So what is culture? Suffice it for now to say that here culture means everything that human beings have created and transmitted socially across time and space." (32).
In Culture as Given, Culture as Choice, Dirk Van Der Elst talks about how culture is everything that we are taught, that we make and give meaning to, and that we pass on to generation after generation. Culture is not necessarily natural, but then again culture and nature are not total opposites. Culture is something that is invisible, we can see it in the everyday actions and artifacts we have in our society. We gain culture from our parents, and the way they explain to the world to us as we grow. As we age, we are taught differently by our peers, and even by our own investigations. Dirk talks about food and the fact that what we eat is culturally instilled in us by those who raise us and by the society we live in. The same chapter talks about sex, elimination of wastes, sleeping and dreaming, looking at colors in different ways and the record of different ways of being a human. All of these things take into account the fact that we think our society is right, and other societies are wrong. "It is normal in every society to assume that what we do is natural and that what they do differently is strange or wrong or even wicked." (33).
"So what is food? Well, that depends on where and when you grew up." (37).
Dirk talks about how the food that you like has to deal with the food that your family, and even your society finds appropriate. For example, you would not find Rowan University serving bugs for lunch, but in another country this is highly acceptable. I pride myself on trying anything once. I grew up in a household where my parents both cooked all the time, and every meal was new and exciting. I learned quickly that as long as you tried what was given to you, even if you did not like it, there would be no speech to follow about wasting food.
