Amazing Coffee...
One of the things that you might already know about me is that I love coffee. In fact, right now I am sitting in a Starbucks in St. Louis (waiting for an AP World History training to begin) taking in one of my favorite varieties, Sumatra. Some people might refer to me as a coffee elitist or coffee snob; I have no defense. In fact, my family does not like traveling with me because they know that the coffee at the gas station right off the highway is not good enough. I will take detours from our route just to find a Starbucks. The time lost is worth the quality, to me anyhow. It just tastes better.
And it is not just the taste. There is something else amazing about coffee, not just the Starbucks varieties. Think about the source. Not from behind the counter, much farther than that. Tens of thousands of miles went into my cup of coffee. Starbucks buys the beans for the Sumatran blend from the island of Sumatra (probably the Aceh region) which is about 9,500 miles away. Then there is my cup, 90% of it anyway, produced in Texas from paper collected in Mississippi. The other 10% comes from post-consumer recycled cups from all over the United States and Canada. All for $2, what a deal.
I was able to research all of these facts and figures using my iPad, a product that is from an American company, but produced in China. But even that wouldn't have been possible if I was not able to drive to this Starbuck's using my German car fueled by gasoline refined in the United States from crude oil purchased from South America or the Middle East. If not for the car, I might be stuck eating a banana in the hotel. Now that banana... Just kidding I will stop, if I do not stop there, I will continue to trace our world connections from America to South America to Africa to Southeast Asia and back until I have wrapped the globe. My point is this, we are a global community. And so many of the things that we think of as uniquely American simply are not. In AP World, we have to recognize our world for what it is, a community. So much of what we eat, know, think, say, listen to, create, or consume is influenced by cultures that we contact on a daily basis. The influence of some elements of another culture are short-lived, others are here to stay and permanently change the American culture.
What elements of our American culture (Social, Political, Economic, Religious, Food, Technology...) have been borrowed from other cultures? Where did they come from? And, how did they get here?
And it is not just the taste. There is something else amazing about coffee, not just the Starbucks varieties. Think about the source. Not from behind the counter, much farther than that. Tens of thousands of miles went into my cup of coffee. Starbucks buys the beans for the Sumatran blend from the island of Sumatra (probably the Aceh region) which is about 9,500 miles away. Then there is my cup, 90% of it anyway, produced in Texas from paper collected in Mississippi. The other 10% comes from post-consumer recycled cups from all over the United States and Canada. All for $2, what a deal.
I was able to research all of these facts and figures using my iPad, a product that is from an American company, but produced in China. But even that wouldn't have been possible if I was not able to drive to this Starbuck's using my German car fueled by gasoline refined in the United States from crude oil purchased from South America or the Middle East. If not for the car, I might be stuck eating a banana in the hotel. Now that banana... Just kidding I will stop, if I do not stop there, I will continue to trace our world connections from America to South America to Africa to Southeast Asia and back until I have wrapped the globe. My point is this, we are a global community. And so many of the things that we think of as uniquely American simply are not. In AP World, we have to recognize our world for what it is, a community. So much of what we eat, know, think, say, listen to, create, or consume is influenced by cultures that we contact on a daily basis. The influence of some elements of another culture are short-lived, others are here to stay and permanently change the American culture.
What elements of our American culture (Social, Political, Economic, Religious, Food, Technology...) have been borrowed from other cultures? Where did they come from? And, how did they get here?
Everything from our American culture has been borrowed from other cultures, except maybe corn production, but even with that situation we borrowed it from the Native Americans. We saw the Magna Carta and took the idea of due process of law from it and placed it in our Constitution. Before settlers started moving West, there were social standards that had to be upheld that mimicked the pomp and circumstance of Europe and England among the upper class. During the 1800's the economy of the South flourished from the slave trade between Europe, Africa, and the West Indies. Don't get me started on food; drive down a busy street and tell me you don't see the influence of other cultures: Taco Bell and Chipotle (Latin America), Panda Express (Asia), Panera Bread and Starbucks (the have scones, tea and coffee, so I'd say Europe and anywhere that grows coffee beans). Finally, during the industrial revolution a man from Great Britain brought over the plans for the textile machinery. All of these things that are so embedded in our culture and history were brought to us by people who were wanting to make a change, and who were seeking better opportunities. Similar to a previous blog question, these people were motivated by their desire for improvement, so they immigrated to the United States.
