The topic of this blog was in regards to the consumption of animal parts not normally consumed in Western culture. The focus of my comment interpreted the blog in terms of the target culture’s underlying value system. Eating is a key example of a social behavior that varies from culture to culture. As learned in this blog, Latin American countries do waste any part of the animal. My response blog highlighted this social phenomenon as a reflection of Latino’s attitude toward consumption and waste. Even the less desired body parts become the focal point of many traditional dishes in Latin American cuisine. Many people from the United States see this cuisine as primitive and a reflection of an under developed country that eats the very last part of the animal. What we all really should take from this social behavior, as described in my blog, is “the ingenuity to find a way to prepare all parts of the body” and create a decadent dish from scraps of nothing.
In the blog, I focused on the social phenomena I experienced when I traveled to Costa Rica. The biggest adjustment I had to make was to time. What I learned from being there, as described in my blog, was the more relaxed attitude Latinos take in regards to time. This behavior reflects the laid back lives they have. Contrasting to the United States, where everything is rushed, Latin Americans approach life in a less hurried manner and take time to enjoy life. It can be frustrating for someone who travels there without an understanding of this social behavior and often it can be misread as lazy or unreliable.