Beltran 1 Rodrigo Beltran English 114A Professor Lewis

My Culture
Every culture is unique in its own ways. People are raised up differently and are given different types of foods to try every day. Each individual is able to find one food that they feel pleases them and makes them want more. As a child my mother fed me all types of Mexican food. Since my mom was born in Mexico she only knows how to cook Mexican food. For example, one food that I love that my mom makes to eat and that is part of my culture is Mole. One day my family and I decided to go to Mexico for vacation and that trip was unforgettable. I will never forget what I saw with my own eyes 5 years ago, or that my parents killed what we ate. It was a Saturday morning when all my aunts, uncles, cousins, and my parents decided to get together to make a feast. We all decided to make mole, which is chicken covered with chili. As my mother was preparing the food, I was playing with my cousins and brother in our backyard and then suddenly I heard loud, scary noises. I was curious about what or who was making those horrible noises so I walked to the house and I saw that my mother has caught a chicken and she was grabbing it by its neck and I heard snap. I could not believe that my mom has killed a chicken. I was shocked because my mom would never hurt an animal. I had so many questions running through my mind; I wanted to know why mom killed the poor chicken. Once I saw that the chicken was dead, I went up to my mom and asked her Mom why did you kill the chicken? She responded Mijo el pollo es nuestra comida, y no podemos comerlo vivo pore eso lo tuve que matar

Beltran 2 y prepararlo which basically means that she had to kill it because it was going to be our dinner and we cannot eat it alive. I was too young to understand the reason why my mother had killed the chicken because all I thought about was that she could of easily bought one dead at the super market in Mexico. Finally I said to myself, since my mom already killed the chicken it was ready to be eaten, but I spoke to soon. My mother got a huge pot with boiling water and sank the whole chicken inside. I never knew that there were so many steps to prepare a chicken. As my mom pulled the chicken out of the pot she started to pull the chickens feathers and they easily came off. Soon the chicken was on its bare skin; I just could not believe that the chicken was bald. My mother explained to me that the boiling water makes it easy for her to plug out the feathers. I was so eager to watch every single step that takes to prepare the chicken for the simple reason that I have never seen one of my parents kill an animal before. While my mother was preparing the food she was explaining to me the purpose of her killing the chicken. She said that it was part of her culture when she was smaller, her parents would buy chickens, pigs, and other animals that can be eaten by people. My mom would take care of the animals and feed them until they were fully grown. Once they were fully developed they would kill the animal for food; sometimes my mother would kill it to eat it or to sell the meat and make a profit off it. It was her way of life back then ago when she was a small girl. After the long explanation that she gave me I began to understand the reason why she killed the defenseless chicken. At first I thought it was gruesome but now I knew that it was part of my culture and that it is not unusual to kill our food. As I stayed by her side I also observed that after my mom plucked out all of the chickens feathers she began to

Beltran 3 cut it into pieces so that it can cook faster. The chicken was finally cooked and even the chili was made. This meal is one of my favorites; I recall that the whole house smelled so good that I got hungry. However, we had to gather every single person from our family because could not eat without one of them. At last everyone was at the dinner table and we began to start our feast. I would never forget this day because I love going to Mexico to visit our family and also because I experienced death at first hand. Overall, this vacation would be unforgettable because I had fun and there were some events that changed my way of thinking. Coming back to my parents homeland made me realize that how beautiful our culture is. I would of never thought that we can kill what we eat. At first I thought it was gross but after my mom explained to me everything I understood that it is just our way of life. Even though some people might find it unusual to kill your own food, I believe that everyone has their own culture and its very unique in its own way.