Food and Globalization

        A lot of my classmates have been writing blogs lately about the differences between Canada and their new, adopted country. Something as simple as eye contact can have major differences between the two countries and this emphasizes how much we should know before we go. Therefore, I will try to do a little research into the differences on the life sustaining substances of food between Kenya and Canada. All I really know is the simple, “they don’t have as much”. What are the differences between our two countries? How does as simple of an item as food become a major factor in globalization’s negative aftermath?

         The first indication of Kenya’s difference from the globalized food culture we have in Canada is the emphasis that they put on not wasting food and sharing with what you have. This contrasts the Western, individualistic sense of food as made for every individual person. This is why approximately one third of Western food is wasted. It is apparent in the restaurants that we eat at, where leftovers are tossed without a second thought, or at home when we forget to use the sour cream that needlessly goes bad. I have worked at a couple different grocery stores for five years and I have become desensitized to the amount of food that we throw out because it goes bad, hundreds of dollars of good food that is tossed daily. I could not see this happening in Kenya because they need the food that much more and would ensure that they take better care of such an important resource.

          Sharing whatever you have is also against the Western view, where everything comes in individual, bite size containers. We are not happy with people that constantly get food from others, calling them moochers or various other, less polite names. We also generally do not trust others with handling our food unless they use stringent procedures like chain restaurants would. Would you trust someone if they gave you a wrapped sandwich on the side of the road? Maybe you would, maybe you wouldn’t but in Kenya the idea of sharing food is much more commonplace and acceptable. Everyone needs help once in a while and this manifests itself in how people share with each other. Both lack of waste and the sharing that happens in Kenya is different from Canada and they are cultural changes that we would benefit from.

           What of the food I eat there? A guidebook I have been reading, The Rough Guide to Kenya, which is oddly quite thorough, mentions that Kenya does not have a standard national dish; most of the unique food is served on the coast and comes from Arabic traditions. The staple foods of potatoes, rice and ugali (cornmeal porridge) are mixed in with chicken, goat, beef or vegetable stew and several vegetables including beans and spinach. A Kenyan snack: apparently roasted termites are quite tasty (let’s see how courageous I am). Along with Arabic influence on the coast, there is also Indian influence in Nairobi and Mombasa, the two major cities, in much of their restaurants and day to day meals. Kenya has varieties of game meats and bountiful fresh fruit including coconuts and passion fruit that will make my stay more enjoyable because I want to experience real culture, not watered down Kenyan culture, accessible to Americans.

         While the Rough Guide says that McDonalds is still not found in Kenya, I will be living in Nairobi where, I am sure if I venture into enough of the rich areas of the huge city, I will be able to find Western culture with enough money spent. I am scared of the impact of the West on Kenya and how much I will be ashamed of the businesses that we do not blink an eye at in Canada and their global ambitions. Too often we do not see these financially driven expansions as the destructive movements that they are. These movements are harmful because they impose our culture on others and the cheapest price might become more important than human values of fairness, community and resourcefulness that Kenya has.

         Maybe food will not be as big of a change as I thought it would be except for the simple fact that I will not have as much. But I hope that when I see the differences In Kenya compared to back home and how Kenyans are still so overjoyed with what they do have, I will change even something as simple as eating habits back home. Our program director continually says that we will be amazed by how happy and grateful Kenyans will be and that is one of the changes I am looking forward to the most. They do not have as much but any group of people that have can eat roasted termites and still be happy are aspirations for all of us as far as I am concerned.