Shenzhen and the County Jail

            Food has always been one of the biggest cultural identities that a people can have. In America we often think about burgers and fast food as the big symbol of our diet, while in Japan, for instance, the have a majority of fish in their diet. Reading both Cate and O’Donnell shows that even in a city or a jail, each miniature culture has its own food identity.

            When reading O’Donnell, I noticed that in the city of Shenzhen there are primarily two types of cultures that have emerged in the area. One cultural group that emerged in Shenzhen is the Old Shenzheners, which keep the identity of the old socialist party and the idea of working for the food that you get. They like the old, homestyle restaurants that can be found in Shenzhen. Another group is the New Shenzheners. This group represents more of the capitalist society where people get to make their own choices and decisions. They are happy going to fast food chains and eating in the well-kept, clean environment. This reading was really interesting because O’Donnell talks about how it is that the community may have two very different ideas about what the government should be doing, but it does not take away from the fact that sharing a meal is important to both cultures. Also, this article brings up an interesting point about how food and what it means to people shows their feelings about government and their political background.

            The other reading by Cate was a very different setting than O’Donnell’s article. In Cate’s article, it talks about the food item “spread” and how inmates in the San Francisco County Jail use it in order to get better food than what is served in the jail system. In the jail system, the food that is served to the inmates is complained about because it is not very filling. In order to compensated for that, inmates have found a way around that using the simple Ramen noodles that everyone knows. Spreading is something that uses ingredients like Cheetos and other bags of chips along with Ramen and other odd ingredients that can be found on the lunch trays at the dinner table. There are also different variations of spreads that are found in the jail community. These different kinds of spreads are often telling of which community you fit into in the jail. Spreads are a community thing and also act as a type of crowd pleaser if you need help with something or want to make peace with a community boss. This reading was very interesting because it shows the ingenious inventions that the inmates have made in order to fill themselves up. It is also really interesting to see how spread can influence different sub communities in the jail. Food is used as an item to gain favor like it always has and always will.