Stereotypes, Knowledge, Values
Before visiting Raaga, a restaurant of Indian cuisine, I tried to consider what I knew about this culture and whether I would eat what I would be served. I have never been to India, therefore, my personal knowledge about this country has been created on the basis of cinematography. I consider India as a country with many traditions and interesting customs. These people are not like Europeans and Americans, as I see them. Being too religious people, this nation has delivered its restrictions on food. Thus, Indians do not eat beef as cows are sacred animals for them. Even though India is a specific country with particular traditions, the place has been settled by different Americans and Europeans who have founded offices in India due to the high professionalism of its citizens and low cost of their labor (Ganeri 40). Thus, I believe that modern India differs from the traditional one, however, I am sure that food traditions have not changed and Indian food has remained spicy.
Experience Description
Last week I visited the Raaga restaurant. It is located at 5872 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041. Raaga can be defined as a musical abstraction. While my visit there, I ate chicken tikka, Paneer shashlik, tiranga chicken, Kadai chicken, chili chicken, jasmine rice, and rice pudding for dessert. It was a buffet, therefore, I took some pieces of each of the dishes to try as many items as possible. My interest in Indian food has always been theoretical and I knew many recipes with rice and chicken (Wickramasinghe and Rajah 200), but I never had an opportunity to try them. I was sure that I would be pleased with the food as I knew much about Indian spices and could predict how the food was going to taste. I really liked the food even though it was spicier than I expected.
Knowledge Gained
Having entered the restaurant, I was in despair as I expected to see the traditional motives in the design, however, they were absent. As I got to know further, the restaurant was designed in accordance with the traditional modern vision of Indian architecture. Thus, I got to know that my previous understanding of Indian art and design was rather outdated. The next my surprise was considered in the cuisine. Most of the dishes looked like simple European ones. I began to think that my knowledge about Indian culture and food was too limited and refereed to the past. But when I tried the first dish, I understood that some of my knowledge was closer to the truth. The spicy Indian food was tasty, but some of the dishes were too spicy and I did not expect it. No drinks were offered to such spicy food, therefore, I had to ask for tea additionally.
Areas of Growth
Having attended an Indian restaurant, I got to know that some of my beliefs about this country were outdated. Therefore, I want to attend an exhibition of modern Indian art and to watch a documentary movie about this interesting place. Having false believes about contemporary India, I want to improve the situation and to get to know more about modern places. It would give me an opportunity to follow the changes which have happened with India and its culture and to try to define the reasons for the changes.
Works Cited
Ganeri, Anita. Indian Culture, London: Raintree, 2012. Print.
Wickramasinghe, Priya and Carol Selva Rajah. The Food of India: A Journey for Food Lovers, Sydney: Murdoch Books, 2005. Print.