Globalization Exercise : Geography of Food

In this exercise you will compose an essay based on your favorite food (dish). The title of your
essay will be: “The Geography of _________” (here you will include the name of your dish of choice).
Your essay must first describe the “claimed” area of origin of this dish. We refer to the “claimed area of
origin” of your particular dish because there are many countries that claim to be the place where a dish
originated. For example, in Latin America there are many countries that claim to be the country of
origin of ceviche (a dish based on marinated raw fish or shellfish) or of arroz con pollo (chicken and
rice). When you chose the dish you will be researching, the first thing you must do is to make a
reference of the origin (country) where it is believed to originate. This is very important because there is
a regional variation in terms of the ingredients that are used to make the dish in question. For example,
in many countries that claim to be the place of origin of ceviche, tomatoes are a basic ingredient, while
in other countries this is unthinkable (Many people would say, “This is not ceviche!”).
Then you will proceed to enumerate all the ingredients that are included in your recipe. It is
required that the recipe that you chose have at-least 10 ingredients. For this portion you must include
the basic elements that make up your recipe and not any process food. By this I mean that, for example,
if the recipe you are using requires to use oil, you must clearly state the type of oil that you use (i.e.,
olive, corn, etc.), or sausages (are these made mainly of beef, pork, turkey, etc.?), or if you need to
include tomato paste, just include the name tomato and add the word “paste” in parenthesis (i.e., “tomato
(paste)”). Next, you will find the area where each of these elements were domesticated or, if it is
harvested locally like a mineral (i.e., salt) or a native plant or animal species that is caught locally (i.e.,
seafood, etc.), these will be referred to as “native” or “indigenous” ingredients. Note that most plants
and animals that are used in many recipes have been domesticated in faraway regions where these
recipes were developed. For example, although arroz con pollo is a local favorite in many Latin
American countries, chicken were domesticated in Southeast Asia and introduced to the Americas after
the arrival of the Western conquerors.
To find the area of domestication of the most commonly used plant and animal species you can
use the map provided at the end of this document and in the attached PowerPoint presentation (Map:

Centers of Plant and Animal Domestication). If some of the plant ingredients that are included in your
recipe are not listed in this map, I would highly recommend you to use the following website develop by
Purdue University: http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/. Here you can use their search engine to find
the specific crops that you are looking for: (go to) CropSearch.