EN 101

Instructor: Adam Weinstein

Paper #1: "Serve It Forth: If you are what you eat, then what are you?"

Type of Paper: Narrative

Length: 1000 words

Due: Thursday, September 6, by 12 midnight on class blog

Essay model: "If you are what you eat, then what am I?" by Kothari in the Norton Sampler.

Whether or not you want it to be, food is necessary. Some of us might prefer it in a tiny green capsule, taken once a day. Others (me) go to great lengths for the perfect meal. For some, eating is a political act. For others, a privilege, not to be taken lightly. We are all, then, impacted by food.

How we unravel our personal relationships to food says a lot about who we are; and therefore food becomes an easy central metaphor for who we are, where we come from, and what our hopes or aspirations might be for ourselves.

Assignment: In this first essay, you should dissect a particular food and your relationship to it (a la the doughnut). You should begin by describing it—what it is, how it came to you, etc (historical details). Next, you should develop the item as a central metaphor that says something about you. Finally, you should make some end-comments and generalizations that broaden the scope of the item away from just yourself, and maybe into the larger arena of culture or history or everyday life. We will be discussing each of these steps in class, so make sure you familiarize yourself with, and ask questions about, each of these concepts: historical details, metaphors, and generalizations.

Remember: As in all essays in this class, one of the main goals (besides coherence) is creativity. Think about how you might make this essay/assignment unique to you. Take some risks. Go out of your way to think about various ways you might reinterpret this assignment. There are many ways you might tackle this task—part of your individual success depends on how you go about interpreting and executing the assignment.