The Human Condition: Food and culture

By Daniel Schnee on August 3, 2022.

In the process of celebrating Heritage Day recently I had the chance to enjoy the best homemade cheeseburgers around, a yearly indulgence thanks to some extremely generous friends. The recipe of the meat alone is simple and so well blended it can stand on its own in terms of flavour, texture and consistency.

Hamburger patties themselves were created in Germany centuries ago, arriving on American shores as the “Hamburg steak,” before becoming the mighty cheeseburger (invented by a German-American teenager in 1924). So much astounding French and German high and low cuisine abounds, yet it is becoming more and more popular to describe food made by white people as “bland.” This of course is in comparison with the traditional foods of places like India or Mexico, but often it is also implied that “white” food cannot stand on its own merit.

Though this is nonsense, it is a semi-viable argument when referencing products like mayonnaise or white bread on their own. Also, such foods have been held up by various (white) religious movements throughout history as more “righteous” due to their simplicity and distinct lack of spice (making them less associable with sin, “pagan” immigrant cultures, and the like). Even today various health food movements proclaim raw vegetable, meat-only, or strict vegan diets have spiritual underpinnings superior to any that may underlie a simple turkey sandwich; once again, spearheaded by a significant number of Caucasian (self-proclaimed) health experts.

But all that aside I find so-called white food to be delicious and meaningful, and the reason is thus.

When Ukrainian and German immigrants came to settle the Canadian West they faced incredible hardships. My own ancestors literally had to build their houses out of sod. And, surviving the harsh prairie winters on a diet of potatoes, meat and a few paltry vegetables, they did not have access to the great variety of oils, juices and spices elsewhere. Thus, Alberta’s pioneers found ways to make these rudimentary ingredients edible, no small feat in minus-40 weather in a dirt house.

Yet the basic cuisine of Alberta’s pioneers stands on its own, because its content and flavour was literally scratched out of the Earth, and made to work. Indeed, Western European cuisine is filled with spices, but not when you are a poor immigrant living on the Canadian prairies in the late 19th century. As the Japanese proverb goes, “hunger is the best sauce.”

So I gladly eat the spartan foods of my German-Canadian ancestors. In this obsessive world of foodies where everything has to be pretty and hyper-flavoured there is a space for a simple mashed potato laden with butter and onions, or the mouth-cooling flavour of a tomato and mayonnaise sandwich. I love spices too, but I also don’t think it is a shame to enjoy cuisine that doesn’t require amchur powder to bring out its character.

So on Heritage Day, I enjoyed the finest cuisine of all: Alberta beef fired on a grill, without any spices or condiments. If it was good enough for my forebears, it sure is good enough for me. Besides, all food is delicious… when you eat it with your friends.

Dr. Daniel Schnee is an anthropologist and jazz/rock drummer.

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