dishes, which became real national symbols and are associated worldwide with a certain nation – Hungarian goulash, Italian pasta, Russian pelmeni, Ukrainian borshch, and the list can be endlessly continued. This symbolic meaning attributed to the national cuisine turns it into a means of ethnic self-identification.

Second, national food reflects the way of life and morals of the people inhabiting certain regions. Third, national food is a criterion to measure the level of civilization in the country, peoples’ talent, originality, the level of adaptability to environment. Fourth, national cuisine is one of the criteria to define psychological patterns of life and thought, reflected in prevailing culinary tastes and food preferences. National food and drinks speak about people’s priorities since the position of food in a society everyday life determines the position of other values or life pleasures, demonstrates their real role in this or that culture.

Unlike national languages national cuisine is the text understood by everybody and in this respect can be considered a means of cross-cultural communication.

A deeper insight into the issue could prove that national cuisine is religion-bound (remember numerous religious food taboos and prescriptions) and can also be defined as a social marker.

So, in a wide sense national cuisine contains all the aspects of national culture: a) material (products, utensils), b) spiritual (eating taboos, beliefs, rituals), c) behavioural (table manners, eating norms and etiquette), d) organizational (time and day meal distribution, fast food as opposed to low food traditions, etc.).

National Cuisine as Reflection of National History, Character and Mentality

 

One cannot but notice the correlation of national cuisine and national mentality. Thus, for instance, American cuisine is a fancy mixture of different national food from that of native Americans to the eating traditions of English, Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese and other peoples who came to settle in this country long ago. But a national American invention is hamburger which is not just food but a text, a story and a philosophic thesis about American way of life. It is meant for an always hurrying businessman for whom time is money. A drink to accompany a hamburger in a highly industrial American society is sure Coca-Cola – a product of industry and chemistry. The concept of fast food is a reflection of American mentality.

The notion “European cuisine” developed under the influence of national food of different European countries depending on their geographical position and climate, which explains its diversity. Southern European cuisine differs in “temperament” from Northern European cuisine as Spanish or Italian character differs from that of a Scandinavian. Southern cuisine is characterized by spice, flavour, colouring in comparison with more simple and restrained Northern cuisine.

Talking about separate European countries scientists also trace some features of the national cuisine, which can be explained through the national history, character and mentality. Thus, for instance, an enormous variety of types of Italian pasta reflects plastic giftedness of the nation, which is embodied in sculpture and architecture.

A French cuisine characteristic feature is its lightness, zest, delicacy, extravagance and originality also characteristic of French culture. French cuisine is an embodiment of passion and fire commonly found in the French national character.

Jewish cuisine is full of religious symbols and historical traditions. The most symbolic Passover food – matzo – unleavened and unsalted bread – reminds of urgence with which the Jewish had to leave Egypt. Oppression the Jewish people were suffering from is symbolized by charoset – a mixture of nuts, apples, cinnamon and honey. Its texture reminds of clay Jewish used to stick bricks together while the sweetness of fruit and honey is the symbol of hope and belief.

For Russian culture the national cuisine is of exceptional importance. Russian people are famous for their hospitality part of which is a tableful feast, which reflects originally collective nature of a Russian person, his/her affection for communality and national unity. Russian national cuisine is history-bound and can be provisionally divided into three periods – pre-revolutionary, post-revolutionary when national cuisine was forced by the “international” cuisine of the Soviet republics, and “Renaissance” – rising tide of interest to anything connected with Russia including national food during the Perestroika period.

National Cuisine as an Object of Research

 

National food has always been an indispensable element of classic ethnographic description. Traditional ethnography defines it as one of the components of the so-called ethnographic “triad” of the main national material culture phenomena – food, clothes and house. To emphasize the importance of national cuisine as a part of national cultures new sciences have been developed recently. One of them – gastics – studies cultural role of taste sense modality, rituals, traditions, connected with food and cuisine as reflection of national mentality; it is a science about semiotic and communicative functions of food and drinks.

Gastrosophy is an interdisciplinary study of food and products, as well as eating habits and traditions in historical and cultural aspects; it studies national food as a factor of historical development of a person and a society in general, as a part of human everyday culture. The subject of gastrosophy is the role of food in history, its impact on historical events, regional characteristics of food, eating traditions as a criterion of national identity and self-identification. Gastrosophy defines food as an object of human cultural heritage, studies its role in fiction, arts, mythology, festivals and rituals.

Phagology is a part of culture studies exploring cultural phenomena connected with food and drinks, forms and rituals of their use, people’s beliefs and perception of food from culinary recipes to food myths and stereotypes.

Anthropology of food is a dynamically developing research area of ethnology, social and cultural anthropology.

No matter what aspects of national cuisine and eating traditions the scientists research all of them emphasize the necessity of preserving traditions of national cuisine as well as national eating etiquette, value, ethnic and symbolic meaning of food related to its ritual role.

Some practical steps to popularize national cuisine tradition were made by the Spanish government supported later by other countries when in 2007 they suggested to include “Mediterranean diet” into the list of UNESCO world heritage to emphasize its importance as cultural assets. French, Japanese and Mexican national cuisines have followed in that list. Such popularization of national cuisine helps spread a favourable image of the country, which is a successful marketing ploy to attract foreign tourists, in general and students, in particular.

