Around the World with Different Foods

“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien

After 21 years on Earth and 3 years in college, I have begun to realize more and more the power of food. If you want people to show up to an event, offer food; if you want residents of a hall to go to a program, you bring food; if you want Native Americans and Pilgrims to momentarily have peace, you bring food.

Food has the power to bring people together and unite them under one thing - a good meal. In the past three years, I have traveled abroad twice, once to Uganda and once to Ireland. The former was a trip paid by the Readership WT program, thus all the food for me and my friends was free. On the trip were several Americans, a handful of Mexico natives, a Brazilian, and then our hosts, Ugandans. Each day we would work and the only times we were able to enjoy everyone's company at once was at meal times. The food was the glue in uniting us together daily.

While in Uganda, we were able to try a wide variety of food. I have not been much of a fish eater, so originally I was afraid of how much I would be able to eat during the two weeks we would be there. My assumptions on what the diet would be were very wrong - we ate fish once. We had chicken, goat, spaghetti, beets, squash, g nuts (ground nuts that created a purple paste to put on mashed potatoes), fresh fruit every morning, and on the last day, pizza. I thought going in that I would return having lost weight, but they fed us so well; the food was so delicious. Coming home to the cafeteria after eating like that was a struggle.

Ireland was no different, if not even harder to leave behind. Ireland is known for their potatoes, but they weren't always like that. Potatoes became the staple of Ireland in the 1800s during the many plagues and famines that flooded the small country. With potatoes as their staple, the peasants ate better than peasants in England and other parts of Europe.

Growing up, my dad called me the "Carbo Queen" because of my love for potatoes. Going to Ireland was one of my dreams food-wise. Every day potatoes were involved in some meal, whether it was at breakfast with hash browns or at dinner in the Irish Stew. Over two weeks, I ate many a bowl of Irish Stew and each time the potato inclusion was different, from chunks included with a dollop of mashed potatoes on top to simple chunks, to large chunks, the variety was there.

From Uganda to Ireland, I have tasted the countries' staple and main dish. In less than a week, I will be tasting Greece's staples and delicacies of goat cheese, lamb, and phyllo dough. And then in a week and a half, I will enjoy London's staples and delicacies of fish and chips. Though I am not a fish fan, I think I will be putting on a brave face and trying it, maybe just to say I did.