The world around us is shaped by food. Food unites people in both times of sorrow and joy. Almost every festival in every culture and every country is celebrated with food. Having lived in multiple culturally diverse cities, I noticed one big similarity; all the cities are heavily dependent on agriculture. Yet whenever someone thinks about a farmer or a worker at a slaughterhouse, people usually assume that they are an uneducated or a heartless killer. They never think of how much support they provide the country's day to day life and economy. As George W. Bush once said, "Food is the foundation of everyone’s security.” USA is very lucky that it is one of the few countries that can mass produce the food that have high demand from its people. If this country ceases to provide this service to its people, that is when the country will be completely helpless.

 

One of my priorities concerning food would be to eat healthier and to eat in a controlled manner. As a child of parents born in South Asia, I have been exposed to rich foods ever since I developed proper taste buds. In Bangladesh, it is tradition for every family to eat rice with spicy chicken and lentil for lunch and dinner, every day. Some villagers eat rice for even breakfast but they are limited to only rice. Since they are the ones who produce it, and they produce in excess, they have abundance amounts of rice but not enough money to buy any side dishes.

As I mentioned before, my parents are from South Asia and their eating habits are the same as back in Bangladesh. Only with the diversity of New York City would this ever be possible, even after living here living here for 2 years, my parents have no trouble at all cooking the same exact food as one would cook in Bangladesh. My typical food is rice with chicken, lentil, peppers and sometimes fish or beef. Surprisingly, my typical food is also my ideal food. This may be surprising for many people because the ideal food of people is usually something they eat rarely not on a daily basis. Just because it is something that I eat on a daily basis, does not mean I do not appreciate it. I do not think food is sacred, but it is something that definitely deserves a lot of respect.

One of my favorite things in the world is the taste and smell of a properly cooked dish of chicken with curry (something that only my mom seems to be able to do). Whenever my family sits down to eat together, which is a rare occasion nowadays because of the invention of the Television, my father always reminds me how I used to go with him to the market in Bangladesh but do not do it anymore. When ever he says that, I get reminded of the bustles of the marketplace in Bangladesh. As I'm writing this essay, I just realized how important food really is to me and to the community as a whole. I can not imagine a world without food. Only now do I realize how devastating a famine is on a population...