Unit 3: Identity
Before you read: Group
A. Previewing the topic: Look at the people in the pictures below and discuss the following questions in a group
I. Describe the people in the pictures to your group members.
II. Describe the other features (environment, objects, etc). to the members of your group.
III. After answering the questions above, can you guess anything about the people in the pictures? You can start with the word “Maybe”.
Photo credits, clockwise from left:
By MissionControl from Market at Buddhist temple Toji in Minami, Kyoto – Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3662828
By U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Mariana O’Leary (Unified Command Photo) – United States Coast GuardURL: http://www.uscgalaska.com/go/doc/780/69348/File: Daytonair.69348.jpgPhoto ID: 050420-C-1330-O-503-Testing-Air-Quality-On-Unalaska, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3264949
By NatalieMaynor from Jackson, Mississippi, USA – Democrats Rallying in Smith ParkUploaded by Allstarecho, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7042692
Reading 3.1 Activities
What do you think are the most important factors in determining one’s identity or sense of self? Number them according to their importance to you, with 1 being the MOST important.
| _____ ethnicity |
| _____national origin |
| _____religion |
| _____gender |
| _____job/occupation |
| _____education |
| _____marital status |
| _____ancestors |
| _____family |
| _____physical appearance |
| _____personality |
| ______accomplishments |
| _____other_____________________________________ |
Word families: When you learn new vocabulary, it is a good idea to learn all of the parts of speech in which its root can be used. For example, the adjective accurate also has the noun form of accuracy and the adverb form of accurately. Fill in the blanks of the questions below the chart using the correct form of the words from the chart. The words in the chart will appear in the reading that follows the questions.
| Noun | Verb | Adjective | Adverb |
| accuracy | X | accurate | accurately |
| accompaniment | accompany | ||
| affect | |||
| availability | available | ||
| commission | comission | ||
| conduct | conduct | ||
| consent | consent | ||
| ethnicity | ethnic | ||
| federal | |||
| identical | identically | ||
| policy | |||
| seek |
- The mayor created a __________ to manage the transportation problems in the city.
- The boys are _______________ twins. They look exactly alike.
- Sometimes our friends give us advice about a problem, but the information they give us might not be _______________.
- Our family wants to have a big reunion in June, so we have to check on the _______________ of places that are big enough for all of us to get together.
- The scientist is going to _______________ an experiment to see if he is correct about his idea.
- Layla is too young to fly alone to visit her father in California, so her aunt will _______________ her on the airplane.
- Monday is a bank holiday, so there won’t be anyone _______________ to talk to me about the problems with my account.
- It’s important to fill out your tax forms _______________ because a mistake might result in having to pay a penalty.
- Joseph was given an award for his excellent _______________in school.
- When you are in the hospital, you have to sign one or more ______________ forms in order to allow the employees to treat your problem.
Ancestry Kits
People in the United States come from a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds. Because of this, researching family backgrounds is a popular hobby. In fact, people have been buying ancestry DNA kits to determine their origins, both for themselves and as gifts.. According to Wired magazine, Ancestry DNA sold about 1.5 million kits between Black Friday[1] and Cyber Monday[2] in 2017. Clearly, the kits are popular, but some people are concerned that there could be problems with ownership, privacy, and accuracy of this genetic information. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York has expressed concern that people may not be reading or understanding the fine print[3] in the written information that comes with the kits. He claims that there is nothing that prevents these companies from sharing or selling this sensitive information to someone else.. He wants the Federal Trade Commission[4] to develop “clear, far, privacy policies”. The companies say that they might share the information for projects involving genetic research, but that they would inform customers and seek their consent. Privacy is also a concern. People worry about this information becoming available to employers, insurance companies, or other people who could use this information to affect people’s lives in negative ways. According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an organization that “defend(s) civil liberties in the digital world, life, disability, or long-term insurance plans are not prevented by law from using this information. Finally, are the kits accurate? Jeff Rossen of NBC News conducted an experiment on the Today show. Three identical triplets tested kits from three different companies. Because identical triplets share identical DNA, the kits should have shown the same information for all of them. The results for all three kits were quite accurate.
[1] Black Friday is a popular shopping day that occurs the day after Thanksgiving
[2] Cyber Monday is a popular online shopping day that occurs the Monday after Thanksgiving
[3] Information in a document written in small type, often information that could be unfavorable to a consumer
[4] A federal agency that oversees consumer protection and fair business practices
For these reasons, people should think carefully before using one of these kits. It’s important to read and understand the literature that accompanies them. While these kits might be fun, accurate, and informative, it is important to think about who might see the information they provide.
https://www.wired.com/story/ancestrys-genetic-testing-kits-are-heading-for-your-stocking-this-year/
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/senator-calls-more-scrutiny-home-dna-test-industry-n824031
https://www.today.com/health/are-home-dna-kits-accurate-identical-triplets-try-3-them-t119472
https://www.eff.org/issues/genetic-information-privacy
On a separate piece of paper, write answers to the following questions. Athen discuss your answers with a partner.
