Problem/Issues:
Sense of community is something that is essential in one’s life. Seymon Sarason in 1974 first introduced this idea as a conceptual center for the psychology of community and it is the major base of self-definition. The most influential and the starting point for most of the researches on psychological of community comes from Mcmillan & Chavis. They introduced that membership is one of the most essential element of sense of community. As a form of membership, people sometimes attached to the community they belong to, which can be seen by their dress, talk, act, and especially eat. According to the John Nette’s and Mary Hayden’s experiment, issue of culture may take place in this kind of situation (Hayden and Nette). Even if they are taken away from their community, people will still have those characteristics attach to them.
In downtown San Francisco, there is a town that is often called China-Town. China-Town consists of approximately 40,000 people who came from Chinese background but live in San Francisco, to work, study, or any other purposes (Ko 1). There are Chinese restaurants, Chinese pharmacies, Chinese grocery stores, and Chinese bars. Chinese people in San Francisco China Town create a situation as what it is in their home country. This is an example of people who are still attached to their original ethnicity or culture. “It is a place where residents hold off assimilation to hold onto their culture in the face of forces both attractive and overwhelming” (Dewitt).
I am an international student from Indonesia. In Fall 2008, my mother suggested me to move to the United States so that I could learn to live independently, while at the same time getting a better college education. As an international student, I had to leave all the things I get used to the rest of my life behind me, such as my family, my friends, my house, my activities, and also the dishes I love very much. In Indonesia, almost every family has maids to take care of everyday necessities, such as cleaning and cooking. In United States, I no longer have those kinds of services because the labor for maids is very expensive. As a result, I must learn how to cook the Indonesian dishes so that I will still be able to enjoy it while studying here. Fortunately, all kinds of Asian dishes look alike, so I would still be able to consume variety kinds of food if I do not cook at home. Until this day, I never spend a day without eating Asian food.
As an experiment, I will challenge myself to get out of my comfort zone and try things outside my culture and blend in into the Western society. For me the simplest thing to do is to change what I usually consume. I think this experience will determine how a person feel if he or she try something besides his or her sense of identity or belonging, for this case, how an Asian teenager who grew up in Indonesia for the most of her life, let Western culture in intensively into her everyday activities. What would be the obstacles and challenges to a non-western to eat western food for 14 days? What are the similarities between Asian and Western food?
Experiment and Rules:
As a part of getting out of my comfort zone of eating Asian food, for 14 days, I must not eat any Asian food, whether it is Japanese food, Korean food, Chinese food, Thai food, Vietnamese food, Indian food and especially Indonesian food. I can only eat what is so called “Western food”. What I meant by “Western food” is that any food that came from western countries, such as Italy, America, France, and England, whether if I cook it by myself, eating at the school cafeteria or go to a restaurant to get it. Every day I will provide information and description about what I ate that day, and how do I feel about it. In my blog I will also provide other information related to the history about some cultural food and psychological understanding related to it. This experiment is a part of the behavioral category.
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