National Cuisine as a Means of Education

 

Considering all the above mentioned we can say that national cuisine can be an effective means of learning all aspects of culture as well as a way for better understanding national history, character and mentality by the university international community.

Since the international community of Samara State University of Social Sciences and Education is rather diverse and numerous and consists of Bachelor’s and Master’s degree students, mobility students, Russian as a Foreign language course students from Europe, Asia, Africa and America, as well as students representing different nationalities populating the Russian Federation, university faculty and international office staff make use of the classroom and non-classroom time to provide students with the opportunity to express and share their cultures with each other.

To incorporate national and local cultures into the international classroom the university staff annually organizes cultural events and activities to celebrate Catholic and Orthodox Christmas, Easter, Passover, Shrovetide, national New Year according to different calendars.

But the apotheosis of all the events aimed at making the process of incorporating national and local cultures into the classroom more organized and motivating is a Student International Conference “Ritual Food in National Cultures” held every two years.

The project was initiated six years ago by the Chair of Philosophy, History and Theory of World Culture together with the International Office of Samara State University of Social Sciences and Education and started as a seminar for the students of Culture Study Department as part of their major programme.

Within the period of six years it developed into a large-scale international conference with more than 60 Bachelor’s, Master’s and post-graduate students of all 10 departments of SSUSSE and other Samara universities presenting their cultures to the international audience and competent jury.

The third conference held in April, 2016 turned into a real national cuisine festival, which gave the audience opportunity to go on a gastronomic tour all around the world enjoying delicious national dishes prepared by the students[1].

Being announced long in advance the students got deeply involved into the process of preparation, which in itself was culturally new experience. Some of the students worked individually, others built teams, sometimes international to supplement each other’s linguistic, presentation and culinary skills.

The presentations were so numerous that they are to be divided into several sections:

• National Cuisine of the Volga-Urals Region (where students described national food and rituals of the Chuvash, the Mordovians, the Bashkirs, the Tatars and other peoples inhabiting the region);
• European Cuisine;
• Mysterious Africa,
• Caucasian Food;
• Enigmatic Asia.

The speakers immersed the audience into the world of their cultures. The public had the opportunity to visit Bashkir, Tatar, Russian, Ukrainian, African, Armenian and Turkmenian weddings; to celebrate Chuvash, Indian, Khakas, Vietnamese and Chinese New Year; to keep Orthodox, Catholic, Jewish Easter and St. Epiphany Day also known as Three Kings’ Day; have fun at Octoberfest and Nowruz.

Each performance aimed at presenting a certain national food and explaining its ritual meaning, roots and origin. Each presentation contains a recipe supported by pictures or video and was accompanied by national dances, national song singing and national musical instrument playing or performing a presented ritual. All the participants were wearing national costumes, which made the whole event very colourful, vivid and picturesque and created an atmosphere of “international unity”. At the end the audience was taught a master-class on African drum playing.

The most pleasant part of each presentation was tasting delicious national food prepared by the students. The degustation table was served with all sort of national dishes and exotic salads – Russian round loaf karavay, Turkmenian pilaf, Algerian soup chorba, Jewish hummus and matzo, Chinese pot stickers, and Ukrainian vareniki, Khakas chal pazy, Greece moussaka, Mordovian ofton madyat, Armenian hapaman, German Kartoffelsalat and Vietnamese shrimp salad, as well as different sweets and desserts – Chuvash hulpu, Mordovian pancakes pachat, Tatar and Bashkir baursak, German Rivelkuchen, African cook sister, Armenian gata, Azerbaijanian sweets and many-many other national delicacies.

The presentations were refereed by the international jury composed of university teachers from Great Britain, Germany, France and Italy, as well as the Head of Samara House of Peoples’ Friendship and university professors and officials. Upon the end of the conference they chose the best performances which was not an easy task to do since all the participants deserved to be nominated.

After the conference the students confessed that learning about other cultures they started better understand their own cultural phenomena, which they previously had taken as granted or had never thought of at all.

 Conclusion

 

 We strongly believe that this first-hand information accompanied by colourful visuals and picturesque theatrical performance is the most effective way of motivating students to express and share their own cultures and to acquire and learn about other national cultures surrounding them.

To paraphrase famous Confucius’ statement we may say, “I share and I never forget, I taste and I remember, I experience and I understand.” And these new tastes and experiences will stay in the students’ memory for a long time.

References:

1. Food and Culture – Proceedings of the International Symposium “Traditions and Culture in the Modern World. History of Food and National Eating Traditions” – Moscow, 2015. – 362 p. (in Russian)
2. Kabitskii M.E. Anthropology of Food and Nutrition Today // Ethnographic Review. – 2011, #1. – P. 3-7. (in Russian)
3. Kapkan M.V. National Cuisine as an Element of National Russian Culture: Dynamics of Historical Changes in the XIX-XX Centuries. // Theory and History of Culture, 2013. – P. 15-26. (in Russian)
4. Molchanova G.G. Traditions of Gastics as Reflection of National and Regional Identity. // Moscow University Scientific Journal. Series 19 – Language and Cross-Cultural Communication. – Moscow, 2013, # 2. – P. 9-19 (in Russian)

[1] http://www.guberniatv.ru/programs/dom_druzhby/?id=28123 , http://www.pgsga.ru/infocenter/news/22104.html