Examples Of Ethnographic Observation

ANTH150

Mini Essay 2: Fieldwork Observation

Word Count: 734

I conducted my ethnographic observations over the course of a few days. During my fieldwork observation, I recorded observations of customer behaviour, the general layout of the restaurant, culture significance, and décor.

Siam Corner is located in Rouse Hill on Resolution Place. While entering, you can immediately feel the intimate environment of the restaurant and sense the sudden shift from the streets of Sydney to a Thai restaurant. It is viewed as an upscale restaurant with excellent service. It is open during lunch and dinner hours. Inside, there are many tables that sit around the restaurant and are covered in white tablecloth and has flowers placed in a clear vase. The walls are bright coloured that create a vibrant mood as people enjoy their meals with an almost inaudible music.

Many people share their food while others also feel comfortable drinking from their soup bowls rather than using a spoon, an etiquette that seems to concur with the cuisine and its exotic nature. Therefore, the creation of a Thai authenticity and exoticness is used to satisfy customers’ demands for differentiation and supposed authenticity while creating an experience of high quality dining and

The staff here was sense that everyone who works here is Thai serves as a further ethnic symbol to local consumers and authenticates the Thai nature of this restaurant. The service of this restaurant is impeccable. As maybe be expected, the jobs are distributed differently among the sexes, the females appeared to have more of the jobs that involved distributing food while the males were mostly present in the kitchen since the task called for lifting heavy items. The floor jobs such as sweeping and mopping also went to males. Gender roles seem to play an important role in deciding each employee’s job.

It is a place with good aura, food, service, and basically for people to have a lovely time. As a result, it is pretty simple to say that Siam’s ambiance is to promote a good time. Siam combines a certain degree of local adaptation in food and environment that initially appears like matter out of place with traditional aspects of cuisine to craft a Thai authenticity while making customers comfortable with its exoticness. These patterns indicate that a broader trend towards hybridisation, in traditionally ethnic cuisine, is definitely in effect.