Becoming a Better Reader

                  In reading this week’s pieces in Secret Ingredients, I have become more conscious of the way I approach different styles and genres of writing. When I’m reading a novel for a literature class I’m keyed into the context of the story: when, where, and for whom it was written. I try to identify the authors purpose and intended audience, pick up on themes and symbolism, and form some sort of analysis of the text in the context of the class.

                  For some reason, when I pick up a piece of writing about food, my entire strategy changes. Or rather, I forget to have a strategy. Instead of analyzing the writing in terms of what it means about the culture in the time it was written, I tend to focus solely on the subject matter. I look at it as educational entertainment; I’m learning about someone’s experience with food and enjoying the stories and descriptions of meals/ingredients/dishes/restaurants. I’ve realized, and am ashamed to say, that I tend to judge food writing on how much I enjoyed the content, which is often based on how well I can connect my knowledge/experience with that of the author.

                  I think this may be, in part, because I generally read contemporary food writing. I’m reading for up-to-date information about specific types of food, or the emerging food scenes in various American cities, or ‘the local food movement’. Most pieces of writing that come across were written in the past 10 – 20 years and I forgo the invaluable process of contextualizing the piece.

                  I’m so glad that a few of this week’s readings were from a different era and made me come to this realization. As I was reading, I was constantly tripped up. I didn’t understand many of the references and allusions and I was completely unfamiliar some subject matter. What is ‘the Lambeth Walk’? Who are Sophia Tucker and Bill Robinson? What’s a ‘chowder club’? (referenced in All You Can Hold for Five Bucks, written in 1939.)

I found my self asking when was this written’? Who is this guy? Why is he kind of being offensive? I needed context. I checked out this article about Joseph Mitchell http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2013/02/joseph-mitchells-ear-for-new-york.html

In reading with a broader perspective on the text, I am able to gain so much more from the piece. I can connect the author to a place in time and begin to piece together historic components and the culture of the time.

I think it’s important that we not lose sight of this frame of analysis, even in reading contemporary food writing.