Out of the assigned class readings, my favorite text had to be Consider the Lobster by David Foster Wallace. This piece forced the readers to think outside of the box and question inherent cultural norms about eating lobster that I never considered before reading the text. As a writer, Foster Wallace does a stellar job of creating imagery of the lobster festival and conveying the ambience of the festivities to the audience. He also does a successful job in genuinely questioning the act of cooking lobsters instead of coming off as condescending and critical, which was very difficult to do considering the stance he took in writing the article. His writing was clearly thought out, original and intentional in making his audience think, instead of mindlessly read an article about a lobster food festival. After reading this text, I was forced to do some internal reflection of my own as a writer to think more about the message I wanted to send in writing my final composition.  

As for texts I read outside of class, my favorite had to be When You’re Here, You’re Famiglia by Matt Goulding. This article is featured on the blog Roads and Kingdoms, which is a travel journalism site that features articles written by people who share an interest in discovering and learning about new parts of the world. This specific article is centered around one of my personal favorite places in the world: Sicily. Yes, I like the text because I’m able to relate to the topic based on my own experiences in Sicily, but I like it for other reasons too. The author is creative in telling a story about the hospitality and culture there through a story about a family who cooked for him. Through his narrative, Goulding is able to transport the reader to the scene and give a vivid depiction of his experiences there. This text served as one of my mentor texts when writing my final composition for it’s

This semester was filled with a wide variety of texts surrounding food that covered a broad spectrum of topics. Now that we’re at the end of the semester, I feel as though I have a much better understanding of what the rhetoric of food means. Texts regarding food can incorporate multiple genres and exist in all different mediums including books, articles, blogs, podcasts, movies, documentaries, and/or short clips. These topics range from how to make food, restaurants, cultures, chefs, history of food, and many more. Pretty much anyone can create a text about food, so the credibility of authors varies, but generally the message of the text is based on the author’s own background, experience with, and knowledge about food. All in all, food something that all humans have in common, and the rhetoric of food represents a body of literature that embodies the all-encompassing nature of food.