Sidney Mintz talks of food moving without people and people moving without food. The biggest time in history when food was moving without people attached to it was during the Colombian Exchange (named after good ole Christopher). When explorers discovered the Americas (West Indies) they brought back the new foods to Europe. The foods they were accustomed to eating in Europe, they shared or traded with the native peoples (516). The thing is food cannot be expected to taste or look the same when the people who know how to farm it speak a different language and are halfway across the globe. Mintz brings examples of foods which were improperly prepared and somewhat poisonous. Maize, for instance, needs to be cooked with lime to counteract the niacin and make it edible; Europeans who were not educated about this concept, contracted pellagra (517).

Mintz describes how the identity of foods can change as cultures appropriate them: “When food objects, processes – even ideas – spread from one society to another, the receiving society is likely to modify, often to misunderstand, and usually to redefine what it has received” (517). He goes on to remark how coffee and croissants, for example, have evolved from healthy breakfast items into sugary, high calorie treats.

In this age, almost all types of food are available year-round, although prices will vary based on season. Since nearly all food today is shipped to markets miles from where it is grown, and knowledge about food preparation is widespread over the internet, I would say that food does not necessarily lose its identity as it is travelling from farm to store to kitchen. Although I am not privy to the details, it seems that Glady’s did not have an issue obtaining the ingredients and method of preparation for the variety of traditional West Indian dishes and beverages they offer. In terms of cultural appropriation, I think that food production takes on the culture of the place in which it is made and adds to the existing culture of the place wherever it is moved. Glady’s owners are doing everything they can to ensure the West Indian nature of the food they serve. However, even if they maintain the traditional spices, cooking methods and ingredients, as West Indian food becomes more accepted amongst New Yorkers, it will lose some of its traditional taste and appearance as it becomes “Americanized.”