I've been researching different cultural cuisines, and decided I want to learn a little more about other cultures in general. Can you recommend me some reading that really gives you an authentic feel for what other cultures are like? How they behave, what their customs are, and just what their outlook on the world is in general?
I'm a rural American with fairly little experience of world culture, only been outside the country once, and almost everything I'm exposed to about other cultures has been filtered or told through someone with an American worldview. I'm just looking for authenticity, from a native author. Fiction or nonfiction, either way will explain lots about a culture and their outlook on things.
>recommend me a book of stereotypes and baseless generalizations
Try Mein Kampf.
Gavin Baker
what culture, you cunt.
Luke Nguyen
I'd honestly recommend wikipedia
Xavier Turner
The Histories of Herodotus
Anthony Torres
Any books you find about "culture" (very general topic you have here, desu) will necessarily be filtered through someone else's worldview, because people don't write specifically about their own cultures in a non-fiction way.
If you want to see someone else's culture from their own world view, you generally have to read literature from that area. That being said, you've not specified any culture or even region that you're interested in, so you're essentially just asking for literature from all over the world.
Your prescription is too vague to fill.
Lincoln Lee
Oh, also, just so you know:
Nobody gives a fuck what board is your "main". Just leave that bit out, next time.
Dominic Cooper
Do you have a place you want to start? The world is a really big place.
Jacob Cook
Oh, also, just so you know:
Nobody gives a fuck if you don't care what board is the OP's "main". Just leave that bit out, next time.
Aiden Murphy
It is completely immaterial to his post and request.
Noah Cruz
It is completely immaterial to your post.
Nicholas Sanchez
You're a fucking idiot. Him telling us his home board wasn't nonsense, it establishes the character in which he is asking for us to suggest a book. God you're fucking awful
Brody Diaz
R.K. Narayan is a well known Indian author who writes about a fictional town called Malgudi. His best work I think is "The Maneater of Malgudi". There's also a book called "Shabanu" by Suzanna Staples about a girl who lives with her nomad family who raise and sell camels. I only really know South Asian literature, but I know in South America there is Gabriel Garcia Marquez (100 Years of Solitude) who writes pretty good stories set in South America.
Africa is a bit of a problem because most of the stories are heavily political themed, and I think the politics generally overshadow the descriptions of day to day life. Either way Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart is pretty good. Gives a perspective of an African tribe before first contact. It's set in the 1950s I think.
Ethan Perez
>flyovers
William Nelson
You guys are why this place is garbage.
Jonathan Lewis
You are why this place is garbage.
Jaxson Smith
I found Things Fall Apart to be a great look at culture as a whole in the Sahel region of Africa. Everything from medicine, to criminals, to families, etc.
Also makes you want to eat yams
Sebastian Myers
...
Gavin Martinez
Eventually? All of them. I'd like to familiarize myself with the culture and worldview of all the cultural regions of the world, if not necessarily all of their specific cultures. Latin America, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, Africa, the Middle East, China and Northern Asia, and India and Southeast Asia would be a good start. Preferably before any colonialization, for all regions where that applies.
The first place where I thought of this was India, OP pic very related. I was studying Indian cuisine and dining customs, and got interested in the rest of the culture.
I know people don't really write objective accounts of their own culture, but firsthand accounts by explorers or something would be nice--it is kind of filtered, but you can usually tell what is and how. Also, fiction or other writings by members of a culture usually just show you what they think is normal--how they portray a regular home life, descriptions of mealtime, what they assume is the "default" hierarchy between people in a group, that sort of thing. I remember reading something in school that was fiction that just really gave an authentic feel of African culture--Imago or Imaro or something? It was fiction but just really expressed the norms of what African culture was like, almost accidentally or kind of to the side. Something like that for each region of the world would be ideal--I'd probably read something about India first, but I'm trying to make a list.
Austin Robinson
Dubliners is a fairly good snapshot of Irish culture. Though I have no idea what sort of cuisine they have other than getting shitfaced on Guinness beer or some whiskey or another.
Matthew Perez
Site traffic doesn't change during the summer, ya dense fuck
Elijah Allen
don't listen to these other idiots. start with the greeks.
there's a few translations of Archestratos for chefs who want to recreate the meals, and he's filled with social commentary on dining and etiquette.
Mason Peterson
Heres your problem OP. You want to learn about different cultures. That's just too much. there are too many cultures and sub cultures for for you to get into. instead pick one general idea, and then ask us for a suggestion. I say read the Tibetan book of death, if the question stands as is.
Connor Richardson
It's pretty much like rural English cuisine, but with more potatoes. It's mostly a rural area, lots of emphasis on farm fresh food and simple recipes. Thick, hearty, starchy, potato-heavy food and of course lots of beer.
Oliver Moore
he probably means the kidneys and tripe
Jace Torres
Post quality takes a nosedive.
Aiden Stewart
Fuck off to 9gag nigger
You are the cancer that's killing /b/
Luis Smith
Agreed, look at this edgy undergrad fresh outta class:
Jack Ramirez
Post quality has been down for about 4 years now. Season has nothing to do with it.
Jacob Ross
10/10
Jace Evans
I remember it mentioning a lot of mexican cuisine.
Thomas Lee
Fuck you all, you're just as bad as /b/. You don't need to argue about this shit. We already know what each side thinks, and no one's going to change anyone's mind about anything. Now I remember why I don't come here, even though I enjoy reading constantly.
Angel Jackson
Curious here, how long have you been on Veeky Forums and Veeky Forums in general.
Hunter Gutierrez
Opinions on Targore? You should read him for an interesting snapshot of Bengali culture and the influence the British Raj had on Indian intelligentsia.
Levi Cook
Good. Fucking leave. Child.
Jayden Flores
I've heard of Targore, but I think his Bengal or "Bengali Culture" is very different from what West Bengal and Bangladesh have become today. He wrote before independence no? I'd be interesting see how someone other than E.M. Forrester, Rudyard Kipling, or George Orwell saw the country before the independence debate became heated.
Do you have any particular recommendations?
Jace Mitchell
I'm quite an oldfag. Been here since 2012.
Owen Johnson
Jesus, this is a broad request. You can learn about contemporary Russia's culture, or at least feel it, through Erofeev and Pelevin - but this is as authentic as DeLillo's americana, and not really useful in performing the ontological turn(which no book can help you with).
You can study some anthropology, I suppose, which helps.
Benjamin Lee
RYSZARD KAPUSCINSKI
Adam Perez
You probably want /int/ for this instead of this board, OP
Andrew Morgan
I don't buy that
Jeremiah Gomez
What culture, specifically? And what era? Lacking this information, In Search of Lost Time or Zola's Rougon-Macquart series for France. The Story of the Stone for China. Popol Vuh for the Mayans.
Owen Morales
Mexico: Octavio Paz - The Laberynth of Solitude
Joseph Johnson
Honestly just watch No Reservations and Parts Unknown, Bourdain is a legit guy.
>firsthand accounts by explorers or something would be nice
That's good advice, but I feel like Western European and Mediterranean culture and cuisine is just overdone at this point. Everyone cooks those, every cooking class dwells on them way too much, and as Americans we get a lot of exposure to their cultures. I'm trying for something a little more new, to me at least.
Started Narayan and so far it's just what I'm looking for. You can tell a lot about a culture just by how authors describe "normal" life in a small town. Little things like what personality traits are considered good in a person you can learn, this book has all of that
Bentley Phillips
you can read 1000s of books but it will never give you the same feeling and knowledge as going to a country and experience it. Just 2 weeks will teach you more than a fucking book. Avoid too tourist places, though
