Living in a different country for a year brings on an entire new meaning to food. American food culture is generally viewed from the outside world as quickly made, greasy, and unhealthy. One does not think in terms of health in their opinion but instead, Americans have a taste and convenience mindset. As an American I do focus on taste; I want to enjoy the food I’m eating. It may not always be entirely healthy, but I would rather eat something appetizing than something revolting, the nutritional value therefore aside. Indeed one does need to eat nutritious foods to maintain a healthy lifestyle, but they do not necessarily need to dominate every meal. Thus my priority in food is taste, but not necessarily excluding healthy foods, as they too have their own unique taste.
In Germany or in any European country for that matter I’ve come across the idea that eating with one’s hands is rude. Maybe this comes out of the idea that food is a sacred thing, something that one needs to respect in order to show their thanks. A Swedish exchange student is living at my house and when ordering burgers he reaches for his knife and fork and divides the burger into pieces, while the rest of us proceed to pick up our burgers and devour them with our hands as utensils. Similarly, with my host family in Germany the natural solution for me when I could not manage to get that last bit of salad onto my fork would be to use my hand gently to push the salad onto it. It was not until my host father mentioned that most Americans tend to only use a fork when eating did I realize that the Germans incorporated both fork and knife, using the knife to do the equivalent of my hand’s job in scooping up the uncooperative salad leaf. I understood then the purpose of a knife other than cutting; as a child I would wonder why my mom would even set the knife, if we were eating something as simple as pasta. The knife and fork encourage one to treat one’s food with care; it’s something that one must appreciate. Growing up in an American society where food was plentiful and seen as a delicious treat that one can’t have enough of, food is instead viewed as a commodity.
Taking this idea of the sacredness of food, one can also look at how much one eats. For breakfast in Germany, I would stumble down the stairs in a half sleep, only excited about the Nutella awaiting me in the next room. A basket of bread would sit in the middle of the table with 6 pieces of bread at most, for the 6 of us that sat around the table. While hunger does not have a large presence in my mornings, I still felt as if that would not suffice. I would take my one piece of bread and spread the small scoop of Nutella onto it; my host father had previously mentioned that we were running out too quickly, meaning that all the children should take less Nutella for each piece of bread. Again one comes across the idea that food is not something to waste; one takes as much as one needs, or more of as much is needed, instead of as much as they want. I spent many a lunches sitting there with a clean plate, while my host mother sat screaming at my younger host siblings to come back and finish their meals. It may have just been one bite, or half a plate, but no matter what, one had to finish what one took.
When one lives in an environment and is exposed to certain habits for a long time, one begins to adopt them. I do indeed use both fork and knife when I eat, more for convenience than a respect for food, but nonetheless the idea is there. Food has also become something to me that should not be wasted. I eat everything on my plate, but therefore only take as much as I need. Food has become a habit in itself, something that I need to eat three times a day. It affects my mood and also becomes something to do when I’m bored, maybe not in the best way. Nonetheless these attitudes come from where one lives and how one’s culture interprets food.
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