Geography of food

GEA 3500

Individual Exercise: Geography of Food

This exercise includes three documents that you must review: these Instructions, the PowerPoint, and the rubric to use as a checklist. It is your responsibility to read and understand these instructions.

Deadlines: 1. Selection of Traditional Dish: Saturday, September 7. 2. Rough Draft (Optional): Saturday, September 21. 3. Final Project: Saturday, September 28. No late work will be accepted after two weeks of the due date: Oct 12

In this exercise you will compose an essay based on any traditional European dish recipe. Only

one student will be allowed to work on a particular dish, so you must send the professor a

message with the name of the dish you wish to use to compose your exercise and the

European country where it originates (Sep 2). Please include in your message a list of at-least

three traditional dishes and include the name of the country of origin of these recipes.

The title of your essay will be: “The Geography of _________” (here you will include the name

of your dish of choice). Your essay must first mention the “claimed” area of origin of this dish.

We refer to the “claimed area of origin” of your particular dish because there are many countries

that claim to be the place where a dish originated. For example, in Europe and in Latin America

there are many states that claim to be the country of origin of arroz con pollo (chicken and rice).

When you chose the dish you will be researching, first make a reference of the origin (country)

where it is believed to originate. This is very important because there could be a regional

variation in terms of the ingredients that are used to make the dish in question. For example, in

many countries that claim to be the place of origin of chicken and rice, cilantro is a basic

ingredient, while in other countries this is unthinkable (Many people would say, “This is not

chicken and rice!”).

Then, proceed to enumerate all the ingredients included in your recipe. It is required that the

recipe that you chose have 10 ingredients. If the original recipe does not include 10 ingredients,

then you can add some sides that are traditionally served with this dish (i.e., a salad, rice). For

this portion of your work (the table), you must include the basic elements that make up your

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recipe and not any processed food. By this I mean that, for example, if the recipe you are using

requires to use oil, you must clearly state the type of oil that you use (i.e., olive, corn, etc.), or,

for instance, sausages (are these made mainly of beef, pork, turkey, etc.?), or if it include tomato

paste, just include the name tomato in your table and add in parenthesis the word “paste” [i.e.

tomato (paste); pork (sausage); olive (oil)] and make a reference in the essay portion of the

exercise.

Next, find the area where each of these elements were domesticated or, if it is harvested locally

like a mineral (i.e., salt) or it is a plant or animal species that is harvest/caught locally (i.e., fish,

shellfish, etc.), these will be referred to as “native” or “indigenous” ingredients. For example,

garlic, grapes, and, olives were domesticated in the Mediterranean region. If you are using a

recipe original from Italy or Greece, and it includes any of these ingredients, you can refer to

them in your table as Mediterranean or native/indigenous (use only one term in your table). Of

course, you will have to comment this fact in your essay. Note that most plants and animals that

are used to elaborate these dishes have been domesticated in faraway regions where these recipes

were developed. For example, although chicken and rice is a local favorite in a few European

countries, chicken were domesticated in Southeast Asia, and garlic and cilantro in the

Mediterranean.

To find the area of domestication of the most commonly used plant and animal species found in

these recipes, you must use the map provided at the end of this document (Map: Centers of Plant

and Animal Domestication) and in the attached PowerPoint presentation. If some of the

ingredients in your recipe are not listed in this map, I would highly recommend you use the

following website developed by Purdue University (http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/). Here

you can use their search engine to find the specific crops that you are looking for: (go to)

CropSearch. Most important of all, as mentioned in the course syllabus and syllabus quiz,

students are not allowed to use Wikipedia in this course and, if this is the case, will result

in a significant point deduction in any such works.

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Table (25% of final grade):

After listing all 10 ingredients included in your dish of choice, create a table that includes the

names of all the ingredients that make up the recipe of your favorite dish, and the region of

domestication of these plants and/or animals, or country of origin. Remember, all ingredients

that are originally from the claimed country (or region) of origin should be referred as

Native/Indigenous –you can also include the name of the region of domestication as well. For

example, if you are researching a dish original from Greece, Italy, or Spain, any ingredient

included in your dish that was also domesticated in the Mediterranean region (i.e., garlic,

cilantro, parsley, cattle, etc.) should be included in your table as domesticated in the

Mediterranean or included as a Native ingredient (use only one term only in your work).

Your Table should be included in the first section of your work. Please see a sample table

provided at the end of this document. Note that, if your table states that some ingredients were

domesticated in a region were this/these element/s were not domesticated, this fact will make

your table, your map, and analysis essay inaccurate, and you could lose many points. Your work

must be very precise when it comes to these facts since they are the baseline of this exercise.

Map (25% of final grade):

Then plot the information included in your Table in the attached blank world map. If you are not

proficient making maps on a computer, you may print the blank map provided, enter all the

required information using your own handwriting (working as neat as you can; by-the-way, this

is not a work of art), scan your document, and paste it into your word document. The map must

be included after the table, and before the essay portion.

You must use different labels to represent the regions of origin of the ingredients of your dish of

choice. Your map must also include the boundaries of each of the regions of domestication of

the world where your ingredients originated (include only the borders of the regions). You can

find this information in the Map: “Centers of Plant and Animal Domestication” as well. Note

that there can be several ingredients that have the same source of origin. For example, potatoes,

guinea pigs, tomatoes, papaya, lima beans, pumpkin, strawberries, etc., have the same origin:

Andean Uplands.

