If you’re a serious foodie then you know how enjoyable and delicious different cuisines can be. Different ingredients from different areas of the world, allow creative culinary minds to make delicious meals. If you want to know about diverse cultures, a great way to understand the differences is through food. Here are some of the reasons why food is the best way to discover new cultures:
1. Food gives you a history lesson.
Most recipes are passed down from generation to generation and take the ingredients available at that time. If you want to know what your great-great-grandmother’s life was like, consider looking through her recipe book. It will give you a great insight into her days. You’ll know exactly what resources they had at her time and how her creative ancestors put together their foods. If a recipe is newer, it shows you what creative minds are doing now with the foods they have. Either way, you’ll get a great insight into the culture and what shapes them when it comes to food.
2. Food gives a great geography lesson.
You also can tie foods back to their originating areas as a result of using herbs and spices indigenous to the area. A great food taster can usually hone in on the spices used within a food. By knowing the spices, he or she can then target the originating culture and location. Food gives valuable clues about geography too. If given the choice of reading a long-winded history book on geography or tasting foods from different cultures, which would you choose? Most people would opt for the later. Tasting foods is not only insightful, but it is fun. You also may walk away with a new favorite dish to add to your list of foods.
3. Food is surprising.
Did you ever see something that looked completely unappetizing? Sure you thought it was “horrible” but then you mustered up the courage to try it and discovered that it wasn’t as bad as it looks. The reality is that food can surprise you. Looking to food as a discovery channel of how other cultures live and enjoy food is a great advantage you should never pass up. You may be happily surprised. Even if you don’t opt for the food again, you’ll understand why it is a staple in the culture you’re exploring.
The next time you want to understand a culture, look up their signature foods. It is a great way to get a vision of what the country was formed on and how their ancestors lived. It gives you some fantastic lessons on the world and you get to experience them in one of the most fun ways ever. World Bites gives you a chance to discover other cultures’ snack foods. Start your exploration now by subscribing or shopping.