New post: random/potato_chips

2 files changed, 244 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/docs/random/index.md b/docs/random/index.md
index 97a64ef..9c34d64 100644
--- a/docs/random/index.md
+++ b/docs/random/index.md
@@ -19,3 +19,4 @@ Nevertheless, occasionally I leave a permanent trace along the way.
 - [Review of My Chemical Romance discography](mcr_discog_review)
 - [xkcdbot](xkcdbot)
 - [Playlist to put on on my deathbed](deathbed_playlist)
+- [Of Potato Chips And Food Globalization](potato_chips)
diff --git a/docs/random/potato_chips.md b/docs/random/potato_chips.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2b7c80e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/random/potato_chips.md
@@ -0,0 +1,243 @@
+# Of Potato Chips and Food Globalization
+
+Written 2021-12-04
+
+Published 2023-03-31
+
+## Disclaimer
+
+This is my argumentative essay for an academic writing course. It is
+_not_ a paper, and there are many debatable, uncited claims. My major has
+nothing to do with food or economics.
+
+I am now publishing this on my blog because I want to cite it in another
+assignment for a psychology course. If you are reading this, TA
+(thanks for your time btw), you may find a PDF
+[here](/static/potato_chips.pdf).
+
+If you are taking or about to take Prof. Joelle Tybon's VY100, I am
+obligated by Honor Code to warn you against plagiarism, as if my work
+would be any use to you.
+
+Otherwise, this essay is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.
+
+## Essay
+
+Potato chips are ubiquitous. These deep fried, crunchy and greasy slices, sealed
+in a bag or cylinder, are shelved in convenience stores of virtually every city.
+Despite bearing a reputation for being nutritionless, their value for research
+exceeds what one might expect from a cheap snack. Potato chips are a highly
+globalized processed food, thanks to international food corporations expanding
+their market. Yet on the other hand they are also localized, partly due to
+efforts by local branches of said corporations to cater to local demand,
+resulting in diverse flavors from market to market. In this paper I will use
+potato chips as a primary example to show that the popularity a flavor of
+processed food receives in a region depends on its culinary practices and the
+history of the food.
+
+A particularly interesting phenomenon is that many regions feature their own set
+of unique flavors that are hardly found anywhere else. One example is the duo
+Cucumber and Salt & Vinegar, respectively found in the Sinosphere and the
+Anglosphere, or, for the sake of simplicity, China and Britain. Cucumber
+flavored potato chips are not widely known or sold in Britain; salt & vinegar
+flavored potato chips are just the opposite, and the minority of Chinese eaters
+who do enjoy them, to this day, have to purchase them abroad or from specialized
+stores. Product reviews on _Amazon_ and _Taobao_ show that, of the two, each flavor
+available to one region receives generally negative feedback in the other.
+
+This observation shows that flavors are region-dependent. For a food
+manufacturer seeking the overseas market, simply copying all flavors of
+a processed food from its birthplace to another region would fail, especially if
+the two have little cultural overlap. There can be such unagreeable flavors
+that, no matter how heavily marketed, will not be appreciated overnight. It may
+take years, or even generations, for the latter region’s population to accept
+it. On the contrary, a brand new, never-before-imagined flavor could be invented
+there and turn out successful. What is it that determines the popularity of
+a flavor in a region, then? Evidently, taste is not the only reason, because
+there is no standard for it. This prompts us to search for social factors that
+consumers take into consideration when judging a flavor.
+
+Flavor preferences of processed food are closely connected to culinary
+practices, in other words, how people cook. Ostensibly this may sound bizzare,
+since processed food is commonly believed to be an escape from the kitchen, and
+a consumer of processed food does not necessaarily know how to cook. However,
+since food undergoes domestication to align better with local culture (Pilcher
+33), I will show via analysis that culinary practices affect the cultural
+perception of a certain ingredient, and thus of a flavor. The analysis focuses
+on four perspectives: familiarity, social status, variety, and combination.
+
+Familiarity is the most obvious of all. If a flavor is advertised to be made of
+an ingredient native to a region, it will face fewer hurdles on its way to
+popularity. China is the world’s biggest producer as well as consumer of
+cucumber, which means people are more familiar with this plant. Likewise,
+flavors involving cheese or onion are more popular in Western countries, and
+seeweed flavored chips originated in Japan. Substantial consumption is
+beneficial but optional, as Rath pointed out that a food can act as an agent of
+national identity whether it is a main staple or not (82). This could explain
+the rise of salted egg yolk, hot pot and red braised pork belly flavors in the
+Sinosphere — none of the three are staples, yet all are without a doubt
+representative of Chinese cuisine.
