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The Reeder Scholars, a new intellectual residence community, invite the campus to participate in a discussion of “Food as a Cultural Identity” 9 p.m. Tuesday in the back room of Gilbert’s.
Ice cream, fruit, and other food will be served at the event, which will be led by psychology major Lia Mandaglio ’08 (Annandale, N.J.).
“[The discussion] will investigate the relationships between food and personal identities and the cultural and social significances of food today,” she says. “I decided to choose this topic for my discussion because I’ve noticed that while food and the acts of eating and cooking are biologically necessary, they also have significant social, cultural, and emotional implications. I question why and how individuals identify with different foods, so much so that they debate over names for the same item (i.e. people who say ‘soda’ vs. those who say ‘pop’). Why have some made a political statement by using the term ‘freedom fries’ instead of ‘french fries’, yet do not boycott the terms ‘french doors’ or ‘french kissing’?
“The psychological and emotional attachments we have to food are quite interesting, especially when considering our wide range of needs as human beings, from nourishment to social acceptance and belonging.”
Named for its Reeder Street residence, the Reeder Scholars program borrows its basic structure from the McKelvy House Scholars program – regularly holding discussions open to the campus and organizing activities both on and off campus – but its students are determined that the program have its own distinguishing characteristics.