Never had it occurred to me the importance of understanding our food, its origins, and appreciating the food we eat and prepare. After reading the three readings assigned, the take away for me personally was to simply understand that food, being the largest industry present on this planet for the longest time as mentioned by Belasco, is constantly studied in terms of negative consequences, how it is unequally distributed, how we can create more because there isn’t enough, how so much of it is gone to waste. Despite all these ongoing consequences, it is important to simply appreciate the value of food, and how the preparation, act of eating, unites so many cultures and communities.

Tuhiwai Smith, Tuck, and Yang state the significance of nature, particularly land and water, and how no one seems to relate to our surroundings, as we have been so immersed in other issues including development, trying to become modern, grow as a nation. However, simple core values such as gratitude are overlooked and fail to be seen today, and that is something I had not noticed until now. Globalization and mass media are intertwined, mass media gave globalization power and vice-versa yet, no one took the time to use this new interconnectedness to recognize the people before us, whose land we are living on, the Indigenous peoples.

I personally failed to consider the creation of the endless objects we take for granted, especially our food, and after conducting the activity of recording what I eat in a day and observing where it came from, I was shocked to see that I am eating literally a World cuisine from the comforts of my own home! I feel that it added an elevated touch to our everyday nourishment. Nonetheless, I do believe that I must begin to realize and recognize that Indigenous peoples have been appreciating the resources that our planet has given them much longer than us, and suggest that we must learn the endless teachings they implement themselves to further value the world we live in.