The type of food produced and the cooking practices of various areas in the U.S depend on various factors such as geographical region, Diffusion, distance decay, and cultural landscape. Regions with hot climates mostly eat very spicy food because they raise the temperature of the body leading to perspiring. This leads to the cooling effects of a body so that the hot temperatures can become more bearable. In regions where individuals strive to keep warm people rarely eat spicy food. This paper will address how the region, diffusion, cultural landscape, and distance decay as influenced hamburger consumption in the U.S.
Diffusion
Hamburger is considered as one of the favorite foods in America, and it found mostly in the fast food chains and restaurants. According to reports released by McDonald, they sell 75 hamburgers per second meaning some regions consumers this kind of food than others. The origin of hamburger is believed to be Germany where minced meat was combined with onions, garlic, pepper, and salt to form Hamburg steaks (Avey, 2013). These burgers were highly priced due to the quality of Hamburg beef, and they were considered gourmet. After German immigrants arrived in Chicago and New York, they mostly earned their living by operating restaurants. The target customers were industrial workers who found it difficult to eat Hamburger while standing. Due to this problem, a creative cook was invented by putting minced meat between two sliced bread. After migration of people and need for fast food, hamburger gained popularity all over the country. Throughout the years, it has become a symbol of the U.S cuisine though it has gained popularity worldwide (Avey, 2013). This type is still highly consumed in the major cities where immigrants settle because after they settle in another geographical region, they still demand the food found in their place of origin. An example of such area where food consumption is influenced by immigrants and tourists is Florida and Hamburger is highly consumed.
Region
Geographical area highly influences the kind of food consumed in many ways. One of the reasons why Hamburger was greatly embraced in the U.S is due to the availability of both wheat and beef. America is known for its climatic conditions that favor both wheat and beef farming. American soil is fertile enough to support farming of beef, wheat, and other vegetables used in the preparation of hamburger. Animal waste is composed to promote organic farming since it is used as a natural fertilizer while the hay from wheat is used to feed the animals (Lardy & Dhuyvetter, 2015). The mutual benefit of these two ingredients of Hamburger has made production to increase significantly as the demand for this fast food rises.
Another geographical factor that has made hamburger to be highly consumed in the U.S is due to the scarcity of fuel available for fires. Many people want to cook a kind of food that will be prepared with the shortest time possible (Asia for Educators, 2009). Hamburger offers such convenience and time for consuming it is little as well. Slicing or shredding food into small pieces before cooking it makes the final process to take little time. Meat canning, one of the techniques of preserving meat in U.S has made it simpler to prepare Hamburger, increase its flavor and texture.
Cultural Landscapes
Cultural landscapes are landscapes which have been influenced, affected or shaped by folks involvement. It entails expressions of regional identity and narrative of cultures. Cultural landscapes create a legacy for each person and reveal ones nation of origin, development, and evolving relationships with the world. They provide economic, scenic, social, economic, recreational, ecological, and educational opportunities for a human to understand themselves better ("About Cultural Landscapes ", 2017). American culture has enabled them to acquire good education which to translate to better living standards. To maintain this social class, they have continued to consume Hamburger because it considered as a gourmet. Additionally, American likes to safeguard their culture and ensure continuity of shared heritage. Hamburger will continue to be consumed as people want to improve their quality of life and deepen a sense of identity for the future generation.
Distance Decay
People in the U.S have started preferring to live in the rural areas and other developing suburban. This is for individuals who are retiring from their jobs and youths who are avoiding congested neighborhood in the city. Most fast food store and restaurant that sell Hamburgers are located in the urban centers, and this has made it more challenging for such people to access such stores (Mackenbach et al., 2017). Individuals who have located in those regions rarely consumer Hamburger due to the distance involved in accessing these food stores (Robinson et al., 2013). Another reason why these people avoid Hamburger is that they believe that junk food may lead to healthy complication which is one main reason for moving away from cities.
As people move from one region to another, it is believed that consumption of Hamburger will spread all over the nation. The Fast food store will creep deep in the rural areas and suburban as people want to continue with the culture of consuming their fast food. The culture of Hamburger consumption is also expected to spread as many people adopt the culture of folk who come to settle in their residential areas. Also, its consumption will continue to spread all over the world as globalization as increased at a high rate in the recent decades.
References
About Cultural Landscapes | The Cultural Landscape Foundation. (2016). Tclf.org. Retrieved from https://tclf.org/places/about-cultural-landscapesAvey, T. (2013). Where Did Hamburgers Originate? Retrieved from https://communitytable.parade.com/61481/toriavey/where-did-hamburgers-originate/
Asia for Educators. (2009). Food and Geography. Retrieved from http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/china/geog/food_ck.htm
Lardy, G & Dhuyvetter, J. (2015). Feeding Wheat to Beef Cattle. Retrieved from http://www.progressivecattle.com/topics/feed-nutrition/6624-feeding-wheat-to-beef-cattle
Mackenbach, J. D., Burgoine, T., Lakerveld, J., Forouhi, N. G., Griffin, S. J., Wareham, N. J., & Monsivais, P. (2017). Accessibility and Affordability of Supermarkets: Associations With the DASH Diet. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2017.01.044
Robinson, P. L., Dominguez, F., Teklehaimanot, S., Lee, M., Brown, A., Goodchild, M., & Hood, D. B. (2013). Does Distance Decay Modelling of Supermarket Accessibility Predict Fruit and Vegetable Intake by Individuals in a Large Metropolitan Area? Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 24(1A), 172-185.
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