Tanner Fraughton B2

For my project, I dined in and ate some common Amish foods. It was surprising to find that this culture was so different from mine, even though it wasnt that foreign. A lot of things were different coo ing this food compared to the way Ive seen food prepared and served. I could tell a surprising amount a!out the culture, just !y o!serving the food and the methods of preparing it. I learned "uite a !it a!out their culture using the other things Ive learned in the class prior to this e#perience. All in all, it wor ed out pretty alright. All of the ingredients that were necessary could !e found at home, or at the local grocery store. They were very similar to what Ive !een eating my whole life. A lot of the food was prepac aged, with a few vegeta!les. Typically the Amish will use homegrown foods, their own raised livestoc , and prepac aged foods$ unfortunately, I didnt have some of the previously mentioned things handy. They !elieve in growing things and raising animals, which is different than the average American culture, !ut they are similar in that they !oth use prepac aged foods, dont have many low fat dishes, and are very filling. The preparation of the food was different than the American culture as well. The thing that stood out the most to me was that when I made the hash !rowns, they werent prepac aged. I had to ta e a full potato and cut it down to hash !rown si%e. It was a lot more natural than prepac aged hash !rowns, and re"uired more physical la!or. I can infer that the Amish are a more la!oring people. The ending product was also much more delicious, filling, and cheaper than using prepac aged hash !rowns. The rest of the food was all prepared without using anything electrical, nothing !ut physical la!or. The only real modern technology we used was a gas powered oven. Thats as advanced as it got. The coo ing of the food was fairly !asic. &e had to put our concoction of meats, cheeses, potatoes, pasta, and other assorted foods in an

oven for a fi#ed amount of time. &e couldnt put anything in a microwave, or use any ind of technology li e that. In the end, it prepared a hearty, three course meal that fed ' people. It seems as though the Amish feed large groups of people (families) and feed them a lot of filling meals. They would pro!a!ly need a lot of food so that they can have energy to do strenuous, continual la!or throughout the day. It also appears that the family is an important aspect to them, seeing as their meals re"uire multiple people to prepare and coo , and at the "uantity of them. They also have large families, or live in small communities, most li ely. A very friendly people it appears. The average American culture (that Ive grown up with) and the Amish culture differ in many ways. But they are also similar in many ways. Its ama%ing how much you can find out a!out the !eliefs, norms, material and nonmaterial culture, and other sociological aspects of a culture, just !y o!serving the average diet of the people. Its also curious how we can !e so different from ones culture, !ut also !e so much the same. *ultures other than my own are very interesting, and I will eep a watchful eye towards them now, more so than I have done in the past.