Date:
Tue, 11 May 1999 20:53:35 EDT
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Foreign Language Teaching Forum
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Foreign Language Teaching Forum
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From:
Dave Shelly <SRDSHELLY@AOL.COM>
Subject:
Taboos - Hot and Cold Foods
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Hi!
Are some of you familiar with either
anecdotal experience or published
research on the issue of taboos
and superstitions (or maybe even
medical/nutritional validity)
related to so-called hot and cold foods as
defined by certain subgroups in
Latin America? This has nothing to do with
temperature/cooking/condiments,
but rather with seemingly arbitrary
categorization of foods as hot
or cold, forming a basis for dietary customs
and regulations. I know I came
across this in rural Bolivia, and I understand
it may be fairly widespread.
I have a student who is familiar
with an apparently similar concept in
Islamic culture (she once got
quite sick when she ate a plate of food that
was too *cold*, or at least that's
how her grandmother explained her illness)
and would like to explore similarities
or even possible transmission of these
superstitions passing through
the Islamic period in Spain, and carried by
Andalucians to Latin America.
Or maybe there's no connection at all. Anyway,
any ideas for finding out more
about this subject? (We'll try a few ideas for
searches on the Internet, but
maybe some of you are already knowledgeable
about this.)
Dave Shelly
Wichita (Kan.) High School East
srdshelly@aol.com
One of the responses (from Paraguay):
Date:
Thu, 13 May 1999 20:39:51 -0600
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Foreign Language Teaching Forum
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Foreign Language Teaching Forum
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From:
"Ian G. Wright" <el_mister@GEOCITIES.COM>
Subject:
Re: Taboos - Hot and Cold Foods
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Dave Shelley asks:
>Are some of you familiar with
either anecdotal experience or published
>research on the issue of taboos
and superstitions (or maybe even
>medical/nutritional validity)
related to so-called hot and cold foods as
>defined by certain subgroups
in Latin America?
This is quite strong in Paraguay
and would seem to be based on the effect of
foods and combinations of foods
and liquids on the intestinal bacteria flora
(which, at an average population
of 200,000,000, are the most populous cells
in our bodies, I am told). Eating
and drinking the wrong things can cause
'frialdad', where the sufferer's
digestion is severely affected. The cure is
a herbal infusion of 'hot' plants
(basically bitter digestive herbs). I have
seen this happen too often to
shrug it off as pure superstition. I won't
argue that folklore builds a lot
of superstition onto this scientific
foundation.
Now that I've had my little say
I'll admit I have no idea what this has to
do with fl. :-)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~ Ian G. Wright
~~ Foreign languages coordinator
~~ Centro Educacional Cristiano
~~ Ciudad del Este, Paraguay
~~ el_mister@geocities.com
/ iwright@cde.rieder.net.py
~~ http://www.cde.rieder.net.py/~iwright/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rejoinder - relating to the National Standards
Date:
Fri, 14 May 1999 18:19:25 EDT
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Foreign Language Teaching Forum
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Foreign Language Teaching Forum
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From:
Dave Shelly <SRDSHELLY@AOL.COM>
Subject:
Re: Taboos - Hot and Cold Foods
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In a message dated 5/14/99 6:35:00
AM, el_mister@GEOCITIES.COM writes:
>Now that I've had my little say
I'll admit I have no idea what this has to
>do with fl. :-)
Standard 2.1 - Students demonstrate
an understanding of the relationship
between the practices and perspectives
of the culture studied.
Standard 3.2 - Students acquire
information and recognize the distinctive
viewpoints that are only available
through the foreign language and its
cultures.
Standard 4.2 - Students demonstrate
understanding of the concept of culture
through comparisons of the cultures
studied and their own.
In the case of my student, her
own culture is Islamic, so in comparing food
taboos in the Islamic and Hispanic
worlds, she's right in line with ACTFL
standard 4.2. I'm looking for
her to develop her language skills, too,
through writing a 3,500-4,000
word paper in Spanish. (This is the
International Baccalaureate Extended
Essay.)
Thanks for sharing your comments with respect to Paraguay.
Dave Shelly
Wichita (Kan.) High School East