Source: Observing an occasion where food had to be served to a group of people. The group was a group of men who played poker every Monday night, and every Monday night they would play at one of the group member’s houses. This week was my house.
Relation: Food is a part of everyone’s culture and subculture. American food is different from Mexican food. What’s served at a birthday party for a twelve year old could be different from what’s served at wedding reception. There are plenty of different types of foods, or motives and reasoning behind everyone’s decision on what should be served to a group of people.
Description: Every month my mother has to host the Monday night poker event and has to either cook for everyone or buy enough take-out food to fill everyone’s stomach. There are a handful of men, who barely fit around our table. There has been multiple times where my mom just cooks pizza since that seems to be the easiest. This time she cooked spaghetti.
Commentary/Analysis: Why spaghetti for the Monday night crew I wondered? Before I asked my mom I tried to think of some reasons myself. Was it cheaper, easier to make? Maybe it was on sale, or someone from the group had asked for spaghetti since my mom does cook it very well? I also began to wonder why it was still Italian food being served to the men who played poker. The conclusion I came to was that they were probably just getting tired of the same old pizza and wanted something new. Thus spaghetti was made. My only concern was why did they stick with Italian food? Was it better than all the rest or just preferred by the group, or by the cook? After asking my mom, I got my answer. She decided on what was being cooked because it was cheap and easy to make. So is cereal but I didn’t see her making it. To answer why she chose spaghetti over something cheap and easy to make, like cereal, is simple; for certain cultures and subcultural groups, there are only certain types of food that can be served. For example your boss comes over to your house; you’re not going to serve him cereal. But if kids come over to hang out with your son, you could serve them cereal and they wouldn’t mind.
