Sierra Interview 5: Omar Mohamed

1. Basic background information:
1. What year/major/age are you?
1. Junior, political econ and stats, 20
2. What ethnicity do you identify with?
1. Somali
3. What are your gender pronouns? How do you identify?
1. He
4. Which of the following best describes your CURRENT social class?

1. Upper Middle-Professional Middle
1. Where do you live/ what type of housing?
1. I live in an apartment on Dana and Dwight with 2 housemates.
1. Describe the food situation where you live. I.e is food provided to you, do you cook for yourself, do you use a meal plan, etc.
1. I eat out 70% of the time, and then get groceries once every 10 days or so and that is usually snacking food, because no one takes the time to cook
2. We eat together, just usually in front of a t.v. show.
2. Do you feel comfortable with the food situation you have? Why or why not?
1. I don’t feel comfortable because it is just not the healthiest eating out all the time, because of what I will be drawn towards when I am eating out. It’s also frustrating not really knowing how to cook, so the lack of control. So I wish I could do that.
3. What is most important to you when deciding what and when and where you are going to eat?
1. What- Something that I haven’t eaten in the past day,
2. When- When I am hungry, that means it varies from twice a day to 4 times a day sometimes, so it’s not very regular.
3. Where- That is generally convenience, so i’ll go to places by Telegraph, if I want to be quick or i’ll go to Shattuck if I am meeting someone. I can want something more than the alternative, but if it’s closer I will choose that instead.
4. Do you feel that other people in your house and in the community respect your food choices?
1. Yes, I would say that. Just to describe my living environment- none of us really eats well, it is generally the case of like one person eats pizza, then I will just join in on it. We egg each other on to eat these foods. A lot of respect but influence on each others choices.
5. Do you feel any cultural connection to the food you eat? Emotional?
1. Yes, as a matter of culture, I avoid things that have pork in it, which makes no sense but it is how I was raised and I am generally drawn to foods that are East African, North African, Middle Eastern, because it reminds me of home. I am definitely happier eating foods that I recognize. Most Somalis avoid pork- it is a muslim thing we adopted. We also avoid alcohol. Why pork? It is unsanitary, historically speaking, same with alcohol. If things that are bad for you, Somalis believe you shouldn’t do.
6. How important is the price of the food in determining what you will eat?
1. Price of food is important when it’s just me- I will go for the cheaper thing and if i’m eating however many times a day I will go for around $10 per meal. But, when i’m with other people or for social gatherings or just with buddies at home, I am very flexible to get what I and others will enjoy.
7. How important is nutrition in determining what you eat?
1. Not very important, it is more important on the frequency- how much I am going to eat in a given period- goes back to convenience. It’s less convenient to get something that is “nutritious.”
8. If you are able, could you define your food preferences? For ex. Vegan, paleo, raw, etc.
1. I can’t.
9. Do you feel free to make your own food choices, or are external factors restricting you?
1. I feel free, but there are external factors, which are usually social- if my friends get something I will probably get it too, to hang out with them. I usually use meal times to see people that I wouldn’t have had time otherwise to do, which constrains my choices, bc of where we are and how much time we have.
10. Would you change anything about the way you eat? If you could what would it be? Are you able to make this change?
1. I wouldn’t change anything, I rationalize eating poorly by getting up to physical activity, I don’t feel it is a pressing need as of yet to change how I eat, so there is nothing driving me to change. One change ideally would be to learn how to operate a kitchen.
11. How much do you typically spend on food per day? Per week?
1. About $20-25 a day including coffee. I drink a lot of coffee.
12. Do you follow nutritional recommendations provided by the government?
1. No, I have no idea what those are. Guidelines in Somalia were more oriented towards public health rather than like individual health. We learned more macro stuff that isn’t personal to food systems.
13. Do you consider yourself a healthy eater?
1. No. I’m not a healthy eater.
14. Who do you eat with?
1. I’ll eat with my house mates pretty often, bc I come home at night and they are there so it is convenient, otherwise in school I will eat with a friend and set something up at lunch time, but I enjoy eating alone. Half the time alone.
15. What do you eat with your family?
1. Somali food. Hard to categorize, bc it will go between coastal East African food like Ethiopian to Indian food because the local cuisine is very integrative. Lots of cultures. My mom does all the cooking which is why I don’t know how to cook, it would be weird for me to enter the kitchen. Common in Somali culture.
2. I have lots of siblings (10), but there are big age gaps so we were never all in the house at the same time. I am the second youngest. Youngest sister is 8, oldest is somewhere in her 30s. There is always family around though so we always have family around for meals. We also had house help, we usually had 2. One took care of the cooking, so I would say 4-5 days a week the meals were from her and a decent amount of time it was this way. The other 3 days my mom would cook and we would have people over.