Blog Entry #6

What is the Thanksgiving holiday? The holiday is a day for a group of people to celebrate that everyone is done with work, This holiday is often enjoyed with family members. In the custom of a holiday, in specific Thanksgiving, the food is often traditional like turkey, ham and mashed potatoes. Does Thanksgiving relate to traditions, multiculturalism and ethnic identity in the film What’s Cooking? 

In the film, four different ethnic families are Asian, African, Latin and Jewish. The four families have food traditions that correlate to their Thanksgiving. How do the four families prepare Thanksgiving? In each family, the women cook  Thanksgiving and the men watching football or relax in their living rooms. It looks like a basic Thanksgiving tradition. Furthermore in the film, each family cooks their traditional Thanksgiving food as well as ethnic food of their culture.. Nguyen’s family, who are Asian, cook spring rolls and also put Asian spices on half of the turkey. In William's family, who is African, the grandma wants to cook macaroni and cheese instead of the elegant food that her daughter-in-law is preparing. The Avila family is Latin, and they cook rice and beans. The Seelig’s family, who are Jewish, cook the basic Thanksgiving dinner. All the families have a common tradition, but different versions of Thanksgiving.

The difference between each family is their multiculturalism. Multiculturalism is dealing with cultural diversity. The four families are dealing with the changes of an individual family member. The conflict that they most commonly deal with is centered around the youngest member.  With Nguyen’s family, for example, the parents found out the daughter (Jenny) has a condom in her bag. Another huge problem is the middle son (Joey) had a gun in his room that Jenny found. The parents felt like it was their fault of how the children were growing up. They also believe that their family should follow their own culture. On the other hand, William’s family is trying to be a white family during the Thanksgiving holiday. Their son, a college dropout, wants to support his roots as a black man. In the Avila family, the family didn’t know the daughter (Gina) is dating an Asian boy (Jimmy). They were stereotypical toward Jimmy, but they are welcoming. The last family is the Sellig's Family. The mother and father are anti-gay which is problematic because their daughter is a lesbian. The daughter, Rachel, brings a friend home who is her girlfriend. During the Thanksgiving dinner, the whole family has a huge discussion on Rachel's sexuality. 

Ethics is a set of moral principles affirming a specific group. Ethics in this film is related to tradition and multiculturalism with all four families. When the Seelig family finds out that Rachel is pregnant, they want to know who the father is and who will raise the baby. Nguyen’s family ethics are that the grandparents are living in the same household and that both the grandparents and parents want the children raised traditionally Willliam’s family wants to be a white family, and they have a constant struggle about which side is good. The Avila’s family ethics are shown when the ladies are preparing Thanksgiving and Jimmy wants to help. Ethics is a moral principle for every family because it is their tradition. 

The main points related to this film are that Thanksgiving has traditions, but families can also incorporate their food traditions. The fixing points from the film are that everyone can change by celebrating and to express gratitude to your loved ones. Thanksgiving is a holiday that everyone needs to accept and celebrate instead of holding onto the past.