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You should also include in your map flow-lines that connect the region of origin of the

ingredients to the “claimed” country/region of origin of your dish. The width of these flow lines

should be adjusted to represent the number of ingredients originating in the different centers of

domestication. For example, if the contribution of the Meso-American region to your dish is

three (3) ingredients and the contribution of the Andean Upland region is only one (1) ingredient,

then the flow line that connects Meso-America with the “claimed” country of origin of this dish

should be 3-times wider than the one flowing from the Andean Upland region.

Since using the flow lines to represent the Native/Indigenous ingredients is not an option, you

should use a symbol (i.e., a circle, a triangle) that represents the number of these ingredients.

This symbol must be placed inside the “claimed” country of origin of your favorite dish, and

must be included in your legend as well.

Every map must include the following information

• title (i.e., “The Geography of _______”);,

• an arrow and an “N” (north) sign on top [of the arrow] pointing to the geographical

north (place it on the upper right hand side of the map);

• a legend indicating the values of your flow lines that connect the source regions of

domestication with the “claimed” country of origin of your favorite dish (include the

value of the flow lines only, not the names of the regions of domestication);

• and any other information included in your map (see map sample included in the

PPT: “The Geography of Ceviche”).

The Essay: Data Analysis (45%) & Bibliography (5%)

In this section, include all the elements (ingredients) that are included in your dish of choice,

highlighting the area of origin of the ingredients, and the claimed area of origin of the dish. This

is an integral part of your work and must be as detailed as possible. Remember that this is a

geography exercise and spatial distribution should be highlighted in your analysis. Your essay

must also include comments of the number of ingredients that can be considered native

(originated in the domestication region where the “claimed” country of origin if this is the case)

and exotic (non-native/introduced species).

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In this section you will be evaluated in terms of the detail and thoroughness of the information

you provide. This means that your analysis should be as descriptive and detailed as possible.

For example, you can start by making a very basic statistical analysis commenting the

contribution of each region of domestication using percentages (see PPT sample).

This essay should be at-least 800 words in length. Please note that the word count does not

include your name, PID number, date, titles, the information included in the tables, map, or

bibliography sections. You must also demonstrate knowledge of the topic and include a

reference from the textbook and at-least one additional reference (book or a popular news

forum) included in the essay portion that relates to your favorite dish. This can include a

reputable website that describes the recipe you are using. For instance, the textbook mentions

the key word “foodways”, which may be very useful to your analysis, or include information

from the Vignette: “Food and Diet in Premodern Europe.” Furthermore, several sections of

Chapter # 4 of our textbook make special emphasis in this topic, including: “The Soil of Our

Fathers: Europeans and the Land”, or the section “Environmental Change Over the Ages” (pay

special attention to the section “Introduction of Exotics”, which contains very useful information

to complete this portion of your Individual Exercise). Remember to use quotation marks if you

are transcribing any portion of a textbook, article, website, etc., and include a reference after the

quote, this way your work will not be considered plagiarized. You must also include this

reference in a separate page (Bibliography/Reference), making a full citation of the source used.

In addition, please remember that you are not allowed to use Wikipedia in this course.

Any geographically-based essay must answer three broad questions: Where? Why? (and

How?), and, So what? (or, in other words, why is this important?). Answering these

questions will be the basis of your analysis. For example,

• Where the center of domestication of these plants and animals located?

• Why (and how) were these ingredients introduced to the region where your recipe was

developed?

• In answering to the “So what?” question, you must use the information you included in the

first two sections (Where? and Why?); this is an overview of the principles elements of

your recipe and must include a conclusion’s paragraph of your analysis.

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Please do not include the preparation (recipe) of your dish in your essay. This is irrelevant to the purpose of this assignment. Works that include this information will receive a 10-point deduction in their final grade.

Important Details • Please familiarize yourself with the deadlines. • Upload your work, (table, map, essay, and bibliography) in one word document file

only to Canvas • If you experience any difficulties to upload your work, send me your complete work using

the course messaging system in a word document before the deadline. • Late work will be accepted but will receive a 10-point deduction for each week it is late.

The weekly point-deduction will be applied starting on the next day after the deadline. No late work will be accepted after two weeks of the due date.

• Your answer must be your own, original thoughts. If you plagiarize your thoughts from a website, journal, or any other source, not only you will be sad because you cannot write the small number of words of your own, but you will earn a failing grade in our class. See Course Overview (PPT) for more details regarding plagiarism issues.

Technical Aspects: Your paper must conform to the following formatting: • 12-point font (Arial, Times New Roman, Garamond, or Book Antiqua), • one-inch margins all around, • double-spaced, and • numbered pages.

Any paper that does not follow the technical aspects will receive a 10-point deduction in the final grade for this assignment.

Blank map you can use to complete the map portion of the exercise.

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Centers of Plant and Animal Domestication

Source: Getis, A., Getis, J. and J. Fellmann. 2008. Introduction to geography. New York: McGraw Hill.

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Sample Map

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Sample Table