Week 6 - What’s Cooking?

There are so many different cultures that are represented in the film “What’s Cooking?”. Watching the movie was so interesting because there were so many different types of food being cooked in all of the different cultures. Ethnic identity is so important in the movie because each family had there own way of showing their culture. While some of the cultures might not have the traditional Thanksgiving food that so many people think of, the food is special in its own way. Family is another theme that is very clearly shown in the movie “What’s Cooking?”. No matter what the family structure is, each set of family members deals with their issues in their own unique way. Food always has a interesting way of bringing people together. In this movie, the food makes so many people realize that no matter what issues they have going on, they can always make a good meal and things will be better. Multiculturalism is represented in the film because there are many different interracial relationships being displayed. An example of this is Jimmy and his girlfriend who is Hispanic. Their two cultures crossover a lot and it is cool to see how they help make meals together. Burning the food is another thing that is something that we see a lot in food movies and especially in this food film. While I was watching the movie, I was also thinking about the fact that there are so many different ways to do the Thanksgiving holiday depending on how a certain culture or family eats. As we know, not every single culture has the typical turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and cranberry salad. This was honestly one of my favorite movies that we have watched so far in this class. This is because it showed a bunch of different cultures and types of food that I had never considered for Thanksgiving before. I have always just had the typical white American type of Thanksgiving so it was interesting to see new types of cultures and families celebrate Thanksgiving together.