A restful weekend

Its hard to imagine that the weekend has come and gone already. I cant confess to having much productive work done during this time but I can claim getting plenty of rest. I also had the pleasure of having people over on a couple occasions for meals. As a self proclaimed foodist I must confess that this is one aspect of my personal life that I find to be very satisfying. Food while at times consumed for the mere sake of obtaining nourishment can also be a remarkable journey that one can take in which sights, smells and taste are but a never-ending series of detours that results in a happy self. 

One of my personal ideologies is that food is the only aspect of a culture that can be experienced by someone outside that given culture and truly feel included. Unlike sights and sounds the mere act of which tends to reenforce the barrier of the two cultures, food transcends that and takes one to an equal playing field. This got me thinking further on this topic this weekend. What is it that in my construct of this idea of food and culture being tied together does the sense of taste take a role that is more important that that os any of the other senses? I feel that the answer is as simple as the thought process is long. With any of the other senses we can only get a memory that can be take away from the experience. This is not the case with food. Our bodies take in the nutrients which then become part of out very being. 

There is the saying that you are what you eat. As someone who enjoys trying new foods then you become more than just a person who can be stereotyped into one box or another. The more you are open to trying new foods the more you expand on who you are. Another saying that has become more and more common during the last several decades is that the world is growing smaller because the barriers of distance and communication are being broken all the time. In such a expanding world we have the opportunity to experience other cultures in the form of the different foods that are available. However I also see a black cloud on the horizon that one must keep a watch for. As with the melding of cultures we must also be vigilant to keep too much of a mix from diluting what are individual and unique cultures. Food once again plays a roll in this as an indicator. 

Driving down the road one would often times pass an ornate, ethnically oriental looking building that has the tag line, Chinese and american dishes. Why is it that we feel that we need to enter an establishment that is distinctly culturally oriented to serving dishes that are different from our own and expect to be served what is traditionally part of our own culture is a mystery. But then again sometimes you just need to make a buck and the food you serve is just another utilitarian aspect that will bring home the bacon to pay for the roof.