+
+Social status is the hierachy that a culture assigns to an ingredient. To
+paraphrase Warde, a prestigious taste situates a person in a higher social
+class, and vice versa (308). In the scope of highly commodified processed food,
+it is approximately proportional to its price or scarcity. Rationally, it makes
+more sense for a consumer to opt for an ingredient higher in status, given the
+fact that potato chips of common flavors cost roughly the same. Salt and vinegar
+as fundamental kitchen seasonings are both low in cost, and unlike fresh produce
+they are usually bought in bulk once every few months. Though poured into
+a large number of Chinese dishes, they are rarely considered vital. Except for
+a handful of special recipes, few would lay as much scrutiny on them as on the
+vegetables and meat. A flavor simply named “salt & vinegar”, as a consequence,
+is evaluated by Chinese consumers with a pinch of salt, and fall onto the
+unfavorable side of the spectrum for this reason.
+
+Another culinary practice consumers take into account is variety, that is, the
+gamut of flavors that an ingredient is expected to be presented in. The wider it
+is, the fewer expectations will be set when one is sampling a new kind of food
+consisting of the ingredient, and the fewer judgments will be made should it
+deviate from anticipation. The so-called cucumber flavoring in potato chips
+contains, as the ingredient list on the package clarifies, white sugar, salt,
+MSG, and a mixture of cucumber, cilantro, onion, vinegar, and soy sauce, giving
+the chips a slightly mint-like relish which is a major drawback according to
+those who abhor the flavor, most of whom living in a Western country. Throughout
+history Chinese people have incorporated cucumber into countless dishes, simple
+or fancy, cold or hot, insipid or savory, traditional or modern. This means the
+Chinese are more likely to accept the diversity of its taste, and thus more
+inclined to try cucumber flavored potato chips when given the opportunity. In
+Britain however, cucumber, unless pickled, is more often considered a flavorless
+fruit found in salads with little potential other than being eaten raw, and
+those who encounter the rebellious, mint-like version of cucumber flavor are
+caught off guard. As a result this culinary underdevelopment and
+underappreciation contributes to the fact that very few kinds of processed food
+in Britain are available in cucumber flavor.
+
+Last but not least, it is combination that amplifies judgment. In every cuisine
+there are unwritten rules which decree that certain ingredients may or may not
+coexist. Defying the rules is dangerous, as a wrong combination can form an
+unwelcome flavor that local people have never adapted to, and will not accept
+anytime soon. Salt and vinegar is one of such combinations; they rarely pair up
+on a Chinese recipe. Although some dishes do require the presence of both,
+additional seasoning is usually added. What people expect to accompany vinegar
+is usually not salt, but sugar, as evidenced by the classic Chinese dish _tangcu
+paigu_ (pork ribs in sugar and vinegar), most of whose salty taste comes from the
+brewed soy sauce (_shengchou_). The combination of salt and vinegar without
+a third companion would therefore disappoint Chinese eaters with blandness, in
+other words, the lack of “richness” most Chinese dishes strive to accumulate.
+
+Each of the four reasons listed above is capable of explaining certain phenomena
+pertaining to potato chips. But if we were to inspect one phenomenon
+specifically, some reasons would fail. For instance, our first reason, namely
+familiarity, does not play a dominant role in affecting the popularity of salt
+& vinegar flavor in China. Otherwise, the flavor would be extremely widespread
+in China due to their abundance in a Chinese kitchen and appearance in thousands
+of recipes. Therefore, their failure to gain market share in China suggests
+there must be something inherently unpleasant to the Chinese palate about this
+flavor, which is why we resort to the theory of combination.
+
+What is manifest here is that when a region makes its first encounter with an
+exotic flavor, culinary practices are the jury that examine whether or not the
+flavor belongs to local culture. Now the subsequent question is, if it does, for
+how long will it persist? The answer is surprisingly tautological in a way: The
+longer it has been, the longer it will be. To explain this we look at the
+history of the processed food, which matters because the assessment of a taste
+is formed upon historical ethnographies (Shapin 177). We can compare flavors of
+processed food to residents of a housing estate: Young dwellers come and go, but
+elder inhabitants rarely leave. In the same vein, the “elder” flavors assert
+their dominance in a market by being the first ones available, hence carrying
+historical or, sometimes, nostalgic value. The original-flavor potato chips from
+Lay’s Stax series are marketed as _zhongyu yuanwei_ (loyal to the original) in the
+Chinese Mainland market. The fact that loyalty to a flavor can be established
+implies its long history, which contributes to its unperishing popularity.
+Cucumber flavored potato chips are documented to have been sold in China since
+2004, which is 17 years prior to the time of writing, a considerable timespan in
+the history of China’s all-round modernization. It should come with no surprise
+that contemporary Chinese consumers by and large take it for granted that
+cucumber flavor is a legitimate and acceptable option for potato chips, and it
+is no longer possible to discontinue it without a backlash from enthusiasts.
+Though it is reasonable and often proper to attribute momentary blossom to
+a fad, few can dispute the competence of a flavor that has endured for decades.
