Essay Assignment #2 Corn

Corn and Culture : Expository Essay Project

5-paragraph Expository Essay with MLA formatted Citations (In text and parenthetical).

Prompt:   Before you begin writing read the passage carefully and plan what you will say:

“At Mitla, the tortilla is hot and crisp, the meat is beefy and satisfying, but other than that, this specialty — which has been on the menu as long as any of the Montaños can remember — very closely resembles the taco served to more than 36 million customers every week at 5,600 Taco Bell locations in the United States.

Coincidence? Gustavo Arellano, perhaps the greatest (and only) living scholar of Mexican-American fast food, thinks not.

In 1950, one Glen Bell, an entrepreneur possessed by envy of the McDonald brothers’ success, opened a burger stand across the street from Mitla. (The building is still there; today, it’s a taco stand.) According to Mr. Arellano’s research, Mr. Bell ate often at Mitla and watched long lines form at its walk-up window; later, having persuaded the Montaños to show him how the tacos were made, he experimented after hours with a tool that would streamline the process of frying the tortillas.

He started serving his own tacos in 1951 (this according to a 1999 biography of Mr. Bell, “Taco Titan,” which Mr. Arellano has practically memorized), and the business went through several name changes (Taco Tia, El Taco) before starting as Taco Bell in 1962. Now, at Mitla, the lines are gone; only the brown vinyl booths and the lunch regulars remain; while on the Taco Bell Web site, Mr. Bell is cited as the creator of the “fast-food crunchy taco.” The Montaño family members are philosophical about this outcome, but Mr. Arellano isn’t.

“There’s a lot of anger about appropriations from Mexico, but in my opinion it’s not enough,” he said.

Explain Mr. Arellano’s argument and discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with his analysis. Support your position and provide reason and examples from your own experience, observations, and reading/research.  

You must use at least 3 unique references.  You may use the New York Tines article as one of the 3.

America is a melting pot, a massive mash-up of culinary traditions that often combine in unprecedented ways. What is your favorite corn based ethnic food? Has it been embraced by the American mainstream? How did the cultivation of corn change civilization about 10,000 years ago? How many ways can you think of that corn continues to have an impact on society? Is it right to call the first version more “authentic” than the second? Do you think food in a country like America is really an indication of culture? Is it wrong to adapt immigrant cuisine to American tastes without crediting the culture behind it? Or is it a normal part of the American experience? How is the current drought impacting our behaviors?

Objectives and State Standards:

1.    Review MLA Format Citations

2.    Understands the biological and cultural processes that shaped the earliest human communities.

3.     Understands the processes that contributed to the emergence of agricultural societies around the world and challenges facing 21^st century America.

4.    Understands long-term changes and recurring patterns in world history.

5.    Students combine the rhetorical strategies of exposition, persuasion, and description to produce texts of at least 1,500 words each. Student writing demonstrates a command of standard American English and the research, organizational, and drafting strategies outlined in Writing Standard 1.0.

6.    Write reflective compositions:
       a. Explore the significance of personal experiences, events, conditions, or concerns by using rhetorical strategies (exposition).

Rubric:  Cal State  http://nicko01.com/c-pj.net/documents/csurubricstudentfriendly.pdf

Resources:

Expository Essay: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/685/02/

MLA Format:  Easy Bib  http://www.easybib.com/

                           Son of Citation Machine http://citationmachine.net/index2.php

How The Taco Gained in Translation

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/02/dining/north-of-the-border-its-everyones-mexican-food.html?ref=dining