Cate and O'Donnell

In both of the readings, food exists as a main part of a subculture: the culture of Shenzhen and of the San Francisco county jail. The food people eat has a connection to their history and to their current situations, which can be observed in each article. The article by Cate talks about how people have created “spread” in Jail, a kind of creative cooking that the inmates do which has its own economic and racial divides even in such a small community. O’Donnell’s article talks more about how the differences in food across time in Shenzheng reflects how the culture in Shenzheng and across China is changing.

In “Breaking Bread with a Spread” in San Francisco County Jail, inmates tell about the food creations they have come up while serving time. They create “spreads” to keep themselves more satisfied than they are while eating only the standard food they receive. They also use spread as a creative outlet and as a way to eat something that might remind them of home. These “spreads” have a ramen noodle base and then they add things like cheetos, peanut butter, meat, and vegetables to make a unique meal. Some inmates would make a spread like stir-fry and others like a jambalaya. I thought it was interesting how “spreading” brought people together but how it was also racially divided. One of the inmates said, “’In here the whites spread with the whites and the blacks spread with the blacks.’” It was also interesting how there were economic divides, if you were an inmate with more money to spend it would be easier for you to make a spread, and how inmates might share a spread with an inmate of higher rank to gain their approval.

O’Donnell’s article was more focused on the changing culture in China, from socialist to capitalist, and how this shift could be seen and talked about metaphorically through food. I thought it was interesting when she wrote that “northern beef eaters symbolize state socialism and southern seafood eaters represent the emergent capitalism of China’s post-Mao market economy.” The beef eaters, or ranchers, were seen as more honest whereas the fish eaters were seen as sneaky and sly with more rewards than the beef eaters. The difference between the food traditions of “old-Shenzheners” and the “new-Senzheners” was also interesting to read about.