In discussing culture clash and culture shock in class, it has come to my attention that there is some amount of confusion as to what these terms mean. Let me clarify some of that for you with a visual. Take a look at the top picture. It is a traditional Ecuadorian meat dish called cuy. The meat has been been described as slightly chewy and salty, but delicious nonetheless. It has been prepared in Ecuador for hundreds of years by its indigenous citizens, who prepared cuy before beef cattle were introduced into their culture. Then take a look at the bottom picture. It's a guinea pig.....or what the top picture may have looked like before it was cooked. Yes, the people of Ecuador eat guinea pig (my best friend has done this on his travels to Quito, Ecuador when he was in college). A bit surprised? Grossed out? I have to admit I was too, especially when I looked at the other pictures of cuy on a website (this one is tame compared to the others). That sick feeling to your stomach is the culture SHOCK....it's that feeling that you have when you encounter something that is not part of your home culture. The CLASH here involves food. It's American menu items vs Ecuadorian menu items. Gotta think that Chili's or TGIFriday's is not going to be adding cuy to their menu anytime soon as the SHOCK of their patrons would make the item not a very big money maker.
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