Lima, Peru: Foods Without Borders
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Lima offered us little of what we expected, and much of what we didn’t. We visited Peru’s megalopolis capital for four days, staying with electronic privacy and human rights superstar Katitza. We didn’t enter a single museum or church, but instead toured the homes of strangers.
When not making friends, we made food. I offered to cook an “exotic vegan meal” for our hostess, and Katitza invited vegetarian friend Rudy and his girlfriend to join us. The resulting Peruvian version of African peanut stew seemed to be a hit. Katitza added the specially blended Inca Kola for a beverage, and Rudy whipped up a Peruvian quinoa dessert to top off the meal.
The next day, new friend César escorted us to an unassuming downtown row of food stands, to sample some local desserts. We had seen other stands selling mazamorra morada and arroz zambito earlier, but had been too intimidated by their mysterious and globulous appearance. Fortunately, César helped us decipher, and subsequently devour, the offerings.
Reflection
During these and other Lima encounters, food often seemed like a proxy for language. We’d improved our Spanish quite a bit by the time we were in Lima, but we still had trouble understanding much of the rapid-fire Peruvian colloquial language. Regardless of our Spanish skills, we were able to communicate clearly with food exchanges.
For me at least, food was one of the most rewarding ways of cultural learning. I felt that I was able to learn and express more by cooking and eating together than by non-culinary discussion. I’ve always enjoyed sharing food with others, and of course vice versa as well. In this case, I felt that sharing food helped us compensate for our language deficiencies a bit.
Question
How else have you communicated with other people across language barriers?
Lima offered us little of what we expected, and much of what we didn’t. We visited Peru’s megalopolis capital for four days, staying with electronic privacy and human rights superstar Katitza. We didn’t enter a single museum or church, but instead toured the homes of strangers.
When not making friends, we made food. I offered to cook an “exotic vegan meal” for our hostess, and Katitza invited vegetarian friend Rudy and his girlfriend to join us. The resulting Peruvian version of African peanut stew seemed to be a hit. Katitza added the specially blended Inca Kola for a beverage, and Rudy whipped up a Peruvian quinoa dessert to top off the meal.
The next day, new friend César escorted us to an unassuming downtown row of food stands, to sample some local desserts. We had seen other stands selling mazamorra morada and arroz zambito earlier, but had been too intimidated by their mysterious and globulous appearance. Fortunately, César helped us decipher, and subsequently devour, the offerings.
Reflection
During these and other Lima encounters, food often seemed like a proxy for language. We’d improved our Spanish quite a bit by the time we were in Lima, but we still had trouble understanding much of the rapid-fire Peruvian colloquial language. Regardless of our Spanish skills, we were able to communicate clearly with food exchanges.
For me at least, food was one of the most rewarding ways of cultural learning. I felt that I was able to learn and express more by cooking and eating together than by non-culinary discussion. I’ve always enjoyed sharing food with others, and of course vice versa as well. In this case, I felt that sharing food helped us compensate for our language deficiencies a bit.
Question
How else have you communicated with other people across language barriers?
2 Comments:
At 7:05 PM, Carnivorax said…
Hello. It is I, Carnivorax, JLR's younger brother. I have been enjoying your blog for the last week or so. I finally took the time to read about your blog and how it is organized, and I also took the time to link to the page that explains praxis. You are so meticulous about this blog that it makes my head spin.
But, to answer the question of the day: cigarettes. I was stuck in southeast Arizona, just on the outskirts of Douglas Arizona. I was on my way to the Coranado National monument when my tire went flat. As I was jacking it up, my car fell off of the jack and landed on top of the spare tire. I stood there quite angry for a couple of minutes. I was down near Mexico, I don't speak spanish and all of those people of Mexican/Indian descent looked shady to me. So, I lit a cigarette and started to formulate an action plan. As I was standing there, three very obnoxious looking teenagers walked by smiling. It was obvious there were chuckling at my dilemna. My first instinct was to explode, but I managed to hold it in check. Then, I began to appreciate the humor in the situation. I looked at the teenagers, shrugged, and let out a chuckle. They smiled in return. I offered them each a cigarette which they took. We stood there smoking for a few minutes. We didn't have anything to talk about (obviously) but we gave each other approving looks. When we were finished, two of the boys and I lifted up the front end of my little Honda CRX while the third pulled out the spare tire from underneath and shoved a large, flat rock under the rocker panel. I changed my tires, thanked them all with a poorly pronounced Gracias, and gave them each another cigarette before heading on my way.
It was a lesson learned and relearned many times prior to this particular incident, and I still remind myself that I will have to learn it yet again.
At 9:46 AM, lernerm said…
I have had quite a few patients who spoke little or no English - Chinese, Spanish, Russian, whatever, but no English. I have always been pleasantly surprised at how relatively easy it has been to communicate, at least in the limited role of doctor-patient, by means of touch and nonverbal -facial expression (a nod of the head, a grimace, a smile, a firm handshake). Often, to repay me (since often such patients are seen for free), I have been the recipient of food or artwork. I have also noted that communication with other nonverbal humans (infants, demented people who are unable to speak)usually relies on food and touch. Come to think of it (as I sit here with my dog by my side, rubbing her head), I suspect the link between food, touch and communicating with others goes back millions of years, long before language appeared.
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