When you think of Mexican culture, what do you think of first? What about Italian or Thai culture? For me, I always think about the food. In my opinion, anything that has to do with the arts is one of the main parts of a culture. Whether that’s clothing, music, painting styles, or food. Out of the four, food is the most universally necessary (I would classify the other three as necessary, but you know what I mean!) mainly because everybody has to eat in some way. And through food, you can learn so much and hear so many stories about different ways of living.
I have always spent quite a bit of time watching cooking shows or food competition shows. I love learning new techniques and trying them out myself. What I have been noticing recently, is that in these shows, the ways of cooking or the techniques appear to be pretty standard. Everyone does pretty much the same thing, maybe with some different flavors thrown in.
In my job, I support my clients in embracing their culture specifically through food. We hear a lot that certain culture’s foods are “bad” and other culture’s foods are “good”. I help my clients see that this is just another form of diet culture coming out. In doing this work with my clients and in watching these cooking shows and competitions, I realized that I needed more. I needed to experience other cultures in other ways and expand my knowledge.
That is why once or twice a month, I am going to try new and authentic recipes from cultures all over the world and document my experience in learning about, making, and eating them. I am so excited to go on this journey through food and hope you learn something along the way.
If you have any recipes from your own culture that you would like me to try, please comment them down below!