- What are three concerns about ancestry kits?
- True or False: Senator Chuck Schumer says that there are laws to prevent companies from selling or sharing the information discovered from ancestry kits..
- Who might want to see the information from someone’s DNA ancestry kit? Why do you think this might be a problem?
Reading 3.2 Activities
Reading 3.2.1. In a group, discuss whether you have eaten or drunk any of the items below.
Photo credits from left to right:
Agnieszka Kwiecień (Nova (Own work),
Daniel Mott from Stockholm, Sweden,
Lauren Travis (Doener Kebab) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Reading 3.2.2. Choose two of the following YouTube videos. After you watch them, make a list of the adjectives used by the children.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPZXwgkRJgo
“Kids Eat Greek Vegetables”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ib_SRqUeQl4
“Kids Eat Japanese Vegetables”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSn6mvohH_M
“Kids Eat Filipino Vegetables”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6seOVH_Jj8
“Kids Eat Indian Vegetables”
| Video 1: ________________ | Video 2: ________________ |
| Title: __________________ | Title: __________________ |
| Adjectives:
__________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ |
Adjectives:
__________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ |
Reading 3.2.3. The following vocabulary words will be used in a reading passage from The Goethe Institute. The reading is a discussion of foreign food that has been introduced in Germany as immigration has increased there since the 1970s. Determine how many of these words you already know, then
| Nouns | Verbs | Adjectives | Adverbs | Prepositions |
| area | attach | complex | ||
| attitude | comprehensive | |||
| code | ||||
| culture | ||||
| diversity | establish | visible | ||
| element | create | despite | ||
| identity | migrate | |||
| immigrant | ||||
| impact | ||||
| shift | trace |
Foreign Cuisines: Taste is as Versatile as Identity
Pizza, cappuccino, doner kebab – it is hard to imagine Germany these days without any foreign cuisines. Maren Möhring, a cultural historian, tells us whether food can bridge the gap between different cultures and whether the arrival of one million refugees will lead to a boom in international cuisine in Germany.
Ms Möhring, culinary diversity with all its different cuisines characterizes everyday life and the urban scene in Germany. This diversity can in fact be traced back to the migration of workers from Italy, Yugoslavia and Turkey. Could you briefly outline the development of foreign cuisines in Germany?
The boom in the “Gastarbeiterküchen” (guest worker cuisines) started in the late 1960s and really took off in the 1970s and 1980s. There were about 20,000 foreign food outlets in the Federal Republic in 1975, but this figure doubled within a decade. Italian trattorias and Balkan bar and grills were the first to emerge on the scene. In the 1970s, they were joined by Turkish snack bars and fast-food restaurants, along with Greek tavernas.
“To be one smart cookie”, “Many cooks spoil the broth” – there are countless idioms and metaphors related to the subject. Does food have its own language and can it even overcome the limits of people’s origins, language and culture?
Private Food or meals represent complex systems whose various codes have to be learned, like a language. Not only eating techniques – for example, eating with chopsticks – have to be learned, but also what, when and how people should eat. Immigrant restaurant owners and waiters often have to do a good deal of translation work to explain certain cultural rules and values to their guests. As a sensual experience, which is strongly influenced by taste and smell, the eating of food allows, on the one hand, a non-verbal way of establishing contact and, on the other, a conversation about what one has actually experienced. The consumption of “foreign” food alone says precious little, however, about people’s general attitude towards immigrants.
Obstacles in Germany
Are there any countries where typical German food is eaten?
“Real” German cuisine is not particularly popular worldwide – unlike Italian or Chinese food. In the USA people often think that beer and Bavarian cuisine is “real” German food.
And how commonplace are immigrant cuisines in Germany compared to other countries?
In the UK, immigrant cuisines became established much earlier and in a much more comprehensive way than in Germany. In France and Italy – where their own cuisines contribute strongly to their national identity – foreign eateries took much longer to establish themselves. Commercial regulations were and still are an important factor – it is much easier for immigrants in England, the USA and Canada to open a restaurant than in the Federal Republic of Germany.
In 2015, more than one million refugees came to Germany. Are we now going to see – despite official hurdles – a growing number of Syrian restaurants? Will we experience a new boom in immigrant restaurants in Germany’s cities and villages?
