Harris 1

Makeda Harris
Professor Otis
UWRT 1102-024
4 September 2014
Response Paper #2 (Revised)
After reading both texts, I noticed some similarities and differences between the two.
Similarities between the texts included the main point being related to food; however differences
became visible when I noticed that Salmons writing was written from more of a personal
standpoint; Andersons writing was written from a more general view focusing more on the
social aspect of food.
The main concept of Andersons writing was the relation that food has to different social
markers. He mentions how eating is a social matter and elaborates by explaining how food has a
direct impact on social class, ethnicity, and lifestyle. The audience gets an understanding of what
Anderson is trying to say especially when he talks about how social messages are carried in what
he calls feast behavior, food being a part of your personal identity, separation and how food
marks social class, social alliances formed through social feast, etc.
Anderson also intertwines examples of how different cultures embrace the social aspects
of food. For example, in Chinese culture, the host uses his own chopsticks to serve the guests as
a gesture of hospitality and respect; Japanese culture finds rice to be very significant. Anderson
touches on different areas in his writing about the social markers of food.
Salmons writing is quite easier to connect to with your own personal experiences; he has
written this text based off of his personal experiences with his family. He talks about his
memories of how his grandmother, mother, aunts used to add numerous seasonings like epazote,

Harris 2

cilantro, salvia, etc. to their meals when they cooked. He also uses a lot of imagery to allow the
audience to get a visualization of his grandmother grinding herbs and chili and talking to him
about the different plants. This text is an actual story compared to Andersons analyzing text;
Salmon shares with the audience the things he learned about plants from his family as well as the
idea of food being an essential ingredient to family gatherings. Essentially, food served as a
social gathering for Salmons family based off of the occasion whether it was getting a new job,
raise, or a family returning from a trip.
In conclusion, both texts definitely had a way of sharing different information related to
food; Anderson focused on the social aspect the food; Salmon focused on telling his personal
stories coming straight from experiences with his family members. Both seemed to come to a
union that eating food is a social event and brings people together.