Food Study writing assignment, 500 words

I’m studying for my Writing class and don’t understand how to answer this. Can you help me study?

With this exercise, you will begin researching the major paper for the class. You are to choose a particular food culture in which you do not consider yourself to be an insider. (After all, you won’t gain much cross-cultural understanding if you’re not willing to cross cultures.) Be specific with your definition of culture; instead of Chinese or Canadian, research Cantonese or Quebecois (assuming you do not have personal connections to Guangdong, Hong Kong, or Québec). Consult a minimum of three legitimate sources, at least one of which must be published. (There are many fine cookbooks and scholarly works in the library. Avoid amateur blogs and travel websites.) Write an essay of at least 500 words (plus bibliography and parenthetical citations) briefly summarizing your chosen cuisine according to the four categories identified in the Belasco reading (basic foods, manner of preparation, flavor principles, and rules for consumption) in roughly equal balance.

WARNING: You may be tempted to cut and paste text directly from the web in completing this assignment (and the ones to follow). You must put quotation marks (“”) around any text you take directly from another source and provide a parenthetical citation. Failure to do so is considered plagiarism. The graders will be checking samples of text for evidence of plagiarism. Don’t risk failing the class to save yourself a few minutes completing this assignment.