ReplyDeleteAmerican Culture uses something from pretty much every other culture in the world. Our social standards were adopted from Great Britain, politically we use the Roman's idea of a republic and democracy. Our food comes from everywhere on earth, we have Hispanic, European, Asian, and many other places. Technology has been improved from early inventions. Like the automobile uses the wheel which was invented over seas, or weaponry that uses gunpowder invented in China. America was called a melting pot for a reason. Almost every aspect of our lives is influenced by multiple other cultures.
ReplyDeleteAmerica is a thief. I am going to mainly talk about politics and religion here. Our fundamental government is based off of Greece and Rome. Greece is the first know successful democracy, and Rome was the first republic. Put them together and you have a democratic republic. Bam. Our religion of Christianity and Catholicism is based off of the Roman Catholic Church, which although the pilgrims came here to escape from that, its still basically our religion. Now obviously food wise, you can get practically any culture's food here. If you go to America, you've basically experienced the world! .. But not really. :)
ReplyDeleteAmerica is probably the only place where there is a Mexican restaurant across the street from a Greek food place, and next door to a Chinese buffet. We eat food from all over the world. A lot of the cattle that we have here was brought from other parts of the world. The same can be said about most of the crops that we grow. We also get much of our political aspects from other parts of the world. Our government system is similar to a combination of Greece and Rome's systems. America is filled with all sorts of things influenced by another culture somewhere else in the world.
ReplyDeleteAs I look down at my feet now, I am wearing Crocs. On the bottom it says "Made in Mexico". If we went to our closest right now, everything we own is usually made somewhere other than America. . I just bought a new Toyota Camry (and I am very proud of it by the way), and Toyota's are a Japan made car. We call ourselves American, however, a huge variety of things around us is from somewhere else around the world.
ReplyDeleteEverything from our American culture has been borrowed from other cultures including food and religion. Even though we live in America, it is tough to find anything that was actually made or produced here in America. Whether its clothing, toys or even food, we are a nation that likes to borrow from everywhere around the world. You also cannot go on a road in a major city and not see a variety of restaurants from Chinese to Thai to Japanese. We even borrowed religion and government. We are a society filled with many different cultures all around us.
ReplyDeleteAmerican food is just the opposite of what it sounds. Almost every major culture from the world has come together in the US to create a melting pot of what is know as American food. Even the government takes influences from other cultures. They looked at the successes and failures of cultures throughout history to create the ideal government. When looking at American (USA) culture, it is easy to see the hand of other cultures that have come together to create to known "American Culture"
ReplyDeleteAlmost everything about America is borrowed from another culture especially the food. There is a ridiculous variety of restaurants throughout the country that sell food that originated from other countries. For example Taco Bell or Margaritas, those places sell food that have come from Latin American countries. Also Panda Express which sells food that originated from oriental countries, and I could go on. Even the Religion is borrowed, the majority of America is christian and the religion began in the Middle East, developed into Europe and made its way to the states.
ReplyDeleteThis laptop that I am using to comment on this, is Apple product design in California but assembled in China. People are using technogoly from around the world at their own finger tips. Some may or may not notice where they even came from. In all we improve/need each other to make something happen.
ReplyDeletei really like spaghetti so I'm gonna talk about spaghetti which is a major part of my life, like every tuesday part of my life. Anyways just like a lot of foods and different things it was brought to america through immigration in the 1880's to the 1920's. Interesting fact though, spaghetti and meatballs aren't even italian which is disappointing although they do have things similar to meat balls which are called polpettes. This goes to tell you things can get lost in culture throughout the years
ReplyDeleteFirst off America is a melting pot of nations all over the globe so of course a lot of things that we call "American" are borrowed or from another culture. Music for example roots from African culture. Alphabet and Math came from Ancient Greeks. A lot of clothing styles that we call "American" originated from France.
ReplyDelete