I assume that, in time, there will be a larger number of Syrian restaurants and snack bars. The labor-intensive and economically sensitive restaurant sector is still an area in which an over-proportionally large number of immigrants choose to work in, not least because many of their vocational qualifications are not recognised in Germany. However, refugees who want to set up their own businesses are faced with great obstacles, particularly financial ones. However, this may change, because the big cities, in particular, have recognised the fact that immigrant economies are an important location factor, which makes them interesting as an urban, creative milieu.
“You are what you eat” – to what extent does food create a sense of identity?
Particularly after people have fled or migrated to another country, familiar dishes and drinks can serve to bridge the gaps in their lives. A nostalgic element is often attached to food, dishes from childhood can have a highly emotional impact. That does not mean, however, that our eating habits cannot be changed. Despite the fact that some people are conservative in their choice of food, taste is equally as changeable as identity.
The question of identity also has a bitter after-taste. From harmless conflicts, insults and the closing of bars and restaurants right up to the crimes of the NSU (Nationalsocialist underground). This right-wing extremist terrorist organization, the NSU, concentrated only on murdering the managers and employees of foreign shops and sales outlets. Has there been a shift to the right when it comes to food culture?
The foreign restaurants, snack bars and food shops have sustainably and visibly changed German cities. It was against this visible diversity of Germany that the NSU’s attacks were directed – and not accidentally in my opinion. On the one hand, immigrant entrepreneurs were attacked who, with their start-ups, showed that they wanted to remain in Germany; on the other hand, it was all about the “endangering” of Germany’s native, “home-grown” food culture. The idea was that supposedly homogeneous and clearly separated national cultures, which have never really existed in this form, were to be protected from “contamination”. It is frightening that in a globalised world such positions are gaining acceptance again. In these disputes, it is never a question of food culture alone, but of culture in the broader sense of the word.
“Bockwurst instead of Doner Kebab” was one of the slogans chanted by right-wing extremists. How German is the Bockwurst sausage in fact?
It was not until the 17th century that the Bockwurst started to be eaten in German-speaking areas of Europe. It was taken there by French Huguenots. It was probably given its name, however, towards the end of the 19th century, when it was served by a Berlin innkeeper as an accompaniment to Bock beer. One thing history has taught us – “the weird things in life” often come from abroad.
Maren Möhring is a professor at the Institute for Cultural Studies at the University of Leipzig and since 2004 she has been focusing on international cuisines in Germany. Her post-doctoral thesis Fremdes Essen. Die Geschichte der ausländischen Gastronomie in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (i.e., Foreign Food. The History of Foreign Gastronomy in the Federal Republic of Germany) was awarded, among others, the Augsburger Wissenschaftspreis (The Augsburg Science Prize) for intercultural studies.
Author
Sonja Esmailzadeh
works as a journalist in Straubing and Munich.
Translation: Paul McCarthy
Copyright: Text: Goethe-Institut, Sonja Esmailzadeh. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution – Share Alike 3.0 Germany license.
November 2016
Writing: Is food important to the identity of your native country, or to a country where you lived for many years? Write two paragraphs. In the first paragraph, discuss the importance of food to your country’s identity. In the second paragraph, discuss the importance of your country’s food to your personal identity.
Listening 3.1.1. Write the missing words in the passage as you listen to the recording.
(This activity has been taken and adapted from Communication Beginnings: An Introductory Listening and Speaking Text for English Language Learners by Della Jean Abraham
Attribution-NonCommercial
CC BY-NC
https://www.dropbox.com/s/8n0z3ss11znm1oz/Chapter%204_Activity%202.m4a?dl=0
| Nouns | Verbs | Adjectives |
| process | allow | international |
| product | avoid | national |
| quality | increase | specific |
| suggest |
It’s important to know where food comes from. Do you know where yours comes from? In the United States, a lot of food goes through a long ________________before it arrives in the grocery store. Some ______________like milk are produced ________________, meaning in the United States. However, some products are _______________and are imported from other countries. Let’s look at some _______________ examples. Most beef in the United States is produced nationally. For this reason, the _______________of beef is good in the United States. It is fresh. However, some fruits, like mangoes or coconuts are not grown in the U.S. They are shipped to the U.S. from other countries. Some people _______________eating foods that are not local. It is a good idea, but sometimes,this _______________the price of some foods. Some shoppers ___________________ themselves to buy international ________________once in awhile, but not often. Other shoppers don’t care and buy whatever is the cheapest. In the U.S., you can find almost any product. Next time, think about where something came from when you buy it! Look for the sticker on the label.
