NSCI EXAM 1 QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
2024/2025
List the fastest growing ethnic group in the US. - ANSWERSUsed to be Latinos and is now Asians.
State the various symbolic meanings that can be assigned to food. - ANSWERSMeanings from
relationship, association, or convention—not nutrient content. Ex. associations with bread: staff of life,
breaking bread with friends, white bread as upper-class status, whole wheat as valuing health
Discuss food choices as cultural identity and what constitutes a meal. - ANSWERSA collective identity
with food habits associated with religious beliefs or ethnic behaviors1. Example:
1. not eating pork as part of religious affiliation in Muslim or Jewish faith
2. childhood "comfort foods"
3. Exclusion from group: cultural slurs often are the name of food identified with a group
4. Food Etiquette: appropriate use of fooda. Defined by our cultural affiliationb. Manners at home versus
those used in public or in a business situation
5. Food symbolism defines status. Champagne, Kobe beef, and truffles suggest wealth. Beans and
potatoes are traditionally associated with the poor.
Commensalism (who can dine together) regulated within cultures. Relates to status issues and
establishing class relationships.
Example: men eating separate from women, servants from employers, castes in India
Define the classifications of food in the core and complementary foods model. - ANSWERS1. Core foods
are the staples eaten on a daily basis
2. Secondary foods are widely eaten but not daily
3. Peripheral foods are eaten only sporadically
4. Combinations of core and peripheral foods or other combinations may improve taste, palatability, and
nutrient values of total diet
5. Changes in food behaviors more likely in peripheral than in core foods
, Define Flavor Principles, edible vs inedible foods, cultural, bicultural, assimilation,
enculturation, acculturation, ethnocentric, ethno-relativism, Omnivore's Paradox,
American Paradox, cultural imposition, stereotyping, medical pluralism, and manners. - ANSWERS1.
Preparation combinations & seasoning of foods to match flavor principles
2. Transformation of feeding into eating—the significance of flavors are central to a cultural cuisine
3. Flavor is imparted by geography, latitude and longitude, climate
4. How foods are prepared for cooking, how they are cooked, and how they are preserved all contribute
to signature flavors
5. Herbs and spicesa. Help palatability, enjoyment b. Produce physiological responsesc. Disguise spoiled
food flavorsd. Preserve food as antimicrobial agents. e. Unique seasoning combinations typify ethnic
flavor principlef. Many very specific flavor principles associated with individual cultures (see list in text)g.
Serve as a marker for a culture's cuisine, not a doctrine
Know strategies when counseling about food habits in the context of other cultures. - ANSWERSBasic
competencies needed by practitioners
Information transfer-the verbal and nonverbal ability to convey object messages
Relationship development and maintenance - the ability to create rapport, establish trust, and
demonstrate empathy and respect
Compliance gaining-the ability to obtain client cooperation
Describe how definitions of health vary across cultures. - ANSWERSa. WHO (World Health Organization)
describes health as "a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, not merely an absence
of disease or infirmity"
b. This statement ignores many cultures' inclusion of the natural, spiritual, and supernatural dimensions
of health
(1) Native Americans: health through harmony with nature—includes family, community, environment
(2) Africans view a balance with nature; benevolent and malevolent forces may disrupt a person's energy
and bring illness
(3) Many cultures believe in maintaining health by living in accord with God's will
(4) Gypsies avoid non-gypsies to avoid illness by being "polluted" by other cultures
(5) Asians often believe that the yin and the yang of their surroundings and environment need to be kept
in balance for cosmic and personal harmony and health
2024/2025
List the fastest growing ethnic group in the US. - ANSWERSUsed to be Latinos and is now Asians.
State the various symbolic meanings that can be assigned to food. - ANSWERSMeanings from
relationship, association, or convention—not nutrient content. Ex. associations with bread: staff of life,
breaking bread with friends, white bread as upper-class status, whole wheat as valuing health
Discuss food choices as cultural identity and what constitutes a meal. - ANSWERSA collective identity
with food habits associated with religious beliefs or ethnic behaviors1. Example:
1. not eating pork as part of religious affiliation in Muslim or Jewish faith
2. childhood "comfort foods"
3. Exclusion from group: cultural slurs often are the name of food identified with a group
4. Food Etiquette: appropriate use of fooda. Defined by our cultural affiliationb. Manners at home versus
those used in public or in a business situation
5. Food symbolism defines status. Champagne, Kobe beef, and truffles suggest wealth. Beans and
potatoes are traditionally associated with the poor.
Commensalism (who can dine together) regulated within cultures. Relates to status issues and
establishing class relationships.
Example: men eating separate from women, servants from employers, castes in India
Define the classifications of food in the core and complementary foods model. - ANSWERS1. Core foods
are the staples eaten on a daily basis
2. Secondary foods are widely eaten but not daily
3. Peripheral foods are eaten only sporadically
4. Combinations of core and peripheral foods or other combinations may improve taste, palatability, and
nutrient values of total diet
5. Changes in food behaviors more likely in peripheral than in core foods
, Define Flavor Principles, edible vs inedible foods, cultural, bicultural, assimilation,
enculturation, acculturation, ethnocentric, ethno-relativism, Omnivore's Paradox,
American Paradox, cultural imposition, stereotyping, medical pluralism, and manners. - ANSWERS1.
Preparation combinations & seasoning of foods to match flavor principles
2. Transformation of feeding into eating—the significance of flavors are central to a cultural cuisine
3. Flavor is imparted by geography, latitude and longitude, climate
4. How foods are prepared for cooking, how they are cooked, and how they are preserved all contribute
to signature flavors
5. Herbs and spicesa. Help palatability, enjoyment b. Produce physiological responsesc. Disguise spoiled
food flavorsd. Preserve food as antimicrobial agents. e. Unique seasoning combinations typify ethnic
flavor principlef. Many very specific flavor principles associated with individual cultures (see list in text)g.
Serve as a marker for a culture's cuisine, not a doctrine
Know strategies when counseling about food habits in the context of other cultures. - ANSWERSBasic
competencies needed by practitioners
Information transfer-the verbal and nonverbal ability to convey object messages
Relationship development and maintenance - the ability to create rapport, establish trust, and
demonstrate empathy and respect
Compliance gaining-the ability to obtain client cooperation
Describe how definitions of health vary across cultures. - ANSWERSa. WHO (World Health Organization)
describes health as "a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, not merely an absence
of disease or infirmity"
b. This statement ignores many cultures' inclusion of the natural, spiritual, and supernatural dimensions
of health
(1) Native Americans: health through harmony with nature—includes family, community, environment
(2) Africans view a balance with nature; benevolent and malevolent forces may disrupt a person's energy
and bring illness
(3) Many cultures believe in maintaining health by living in accord with God's will
(4) Gypsies avoid non-gypsies to avoid illness by being "polluted" by other cultures
(5) Asians often believe that the yin and the yang of their surroundings and environment need to be kept
in balance for cosmic and personal harmony and health
