Maya Angelou excerpts and Lisa Heldke "Recipes for Colonialism"

The excerpts from Maya Angelou's cookbook made me hungry to the point of nausea. These stories show the role that food can play in human relations. In one of the stories, Maya's cooking lands her a job as a writer. It also brought up certain stereotypes. Maya is expected to be a good cook because she is African American and she is expected to be a Southern cook at that. In the story Phil and the other guests are shocked that she does not serve grits at the brunch, which is a dish everyone can agree is stereotypical Southern. Even though she does not cook grits her cooking allows Phil to reconnect with his Alabama childhood and make him feel at home and at ease. This shows the power of a good meal and how it can transport you back to a different time and place. "Recipes for Colonialism" was very interesting to me. I have always been someone who loved to eat "exotic" foods, but I never thought about the cultural colonialism that Lisa Heldke brings up. I always thought of my experiences with Thai, Indian, or Vietnamese cuisine as simply that: great meals. I grew up eating either thai or vietnamese at least three times a week with my mother who is also an avid fan of these types of food. I never thought about this action as exploiting a certain culture; I always saw it as enjoying a different culture's cuisine that just so happened to be my favorite kind of food. I never liked typical "American" foods as a kid; I refused to eat hamburgers, hotdogs, pizza, cake, ice cream, etc. I suppose certain cookbooks turn certain cultural cuisines into exotic fantasy meals for Americans, but I have never felt this way about oriental cooking or any other kind of ethnic or foreign cooking. I just see unfamiliar foods as a way to enjoy a delicious, flavorful meal that is way better than anything you can get at McDonalds.