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Adrianna Duran
Mrs. Scaife
Composition I 8:00
13 September 2015
That Food Again, No Thank You
I was around eleven when those salmon colored, slightly coiled small tailed food
people call shrimp became my enemy. I never was too fond of seafood from what I remember.
Wwhenever I was offered any type of seafood, I would just nibble on it or pick at it at the most
or in some cases just politely turn it down all together. But the one time I genuinely gave shrimp
a decent try it nearly gutted me. I was sick for what felt like eternity to me. I threw up everything
that was in me. Tand the vast pain I felt in my stomach was so awful that not even the medicine
my doctor prescribed to me took the pain away completely. I knew I never should have fallen for
it but I did. It was my mothers Mexican shrimp cocktail which everyone always compliments
her on. Maybe I ate one too many, maybe I got a bad shrimp in mine, maybe it just was not for
me., Wwhatever it was it traumatized me to the point to where I vowed to never consume shrimp
or any seafood for that matter ever again. Traumatizing experiences can happen many times
throughout life with the childhood having been the prime time for me anyways. Can it take hold
of you? Can having a traumatizing experience with a certain food influence relationship with
food and fear of judgment in certain social situations involving food?
I decided to conduct a survey to get answers. My survey was not a typical one word
survey but instead involved a little more input so I conducted it in print. I personally distributed
surveys among fellow students in UALRs library and dining area who were willing to
anonymously complete it. The survey contained five questions in total: 1) Have you ever had a

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traumatizing experience with a certain food you consumed (e.g. stomachache, vomiting,
difficulty breathing, etc.), if so what was your age? 2) What was the food consumed, describe the
incident? 3) Have you consumed the food since the incident? If so how long did it take and how
did you get over it? 4) How did the incident impact your diet plan? 5) Did the incident affect
future social situations involving food? If so, share what happened or typically happens to you
during these occasions. Is it hard to politely decline the food or are you worried to offend
people?
Reading the responses felt comfortable as I realized I was not alone in the sense of letting
food control my diet plan just because of a traumatic experience with it. I read all the surveys a
total of eleven and proceeded to sort them out. As expected the majority did have some type of
traumatic incident with food. Out of the eleven surveys only one had never experienced any type
of impacting incident with food and ten of them did. What traumatized the majority of the
participants were the effects that the food caused them which involved painful stomach aches
and wrenching vomiting. I took the average of the ages in which the incidents occurred to the
participants and the average was thirteen years old like predicted the childhood is the time period
in which incidents can affect us, keeping in mind that I did just survey college students. But the
thing is that maybe it is true to a certain extent because they do remember the incident most
clearly.
An extensive variety of foods were consumed all the way from Jolly Rancher candy to an
uncooked pig brain. Four of the ten incidents involved fast food restaurants, with two of the four
being Burger King. One of the ten incidents involved frozen seafood. Sseafood why am I not
surprised, just like me they were also impacted.. The other incidents were weirdly as mentioned

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before a pig brain, eating about ten bags of Jolly Rancher candy, a microwaved egg and beef
jerky. One of the ten incidents involved an allergic reaction to strawberries.
Out of the ten which had traumatic incidents occurred to them three of them refused to
never consume the food again, one participant stating every time I see it [Jolly Rancher candy] I
get stick to my stomach I related to this participant just the smell or sight of shrimp makes me
sick and causes the gruesome images of me on the bathroom floor withering in pain to flood into
my mind. Their diet plans just like mine are impacted because they decided to no longer
consume the food again. The majority of the seven others took years before even thinking of
consuming the food that caused them so much damage physically and mentally. They say it
impacted their diet plans because, for some time, they did not consume the food., However,but
ultimately in the end they were able to. One participant stated changed by not eating fast food
so much, because I felt really sick to my stomach with just a thought, which was the same for
some of the others they lessened the times they would consume the food to avoid another
incident.
When it came down to the degree in which the incident affected social situations
involving food seven of them replied that it in no way affected them. Two, in which when they
were in those situations, would just opt for sometime in which they trusted or were certain would
not cause them to get sick. One participant expressed great affection by the situation because of
the allergy to strawberries and oddly enough is offered strawberries all the d*mn time When
it came down to the question of it being hard to decline the food or of being worried of offending
someone, ten out of the ten expressed that they had no problem in politely declining food. with
Mmost of the responses stateding a similar thought which was basically, that it is just food who
would be offended.

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I agree, I mean it is just food after all. Like with myself, I have to decline seafood all the
time at family events or at social gathers because it is so popular at the events I attend; it is really
enjoyed by the people I know. I remember when I first began to decline they would ask if I was
on a diet, or if I had already eaten prior to arriving at the event, or if I was sick that I would not
want to eat it. I would have to in turn explain that it made me sick. I never felt bad because they
would always comprehend me., and You do not necessarily have to explain yourself after
declining. However, if they did happen to feel bad about you declining you could always, just
like myself, offer reasoning to why you decline the food and hopefully they comprehend you.
And although explaining it every time to someone new could possibly get repetitive and may
bother you at some point, in the long run you would know that you are just putting in your best
effort in not trying to offend anyone.
As we refer back to the question, can having a traumatizing experience with a certain
food influence relationship with itfood and fear of judgment in certain social situations involving
food? Given the results of the survey, yes having a traumatizing experience with a certain food
can influence relationship with food whether it is in a good way or in a bad way; it is affected,
but not necessary in fear of judgment in certain social situations involving food. Why is it? As
quoted in my psychology textbook, Fearful people are more dependent, more easily
manipulated and controlled, more susceptible to deceptively simple, strong, tough measures and
hard-line postures., media researcher George Gerbner to U.S. Congressional Subcommittee on
Communications, 1981. I completely agree because every person is different so it does seem
logical that it would all depend on the person and how much fear they carry over the experience.
Now I know I have decided thatnot to eat shrimp is my enemy again but this quote leads me to

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speculate, that mmaybe it is my fear that I carry of feeling the immense pain again that does not
let me eat shrimp.

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Works Cited
Food.Survey. 9 Sept. 2015
Myers, David G., and C. Nathan Dewall. Psychology. 11 ed. New York: Worth Publishers, 2015.
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