+
+As to why a region has its own set of preferences, and there is no such flavor
+as a global favorite, we resort to the regionality of history. The countries
+involved in food globalization can be classified as “inventors” and “importers”,
+two terms I have contrived. The inventors define _what_ the food is, while the
+importers have a chance to add their touch to _how_ the food will taste like by
+rejecting some original flavors and creating new ones. In an inventor country,
+the very first “classic” flavors tend to prevail. Potato chips were invented in
+Britain in the 19th century; seasoning on potato chips emerged in the 1950’s in
+the same country (Joe “Spud” Murphy n.p.) Among the first few flavors that
+potato chips were produced in, there was salt & vinegar, which has remained
+popular in Britain ever since. They achieve as much popularity as longevity,
+eventually becoming an essential, unseverable part of the food itself.
+
+An importer country however, having missed the infancy of the processed food,
+does not necessarily respect its history whence it came. Instead, it keeps its
+own history relative to its time of arrival; it may also reject flavors that
+defy culinary practices it has passed on as a form of cultural heritage and
+demand a local variant to its own need (Pilcher 33). Venerable flavors in an
+inventor country thus lose their natural advantage once imported, and relatively
+recent flavors developed in the importer country find them less challenging to
+contend with and eventually overtake. To some extent, domestic flavors
+compensate for the exotic ones that failed the race, and the result is
+a distinct set of naturalized flavors that adhere to local culinary practices,
+formed gradually over the course of a shifting equilibrium.
+
+One could argue culture and history are not as important as they used to be in
+affecting the popularity of a flavor in an importer country. This is true, since
+the advent of big data and high internet coverage have made consumer preferences
+on social media over the past month crystal clear to merchants, whose only duty
+is to produce the trending flavors as quickly as possible (Cavish n.p.) What was
+once an inconceivable feat is now the norm. Being novelty-driven and built upon
+consumers’ curiosity, these extraordinarily creative flavors tend to be
+short-lived and reach out to an audience consisting of barely anyone else than
+urban young consumers. Hardly any of these flavors can achieve long-term
+survival in such a saturated market. The short attention span of modern
+consumers and social media is to blame, but the ultimate reason lies within the
+flavors themselves. They have never been domesticated, that is, adapted to the
+local palate, and given such a short lifespan, it is most likely the case that
+they will never be, before they are flushed away from the market. My best
+attempt at a metaphor here is a zoo: Visitors may admire the wild, “novel”
+animals on display, but few will keep one as a pet. In the long run, only
+flavors that truly respect local culture will receive the visa for a permanent
+stay, and then establish loyalty. Therefore, even in contemporary times, novelty
+and viral marketing cannot override culinary practices and history.
+
+Junk food as potato chips are, they are an epitome of how a processed food is
+globalized and, as I have analyzed in this paper, how its flavors are assessed
+by consumers inside and outside of its birthplace. The reasons listed are not
+exhaustive, nor can I claim my theories to be comprehensive. I have certainly
+overlooked many intrinsic complexities of food globalization, and due to my
+limited knowledge and a Chinese background with chiefly Euro-American influence,
+my arguments may be overturned once a third culture is taken into account.
+Nevertheless, I hope this paper serves as food for thought for whoever wishes to
+investigate this subject in greater detail.
+
+## Works Cited
+
+- Cavish, Christopher St. “Durian Pizza: When Big Data Writes the Menu.”
+  _Radii_, 22 February 2018,
+  [radiichina.com/durian-pizza-when-big-data-writes-the-menu](https://radiichina.com/durian-pizza-when-big-data-writes-the-menu).
+  Accessed 4 December 2021.
+
+- “Joe ‘Spud’ Murphy: The Man Who Gave Potato Chips Flavor.” _HuffPost_,
+  [www.huffpost.com/entry/joe-spud-murphy-the-man-w_n_1437270](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/joe-spud-murphy-the-man-w_n_1437270).
+  Accessed 20 November 2021.
+
+- Pilcher, Jeffrey M. “‘Tastes Like Horse Piss’: Asian Encounters with
+  European Beer.” _Gastronomica_, vol. 16, no. 1, 2016, pp. 28–40.
+  _JSTOR_,
+  [www.jstor.org/stable/26362318](https://www.jstor.org/stable/26362318).
+  Accessed 29 November 2021.
+
+- Rath, Eric C. “Historical Reflections on Culinary Globalization in East
+  Asia.” _Gastronomica_, vol. 17, no. 3, 2017, pp. 82–84. _JSTOR_,
+  [www.jstor.org/stable/26362463](https://www.jstor.org/stable/26362463).
+  Accessed 28 November 2021.
+
+- Shapin, Steven. “The Sciences of Subjectivity.” _Social Studies of
+  Science_, vol. 42, no. 2, 2012, pp. 170–184.
+
+- Warde, Alan. “Eating Globally: Cultural Flows and the Spread of Ethnic
+  Restaurants.” _The Ends of Globalization: Bringing Society Back In_, ed.
+  Don Kalb et al., Rowman & Littlefield, 2000, pp. 299–316.