As a Sociology major, culture to me is defined as the fluid beliefs, behaviors, objects, and other characteristics common to the members of a particular group or society. It can basically be anything as long as it conveys an idea. Given such a broad scope to work with, my group was baffled as to how we could best bring out the concept of culture to 7-9 year olds in the form of a storybook. After much discussion and brainstorming, we filtered our ideas and decided that the most apt concept would be to find something every kid would relate to and probably even love, FOOD!
We wanted to explore international food cultures as we felt that living in a globalized world today, children are exposed to all kinds of food and this would be something they will be able to identify with.
Using animals from different cultural backgrounds gathered in a zoo, our story begins when the animals decide to hold a party for their trainer. However, in preparing for the party, our animals cannot agree on the food for the party as each animal sees food from its country as better and each advocates their preferred cuisine. Inevitably, a fight ensues. Eventually, the animals learn to cooperate and have a bit of each cuisine for the party and everyone enjoys themselves at the end.
Besides merely showcasing various food cultures, the story is also reflective of the cultural theory of ethnocentrism by using food as a representation of culture.
