Vietnam Central Highlands- traditional cuisine

I will be focusing on traditional Montagnard Degar cuisine. My first bit of research involves watching Anthony Bourdain's Vietnam central highlands episode on youtube.
It would be great if at some point I could meet a member of NC's Montagnard community and learn firsthand how to make one of these dishes.

FRAMES

As I understand it, framing has to do with the way we see things and, as a result affects the way we feel about them. Because it’s so unconscious, we usually aren’t even aware that we’re engaged in framing- advertisers in particular understand this. In The Persuaders, the inner workings of the marketing world are exposed- advertisers attempt to frame their products as ideas that evoke particular emotional responses in consumers. There was one priceless Cheerios commercial, for instance, that used the image of a grandmother feeding her adorable baby grandchild cheerios on Christmas eve. This commercial brought to mind many ideas- tradition, family, comfort, shelter, warmth, joy, love, CHEER,  “home for the holidays,” etc… the point was to frame cheerios as a thing that would help bring about all these wonderful states of being and experiences. The consumer is no longer simply purchasing a nutritionally devoid, o shaped grain product- she/he is buying the cheerios experience.

George Lakoff describes framing as a thing that one has witnessed or experienced repeatedly which has caused his/her brain to form new circuits. He uses the example (if I remember correctly) of a child who sees his mother preparing formula. He knows from experience that this will result in being held and fed. So, the child associates the formula with physical warmth, affection, safety, satiety, comfort. The child’s brain has framed the whole formula experience. Framing happens with a repeated experience that eventually results in a new neural circuit being formed- this is when the experience becomes a metaphor for something larger than the experience itself. Lakoff goes on to discuss the fact that words themselves are frames- this was a bit more confusing.

Back to advertising- due to the advent of technology like tivo and on-demand, viewers no longer have to subject themselves to commercials. As a result, advertisers had to find a new strategy- they started placing brands directly in the movies or television programs- i.e. Starbucks in I am Sam and Absolut in Sex and the City. As I understand it, this caused reframing of these particular brands. When the consumer makes an “Absolut hunk,” he/she is now part of the Sex and the City cultural experience and not simply an audience member. The Absolut brand is now a direct avenue into the lifestyles of Carrie, Samantha, Miranda, and Charlotte.

Lakoff describes how framing is one of the most natural and normal things that we do- it is how our brain works. Advertisers take advantage of this and bombard us with ads that force our brains to make ludicrous connections- we may think that we’re buying a new, improved identity when all we’re getting are a pair of shoes. 

introduction

Hello!

My name in Newton. I'm an only child from Manhattan, NYC. I'm a first year drama student.
I lived in Manhattan until age 16, when I left to go to a boarding school in Scotland for two years. Having come from the melting pot that is NYC, I was sort of shocked by the ethnic homogeneity of the highlands of Scotland. I did, however, enjoy being exposed to a completely new culture.

Most members of my family came over from eastern Europe in the early 1800s. They came to NY and set up medical practices, either working as GPs or dentists.
I love NY, and miss it pretty much all of the time. Luckily, there's a $30 bus that goes from Winston to NY overnight...if I ever get too homesick, I can always hop on it.
Here's a picture of me in the Romanian countryside-

I think that one of the main problems in America right now is the food that we eat. So few people have the knowledge or the financial means to make healthy choices. As a result, many wind up buying packaged foods that are loaded with all sorts harmful, artificial ingredients. Monosodium glutamate, for instance, is a neurotoxin- but that doesn't stop food manufacturers from putting it into many commonly consumed foods- chips, especially, are loaded with MSG. This is particularly harmful for young people, since we probably snack on chips more than any other demographic.
Many of us are so used to consuming pre-packaged foods that we have lost touch with what it means to actually cook a meal from scratch. This is why I think that it is so important for people to have the experience of growing food, harvesting it, and eating it- even if it's just a little parsley plant on the windowsill. It really puts us back in touch with the natural order of things.
A few summers ago, my mother rented a house in upstate NY, which gave me the opportunity to plant a garden. I planted everything from lettuce, kale, and celery to tomatoes and eggplants. By the end of the summer, I could cook an entire meal with ingredients that I had grown myself- it was a really great feeling. I really want to have this experience again and, since I'm living in Winston over the summer, I hope that I can find a CSA or farm that I can work with.