Meals

Why We Eat What We Eat

by Karen Odom

Candied grasshoppers or fried termites are considered to be mouth-watering, lip-smacking treats to eat in China and parts of west Africa, just as roasted mice caterpillars are scrumptious edibles in parts of southern Africa. Most North Americans, however, would be surprised if they were offered any of these as food and probably wouldn’t want to try them. Similarly, Americans may say that they are ‘Hungry enough to eat a horse,’ but if they were in Argentina or France, they would never dig in and eat the horse meat served in various regions of these countries.

What makes us choose the foods we do, and what makes certain foods desirable in one country but not in another? The experts do not have a single answer to this question, but rather several. Actually, what motivates us to choose certain foods over others is a complex blend of several factors – the foods we have been exposed to during our childhoods, the geography of our countries, the associations we make with specific foods used in celebrations and feasts, and our countries’ individual customs and traditions. In fact, the choices we make about food often have less to do with nutrition than with customs and pleasure.

Consuming foods for pleasure can be traced back to when we were fed milk as infants – our first experience in associating food with comfort, human contact, and enjoyment. Later in our lives, without even realizing it, we may rich for the same foods that gave us comfort in the past, such as chicken soup, which we were served when we were sick; ice-cream, which we were given as a special treat or reward; or chocolate, which we received on birthdays or Valentine’s Day. We associate these foods with being loved, and they bring comfort in times of stress.

The particular goods that people find comforting vary from culture to culture, as do the foods used during celebrations and feasts. Generally, colder countries have traditionally served hot foods to warm up people who have to travel in the cold, while countries with warmer climates are accustomed to serving cold foods to keep cool. For example, North Americans eat a dinner of hot roasted turkey at Thanksgiving, and the French eat hot roasted goose at Christmas. In Lebanon, however, people might eat tabouleh (parsley salad) and Baba Ganouj (cold eggplant and garbanzo dip) to keep cool.

Geography also plays an important role in the foods we choose. Since Japan is surrounded by water, it is not surprising to learn that the Japanese diet is rich in fish and seaweed. Millet, a type of grass cultivated for grain, is a basic food in Africa, where it is plentiful; but it is regarded as undesirable in other places where it is used as birdseed. Also, in very hot countries it is not unusual to discover that most food is highly spiced. The reason for this is because before refrigeration, spice was used to cover up the strong taste food developed in the heat before it spoiled.

Folklore and myth play important roles in the foods we select for celebrations and feasts. In Greece, for instance, a cake containing a single silver coin is served on New Year’s Day. Whoever finds the coin in his or her serving is said to have good luck throughout the coming year. In other Mediterranean countries, people observe similar customs - hiding a dry bean, a ring, or some other object. Similarly, in the U.S. Southerners traditionally eat black-eyed peas, cornbread, and mustard greens on New Year’s Day to bring good luck in the coming year. At birthday celebrations in Japan, lobster is the traditional birthday food, because its shape is thought to resemble someone growing old and bent over. The birthday person who is being served lobster is being wished a long life.

As people continue to move from country to country, taking their food and customs with them, people will become familiar with each other’s customs. As a result, our food choices will grow. Before long, it may be just as common to eat octopus in the United States as it is in Greece or Spain, or to enjoy tacos and mole from Mexico in Turkey or Korea.

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