The Idea of an Essay, Volume 4

6 The Idea of an Essay: Volume 4 drinking with compassion and understanding. Practicing cultural drinking is not the only factor that affects the health of South Koreans. The prevalence of double dipping at meal tables has increased the incidents of gastric cancer among the Korean population. It is a part of the Korean food culture to have many communal side dishes and soups. Although it is table etiquette not to dig deep and touch everything in the bowl, risk of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) transmission is inevitable (M. S. Kim et al., 2013). H. pylori are bacteria that usually reside inside the human stomach and cause inflammation along the stomach lining. Many analyses indicate that such inflammation of the stomach leads to gastric cancer (Yeh, Goldie, Kuntz, & Ezzati, 2009). A common tactic that the bacteria use to enter one’s body is through saliva. By sharing saliva by double-dipping, one can transmit H. pylori to another person. It has been (or still is in some rural areas) part of the culture for families to share one big bowl of soup instead of having individual bowls. As a result, family members would double- dip their spoons into the soup, allowing their saliva to mix. Such cultural practice allows H. pylori to invade the stomach of other members of the family. Thus, this leaves the entire family vulnerable to gastric cancer. Such cultural meal practice explains why gastric cancer is so prevalent among the Korean population (Massarrat & Stolte, 2014). Hundreds of Koreans are diagnosed with gastric cancer every year. Medical bills soar. Families go into debt. This raises the question: is the cultural practice really worth the risk of gastric cancer plus the medical bills plus the debts? In this situation where cultural practices put one’s health at risk, the value of participating in such practices pales in comparison with maintaining one’s health. Despite this fact, however, nurses must strive to uphold the dignity of the culture while continuing to negotiate the possibility of moderating the practice. Practices and traditions that have been continued for an extended period of time are very challenging to modify or even moderate. People’s judgment on what is healthy and unhealthy is heavily based upon cultural perceptions (Giger & Davidhizar, 2008; Leininger & McFarland, 2002). For example, in Hispanic cultures, people do not consider obesity as a health threat. In fact, Hispanic mothers believe that fat babies are healthy. Therefore, they feed their babies incessantly (Giger & Davidhizar, 2008). Little do parents