Reflective Essay
Restaurants have always seemed to be an ubiquitous part of the human experience, so realizing that they had not been around for long in their current manifestation was the first turning point I reached during the course. The way that restaurants came to be in the United States is representative of the individualistic ethos that Americans espouse, with the menus and the choice of any meal that you desire. This extends to the democratization of restaurants, because as the texts show, they may have started out as establishments that served the wealthy, but over time, poorer people began creating similar spaces for themselves. The primary concept I have learned from this course is how restaurants serve as a microcosm of society. The same issues that are present in a society at large play out in restaurants, such as racism, sexism, and classism, which divide people. However, because restaurants serve as gathering places where people commune with each other in the most human w...