Final answer:
The author's purpose in the text is to highlight the importance of food in understanding and connecting with one's cultural identity, particularly emphasizing how the Filipino culture influenced her identity through food traditions.
Step-by-step explanation:
The author's purpose in the graphic from I Was Their American Dream is to showcase the significance of food in relation to cultural identity. As the text suggests, food is more than sustenance; it's a form of expression and a way of connecting with one's heritage and traditions. Considering the information provided about the role of food in culture, and the emphasis on cultural identity in literature, the excerpt most likely aims to highlight how the Filipino side of the author's family contributed to her sense of identity through culinary traditions.
Furthermore, the reference to specific food practices, such as food prescriptions and proscriptions, feasting, and the gendered aspects of food, suggests a celebration and exploration of the author's familial and ancestral roots. Food, here, acts as a medium through which the author connects with her culture, and it is evident that the author values these experiences and traditions as instrumental in shaping her own cultural identity.