Food -
It's the one thing that binds the human race, and indeed every living thing together. Physically required and socially enjoyed the world over, it's crucial and life-sustaining. It's interesting to see how perceptions of food vary all over the world, and I've been fortunate enough to have some amazing first hand experiences of the similarities and differences of how it affects people of many races, religions, economic classes and ages. The Muslim community have just celebrated the end of Ramadan, after a month of daylight fasting and consumption abstinence. I salute the projected 1.6 billion Muslims around the world who complete this feat for the purposes of their religion; it is of course a great physical challenge as well as mental. In many Muslim majority countries, work rates slow and heat rises, however it is important to remember it may also fuel an undertone to an unhealthy state, for example through eating disorders, as I read about in a Vice - broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/4xkkdn/the-unspoken-challenges-of-having-an-eating-disorder-during-ramadan The regularity of my own stomach grumbles and incessant desire to clear my whole plate no matter how full I am, has reminded me of not only how great it is to have the opportunity to try so many different cuisines, but also how much food is used as a mechanism for socialisation, be it as an icebreaker when meeting new people, to celebrating romance, births, deaths as well as breaking up a mundane office meeting! I guess it's a bit like the great British saying that 'theres nothing that can't be fixed without a good cup of tea and a biscuit'. I wanted to note some of my own personal examples of how food is shared around the world and the impressions it's made on me:
Im sure you've all been to a friend's house, a different country, or just another supermarket, and craved something you just couldn't have! It's quite a common question to find out what foods people miss as travellers, and there's usually always something! Personally, I find that I usually get a 'western food craving' about once every 6 weeks, and go on a determined pizza hunt to satisfy this! Some common elusive western foods I think are mashed potato & cheese - appearing like gold dust on random desert islands (e.g. brie & mash on tiny Kapas Island!), and brown bread without kilos of sugar preservatives in (I guess originating when many hot countries didn't have, and often still don't, have a fridge in their family home). Shout out to the best brown bread I've found so far in Asia though, at the French-run Kahuna Club in Unawatuna, south Sri Lanka. Finally and perhaps most crucially, don't ever be fooled into thinking travelling with make you skinny, where is the salad? A 'salad' in India usually consists of a plate of raw onions, and perhaps a few wilted leaves included if you opt for a 'green salad'. So you see, food really does help us communicate, reminisce, and develop relationships around the world. It unites us and divides us (with arguments of vegetarianism, palm oil, food miles, soya plant deforestation etc). For me now though, I'm reminiscing of a big juicy veg burger and slightly melted but prized kinder Bueno I found at a 7/11 in a bus station in Malaysia, because nothing is worse than being hangry hey!
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About meI enjoy writing and have had experience from my degree and through working on news posts. I hope to use this blog as a summary of extraordinary things I've discovered or witnessed in everyday life. Archives
March 2020
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