What is Food?

Food is a very general term used for what we eat daily for the very reason to perform our daily activities. It gives us energy, proteins, nutrients etc. etc. for our body to function everyday.
I have been searching online over the past few days on food and couldn't really find any relevant articles which talks about it. Food can be represented as a substance but it can also represent a culture, a tradition, a cuisine. Food can symbolize a country, a race, a religion. Food is everywhere and is something which every single individual needs everyday.

Food is what brings people together, a gathering, a party, a celebration. Food bonds people, food is a remedy. I can't stop repeating Food here, Food there and every sentence it's all about food. The importance of food should never be neglected as a necessity that should be taken for granted. Studies on the relationship between culture and food is known as Gastronomy. But when the word Gastronomy is mentioned, people usually relate it to culinary arts, hence always a certain confusion.

I'm writing on this today because I felt that there is a need to share with people about food. Do you really understand the meaning of it? Does it really matter if it tastes good or not before you put in your mouth only to find out that you can't swallow it down after tasting it? Or, as long as it fills your stomach and serving the main purpose - giving you energy to perform your daily activities, it's good enough? My Dad once said to me when I was still in highschool, 'Son, you don't live to eat but you eat to live,'. I have always disagreed with him. You need to eat to live, yes, but when you live in a multi-cultural country and everywhere you go, there are just amazing foods awaiting for you to taste and eat, it just becomes irresistable. From hawker stalls to gourmet food and different cuisines, it just makes you unable to resist.

Do you remember the days when you would go back to visit your grandparents and when you arrive, grandma would be actually in the kitchen preparing those deliciously mouth-watering homecook food that you love and enjoy 'til cleaning up the plate? All those festivities like the night before the Lunar/Chinese New Year where everyone in the family would come back home and have the Reunion dinner on one table. It's what food that brings everyone back home(in a way, doesn't have to be always that reason). Understanding food will give a deeper meaning and appreciation to it.

We often see people putting food to waste by not finishing it mostly because life now is so luxurious compared to those days when people like our grandparents, ancestors have to slogged just to make enough to feed the family. Food represents history too. It gives you insights to why that particular dish is popular in some cultures and why it is so important in certain culture's cuisine. Histories are events of past which has lessons and wisdom seeded in it for us to learn and food, is part of it. Hopefully this short write up on what I think about food conveys a certain message that I'm trying to send out to everyone out there. Appreciate good food, use it as a tool to re-bond your relationship with family and friends and don't put food to waste. Kudos to you and thank you for reading!