MENU COMPARISON ASSIGNMENT–20%
Learning Objective: Compare the food and drink habits of various cultures.
Examine the relationship of wine and/or other beverages and food and how they
compare to different cultural rituals or events.
Due: July 30, 2023 at 11:59pm
Estimated Time to Complete: 4 hours
Tools for Completion:
• Please refer to the Rubric found under the ‘Activities’ tab to understand how your
work will be evaluated by your instructor.
• Before beginning the assignment, carefully read all the instructions and other
information below to better prepare you.
• Microsoft Word, PowerPoint
Resources for Research:
• Personal interviews with family or friends (please cite appropriately)
• Textbook
• PowerPoint slides
• Wine, food and culture related websites. Avoid Wikipedia and ChatGPT.
Academic Integrity:
Academic honesty is essential to protect the values of our Algonquin College
community and for my evaluation of your work. All work submitted for this assignment
must be your own and completed with appropriate APA citation. Collaboration with
others (with the exception of interviews for the assignment) and/or the use of ChatGPT
or other AI language software is not permitted. Please contact your professor for
clarification or questions on this topic. Your professor is here to support you and your
learning process.
Assignment Instructions:
Overview:
Identify a friend, family member or colleague from a culture different from your own.
Interview them to learn about their cultural background.
Compare a special dining experience/event from the person you are interviewing to a
special dining experience/event from your own cultural background. Some examples
may include: a birthday, a national holiday/festival or one of your own choosing. Feel
free to be creative.
Instructions:
1. Identify the person from a culture different from your own you have chosen to
interview. State their first name and your relationship to this person.
During your interview, focus on and learn about a unique cultural dining
experience/event from the interviewee’s culture and compare this event to a
cultural dining event in your own culture.
Set the scene and describe each of these two cultural dining events in a few
sentences. Imagine you are explaining these events to someone who has no
knowledge of them.
2. Research and describe five interesting facts new to you about your own cultural
background and five interesting facts you have learned, during your interview,
about the culture you are comparing. Provide a brief description of each fact. You
may wish to consider referring to: symbols, customs, family structure, values,
beliefs, traditions, rituals, art and literature, etc.
3. Create two (2) menus: one menu for your cultural dining experience/event and
another menu for the culture you are learning about during your interview and
comparing. All menu items must be suitable and reflect the culture.
• Each menu should include three (3) courses: appetizer, main course and
dessert, or represent a culturally different way of dining. You may include
additional items to the menus to be reflective of different cultures. Feel free to
include images too, but your images should not replace the written descriptions.
Please do not include the recipes in this assignment.
• In your own words, briefly describe each menu item in some detail so the reader
can imagine the dish. (Consider ingredients, cooking methods, sauces, etc).
• Explain how each of the two menus are reflective of each culture. For example,
you may wish to consider the effect of history, geography, immigration,
agriculture, climate, cultural symbolism, etc. If the person you are interviewing
cannot answer this question, please do some research yourself.
• Choose one (1) dish from each menu you have created (two dishes total).
Provide an appropriate grape varietal/wine or other beverage pairing for each
of the two dishes you have chosen. If wine or beverage alcohol is not traditionally
consumed, provide an alternate beverage pairing. Using the food and beverage
pairing knowledge you have gained in this course, explain why each of these
beverages pair well with the two chosen dishes.
4. Reflect and Relate:
First, what have you learned about the dining and drinking habits of the two
cultures you are comparing?
Then, in your own words, explain two similarities and two differences between
your culture and the person you are interviewing for this assignment.
Further details:
• Do not copy and paste from your credible sources. Rather, use your own
words and use citations, where appropriate, to give credit to the author. Use APA
formatting to cite your resources. For information on APA format for citation,
follow the link under Course Information.
• Short answer or point form/bullet point answers are acceptable.
• This assignment may be submitted as a Word document or a PowerPoint
presentation.
