The Culture of Food in America
ANT 101

Abstract

Food is an essential part of any culture and it serves to show the diversity and unique aspects of different cultural beliefs. In the United States, there are people from diverse cultural groups and many different cultures. These groups possess unique culinary cultures, which add to diversity. This paper explores the different cultural groups present in the United States and their traditional foods. These cultures enable us to understand the concept of cultural diversity. The paper also explores divergence towards the “fast food” culture and its effects of the health of Americans. Two journal articles are used to further
Effects of Dietary Habits on Americans As has been seen, the American food culture has converged towards large-scale consumption of fast foods. These foods contain high cholesterol, fat, and calorie levels. As a result, there is a huge obesity problem facing the United States. In fact, over 55% of Americans are either overweight or obese (Thompson & Wolf, 2001). This translates to over half of the total population and it is a serious health concern. As a result, billions of dollars are spent annually in the treatment of weight related illnesses including high blood pressure, hypertension, heart disease and diabetes (Wolf, 2000). In fact, the U.S. has one of the largest prevalence rates of diabetes, with more that 8% of the population or 23 million people suffering from the disease (Wolf, 2000).

Method

This section of the paper will assess research done on eating habits of the American people. Two scholarly articles will be used in the research, and the findings discussed in order to assist clinical medical anthropologists in the understanding of how these factors affect the health of certain American cultural groups. This research will be compared to the literature earlier discussed and a conclusion made on the findings.
Journal article 1 The first journal article is “Food choices in three ethnic groups: Interactions of ideals, identities, and roles” written by Devine, Sobal, Bisogni, and Connors (1999). The goal of this