Food Matters

2/7/12

Sohana“When I saw the curry and a plate of rice, I

was afraid that it would be impossible for me finish the food. However, I sat down on my bed and took the plate from the side table. The curry was not looking as delicious as my mother’s curry. I took one mouthful rice and curry with the fear of throwing them out as sometime bitter gourds were so bitter. Strange thing happened!! I found it tasty enough to eat the full plate of food. I just did not take any pause and finished the plate. The taste of the curry was so known to me.”

Mehzabeen

“The smell of food directly go through my nose, it crossed my throat and hit in my stomach. I feel that there are rats moving on my stomach. So, I went in front of the table but I become confused for deciding from where I should start. At one side there are spicy, sizzling Indian and Bengali curry, beef, chicken and lots of traditional food on the other hand there are mild, juicy, crispy Chinese, continental dishes. Also, I didn’t know most of dishes’ name. Again rats are running so I can’t make my stomach sad anymore. So, I leaped at the foods like a cat.”

Fariya“The city was like a picture which

seems the artist just had finished drawing. Green trees beside roads, different buildings, a soft but spicy smell from restaurants, new faces of new people gave my mind a peaceful pleasure. To see different colored sweet, I was planning to take one sweet from each type when I would go back home.”

Jeenat

“But I respect all religions and I try to understand each other even if we have different religions like, if I invite any of my Hindu friend, I would not be dare to give beef to my friend.”

Israt

“Let’s not destroy any food from today and contribute to save people who are dying of hunger, or of malnutrition. From now it should be our goals that ‘Save Food and Save the World.’”

Nusrat

“When I took the first bite my mouth fills with the Juicy date molasses, coconut, and steamed rice. My tongue was busy to take the tastes of each and every parts of the hot cake. While I was savoring the taste of the cake, the smell and the taste of the cake dragged me to open the door of my old memories.”

Priyanka

“From these we can say that, food can be a part of our life, our entertainment, our wish; that’s why any food should not be prohibited. If any Hindus have the desire to taste the beef, he or she should not be prohibited by the name of religion. Religion is an individual belief; it does not mean to force ourselves to abstain from any certain food in the fear of disrespecting religion.”

Raiyana

“From the religious laws the two term “sacred food” and “prohibited food” came. In my opinion, there should not be any specific foods which are called sacred as every food items are like blessings for us. Whenever I eat something, I feel like I am collecting God’s blessings.”

Digya

“Therefore, religion is certainly the basis of what kinds of food we eat, but it cannot be the reason to compel or prohibit people from doing what our inner heart tells us to do.  In some cases, it might seem like compelling, but it is only because it has some good influence in our lives. Otherwise, the beliefs can change and so do our practices.”

Papun

“One day, I was greatly shocked at observing one incident. When I was reading a story book, suddenly I heard the sound of crying from that single mother’s house which was really very devastating and pathetic. When I got there, I found the mother was beating her little child because he demanded rice and any way she could not make her child to eat the “rooti” which was made of wheat.”

Zune“From my memory at AUW, one day my friend

finds a website about our traditional food and shares me how to cook some foods from this website. At the time, we imagine our childhood memory at our home and we talk about how our mother’s cooking is very delicious for us when we are looking at some photos from the website. Sometime we make a joke that we should call our mothers also to come together to Bangladesh. So, whenever we want to eat rice noodle or some foods, we can eat them.”

Jyoti“Since childhood, mothers teach their

children that each grain of food consists of god and if we throw food, god will be angry with us and make us suffer from starvation. I too remember myself finishing up my food completely without wasting from that fear of god being angry with me. This way since my childhood, I started associating food with the god and everyone does respect food in my community.”

Rasani

“I am Amazing. I named myself this because this is what everyone prefers calling me. I live on display in the world’s best museum. I love my museum a lot especially my gallery which is floored with velvet. I don’t know where my parents are. I am the only one on this earth. There isn’t any other like me. I heard that I am one of the rarest species. Therefore, everyone likes to see me.”

Saki“While a poor mother is looking at the face of

her beloved child, expecting the moment when the child will stop crying for food forever since the mother cannot bare the child’s pain of hunger anymore, your mother is sitting in the wonderful dining table with your family any looking how everyone is enjoying her delicious cooking. Or think about the father who is selling his own kidney only for affording food for his beloved family when you are telling your mother that you do not want to eat vegetable.”

Ngoc

“I saw my classmate bought a cake and then because she felt dislike it, she threw it away. The cake fell down on the street and a beggar snatched and put it to his mouth quickly. He was a child at that time. what i saw was a little boy had only shorts to wear. He was so thin, dark, and his complexion was pale. I wondered if my classmate was the beggar, did she do that? I used to wish that she would be like the beggar one day. She would experience the starvation. She would pay for her bad behavious.”

Roberta’s, Brooklyn

béchamel sauce

a white sauce, sometimes

seasoned with onion and nutmeg

purslane

A low, trailing plant having yellow

flowers, used as a salad plant and

potherb.

carpaccio

An appetizer of thinly sliced raw beef served with a vinaigrette or other piquant

sauce

Wagyu

Any of several Japanese breeds

of beef cattle, raised to produce

Kobe beef.

agnolotti

A dish of small pasta shaped like half moons and

usually filled with tortellini stuffing: boiled and served in broth or with a

sauce.

taleggio

A washed rind and smear-ripened

Italian cheese that is named after Val

Taleggio. The cheese has a strong aroma,

but its flavor is comparatively mild

with an unusual fruity tang. Its crust

is thin.

nasturtium

Any plant of the genus

Tropaeolum, cultivated for its showy, usually orange, red, or

yellow flowers or for its fruit, which

is pickled and used like capers.

prosciutto

Salted ham that has been cured by drying, always

sliced paper-thin for serving.

mascarpone

A very soft Italian cream cheese

made from cow's milk.

speck

A distinctively juniper-flavored ham originally from Tyrol, a

historical region that since 1918 partially lies in

Austria and partially in Italy.

head cheese

Head cheese is not a cheese but a terrine or meat jelly made with flesh from the head of a calf or pig (sometimes a sheep or cow), and often set in aspic. Which parts of the head are used can vary, but the brain, eyes, and ears are usually removed. The tongue, and sometimes even the feet and heart, may be included.

sea urchin

Any echinoderm of the class

Echinoidea, having a somewhat

globular or discoid form, and a shell

composed of many calcareous plates

covered with projecting spines.

chanterelle

A mushroom, Cantharellus

cibarius, having a bright yellow-

to-orange funnel-shaped cap, a favorite edible

species in France.

morel

Any edible mushroom of the genus Morchella

spigarello

Spigarello, more properly called

Cavolo Broccolo a Getti di Napoli, is a leafy green that tastes a lot like

broccoli.