In a lot of ways I think food is starting to take the place in culture that rock and roll took 30 years ago, in that eating has become incredibly political. And just as the street has always dictated fashions on music and other things, it’s starting to happen that way in food.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that food has become a central aspect of cultural identity and political expression, much like rock and roll was in the past.
Jonathan Gold's quote highlights how food has evolved into a significant cultural force, akin to the influence that rock and roll had three decades ago. It asserts that just as music trends were once dictated by the street, food is now becoming a reflection of societal values and political attitudes, suggesting a shift in how we perceive and engage with food as part of our identity and culture.
In practice
During a food festival, this quote can be used to emphasize the cultural significance of culinary arts.
Food should be cheap, and labor should be cheap, and everything should be the same no matter where you go; whether it's a McDonald's in Germany or one in California, it should be the same. And this message is destroying cultures around the world. Needless to say, agriculture goes with it.
Sharing food has always had a central place in civilized societies; it's no accident that so many of our cultural, religious and patriotic rituals are involved with eating.
In Ethiopia, food is often looked at through a strong spiritual lens, stronger than anywhere else I know. It's the focal point of weddings, births and funerals and is a daily ceremony from the preparation of the meal and the washing of hands to the sharing of meals.
The roots of India's soft power run deep. India's is a civilization that, over millennia, has offered refuge and, more importantly, religious and cultural freedom, to Jews, Parsis, several varieties of Christians, and Muslims.
I think people should know more of Africa in terms of its joie de vivre, its feeling for life. In spite of the images that one knows about Africa - the economic poverty, the corruption - there's a joy to living and a happiness in community, living together, in community life, which may be missing here in America.
I realized that you cannot think European and want to write or create something African. You have to think African in everything.
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