Food Culture Assignment

PART 1:

Imagine there is a country or area in the world you would like to travel to or a culture
you would like to know more about. Choose a culture/country/religion and develop and document
a typical meal for your selection utilizing the appropriate food pyramid for that country/culture.
The meal can be breakfast, lunch, dinner, or a celebratory meal. Please list the foods that are
included in the meal.
In the meal, you must list the nutritional content total for the entire meal. The nutritional content
must include calories, carbohydrates, fat, protein, sodium, fiber, and essential vitamins and
minerals. You can use the Supertracker/Food Tracker tool used in the first assignment to obtain
this information easily (after putting in the data/meal, you can click on “nutrient report” which is
right below the graph. This will give you all of the nutrient data to answer this question). You can
do a screen shot of the extended nutritional content for the meal. You do not need to give me the

nutrient content for each food item, just the content for the meal as a whole.
PART 2:
After you have created a meal plan answer the following questions, USING YOUR OWN
WORDS to summarize:
1. What are the health benefits to this particular diet? Please answer this question and #2 based
on the culture’s diet as a whole, not just the meal plan you developed. Please list at least 3 and
describe what they are. Make sure to describe what the health benefits are. Don’t just tell me that
the diet has high vegetable consumption. Tell me specifically why vegetables are a benefit to the
body. What do the vitamins and minerals that vegetables are rich in do for the body to keep it
healthy? Or why is the fiber found in vegetables healthy for the body?
2. Are there any deficiencies or overabundance of certain foods or nutrients, such as too much
sodium, no vitamin C, not enough dairy, or very little protein? What are they and what are the
health risks associated with them? Think about what each nutrient they are missing is for and
describe what might happen if a person were deficient in that nutrient, whether it is a

macronutrient or a micronutrient. Be specific. If a diet is high in sodium, what are the health risks
associated with high sodium intake? Again, answer this looking at the diet as a whole, not just
the meal that you planned. No diet is perfect (even the Mediterranean diet), there are always
deficiencies. Please list at least 3.
3. Are there foods that are eaten every day? Give examples and why.
4. Are there any foods that are forbidden? Give examples and why.
5. Are there special foods for celebrations or special occasions? Describe the significance of the
celebratory food.
Cultures/Countries/Religions to choose from:
Native American
Spanish (be specific on which country/culture you use)
Northern and Western European
Central European
Asian (be specific on which country/culture you use)
Indian
Jewish

Catholic
Seventh Day Adventist
Islamic
Hindu
– Mediterranean Diet