Effects of globalization on national food cultures Term Paper

Effects of globalization on national food cultures - Term Paper Example Nowadays, local communities are abundant in their own local cuisines, and they have access to fast food chains like McDonalds and other foreign dishes simultaneously. The increasing trend of fast food culture is significantly affecting lifestyle and health of youth globally, and they are now carrying the burden of poor nutritional practices and obesity. Thus, Globalisation has very negative effects on national food culture, which extends to the effects on national cuisines and food, impact on health and obesity, and economic impact on local food market. To begin with, Globalisation is significantly influencing the national food culture by affecting the national cuisines and food. One can observe a growing importance for imported foreign foods, which is affecting the relevance of local cuisines and national food culture. In many nations, food is an integral part of culture and over exposure to foreign goods due to Globalisation is becoming a major threat to the cultural identity of these nations. To illustrate, according to the Levin Institute report (n.d.), the French has their own culinary tradition with unique cuisines like crepes and pastries, and they are quite resistant to US cultural imperialism especially in the case of food culture (p. 180). But with the crowding of several US restaurant chains in urban regions which produce unhealthy and greasy burgers and processed food, recent statistics prove that urban population of France is suffering from eating related problems and obesity. Hence, according to the Levin Institute re port, increased trend of fast food brought by Globalisation is forcing people to take food of lower quality. As per the same survey, in China, children were not expected to buy food using their own money, and there were no festivities in celebrating birth date. But with the introduction of McDonald’s restaurant, more and more children begin to buy