The Significant Role of Food in Determining One’s Cultural and Religious Background

Abstract

Culture is an important factor that is inseparable from the lives of people and so is food and culinary traditions. Food is not just a necessity of life or just a means of survival but it is the identity of the consumer. Like culture differs from land to land, from people to people, so is the preference for food; its shape, taste, colour, and flavour. The food habits of a person define his culture and identity. The way you eat, what you eat, how you cook them, all of these defines the person you are. The link between food and culture is very strong. Our food preferences symbolise how we express ourselves in terms of tradition, culture, ethnicity, and heritage. Food has a very significant role to play in the ritual and cultural practices of certain communities and religion. People incorporate food into religious and cultural practices, the food incorporated is sacred and meaningful. Food eaten has much more to do with our identity and culture than what we think. The food consumed by people around the world differs and it shows their traditional and cultural culinary background and heritage passed on from one generation to the other. This paper tries to analyse how the food habits of a person or community expresses the culture, identity, religion, and tradition, and the influence of food in defining who you are based on one’s food habits.