Many cultures have their own style of food or traditional dishes. But, have you ever thought of how foods from different cultures represent their culture? Foods from cultures can reflect and describe cultures.

Japanese traditional dishes can relate to their culture very well. When most people think of Japanese food they most likely will think of sushi, their most famous kind of food. Sushi comes in many different colors and texture, but also in a very organized matter. Sushi comes in bite sized, flawless forms, and I think that Japanese culture is like that. Often Japanese commercials and advertising is colorful, as well as some of their products. When I was visiting Japan, one thing I realized was that the cities were extremely clean and well organized. Some of the restaurants I went to were unique with only two options given on the menu, but those two options were the highest quality. For sushi restaurants, they gave me either sashimi or sushi courses. Pieces were made right in front of the guests and placed on the plate directly by the chef. This shows organization in their culture.

The most common Italian food that people from around the world know of is pizza and spaghetti. Though there is cheap and low quality Italian food, I think that Italian food is meant to be high quality. It is usually a little expensive at high classed Italian restaurants. This tells us about Italian culture because other things like Ferraris and Lamborghinis are high quality, popular, and great. That is also the case with their cities and interest in art. When I went to Venice, I remember most of all the rivers in between streets that were designed to be like pieces of art. They were old fashioned and shaded like I pictured them to be. The hotels had many paintings in the lobbies and in every room. This gave me an image of how much art there is in Italy.

In the States, people often eat hot dogs, hamburgers, or food that is easy to make and is in large quantities. Americans like that kind of food, which is usually unhealthy with large amounts of oil. That is part of the reason that America leads the world in obesity rates. Some examples of American foods are New York and Chicago style pizzas, and apple pie. America also serve in many places huge burgers like the big mac, the heart attack burger and many others. In my experience, pizza, hamburgers, chicken, and other popular foods in the US are found everywhere and are inexpensive which may be why people are obese. However, one of the unique points about America is that their food is like their culture. Not only is the food is everywhere, everybody eats it because they find it enjoyable. In other countries, different classes of people eat different foods, but in America, everyone eats fast food and barbecued foods. This shows organization and equality in American culture.

The saying, “you are what you eat,” has a whole new meaning when you think about how cultures reflect their food.