World-wide food culture

   
 
   
BUGS CAN be the alternatives for world hunger to the next generation. According to the New York Times, scientists warned the citizens of the exhaustion of fishes after 40 years. Food is no longer a way to satisfy one’s hunger but the way to live well in the long run. Several international students from Germany, America, Japan, Russia, and Bangladesh got special supper ready by their own food culture.
 
ANNALS: Can you explain the unique traditional foods in your country compared with Korean foods?
 
   
 
 
 
Nathan: America doesn’t have any traditional foods since we adopted almost everything, but there are a lot of regional cuisines. For example, in Chicago, pizza and hotdog are famous, because a lot of Italian and Polish immigrated to Chicago a long time ago. However, I think we have our own American style.
 
Juel: Actually, Bangladesh has totally different traditional foods from America. Although the food cultures of Bangladesh, India and Pakistan look similar, it is a little bit different. However, like other Asian countries, we also live on rice and tarkari, similar to curry. Also, we have a representative chicken cuisine called tandoori, which are backed from the traditional stove tandoor.
 
Marina: We have three main ingredients to make the traditional foods: bread, potato, and meat. Russians have a lot of pickles and soups. One of the famous soups in Russia and Poland, borsch, is like a kimchi soup in Korea. Sometimes, we put some sour cream on it, and eat it with a semicircular pie called piroschkis, filled with beef and onion. Russians love to eat soups with pies even at breakfast in order to get a lot of energy. We have another food which is similar to Korean dumpling, pelmeni. You won’t survive in Russia especially in winter without these kinds of nutritious foods.
                                                                                                                                         
MJ: In Germany, we have sauerkraut which is similar to Korean kimchi like the case of Russia. You can eat it with potatoes which are the main food for Germans. Also, there is a German style pork cutlet called schnitzel, the best food ever. Actually, we have a well-developed sauce culture, especially on most of the meat dishes like Schnitzel. However, in Bavaria, southern Germany, people enjoy schweinshaxe which is similar to Korean jokbal with beer. A funny thing about the food culture is that postwar generations like my grandmother eat wild animals such as rabbit meat every Sunday.
 
Yumico: Japanese traditional foods are similar to those of Korea such as rice and miso-soup. Japanese pickles made of plumbs called umeboshi, fermented beans called natto, and a skewered chicken called Yakitori are famous traditional foods. People usually think that sushi, tenpura, and soba are only famous nowadays, but they are transmitted from generation to generation. 
 
Nathan: When I was young, I lived in Florida. They eat a lot of sea foods, because it is also a peninsula like Korea. Also, I ate a lot of spicy Mexican foods, similar to those of Korea, in Texas, and especially in my city, Houston. It’s because more than 50% of the city’s population is Mexican.
 
Michaela: In Switzerland, we eat a lot of cheese such as fondue, and raclette which are from melted cheese. Usually, Swiss people like to eat pasta or potato. On New Year’s Day, we eat a lot of sausages, and for Christmas, we have nice meats, Fillet.
 
Do you have any special dish for holidays such as Christmas or New Year’s Day?
 
   
Nathan: We eat turkeys and Indian corn, so called maize on Thanksgiving by tradition which came from the Indians and Pilgrims who immigrated to America. For Christmas, we eat either a duck or turkey with cranberry sauce. Usually we eat big meals on Thanksgiving and Christmas.
 
Juel: On New Year’s Day, we eat rice and fish, especially hilsha similar to a saury in Korea. Also, the Bangladesh enjoy matha which looks like a soup. People usually put it on the shoulder and repeat its name in the streets. Traditional molasses made of dates, a tropical persimmon, is also famous.
 
Marina: Russians eat different salads mainly using black and red caviar and salmons on the biggest holiday, New Year’s Day. It’s because we have Christmas on December 25, New Year’s Day on 31, and Orthodox Christmas on January 7. There are a lot of people who drink Vodka, but not every day. Although I’ve been living in the north side of Russia near Siberia where the average temperature is -35°C, people in my hometown don’t drink it a lot. The cultural meaning of Vodka in Russia is similar to that of wine in France.
                                                                         
Recently, Asian foods are spotlighted because of its nutritional facts. Are there any recent food trends in your countries?
 
Nathan: we have trends all the time, because there are a lot of fat people in America. Houston, Where I lived, is actually the fattest city in Texas. A while ago, there was a carbohydrate diet. People said that eating no carbohydrate is going to make them skinnier. Recently, Americans especially love Korean food which is healthier than any other Asian food since it has more vegetables. Lastly, we had Oprah Winfrey Diet, but it went out of fashion since she got fat again.
 
MJ: According to the EU, Germany is the fattest country among the EU member states. In Germany, people can put themselves on a diet by Weight Watcher so that they can have the specific plans like Switzerland. On the other hand, everything comes to low-fat nowadays. Even there are the products that are used to be originally high-fat, which disappeared in the blue low-fat tags.
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Yonseians just all went through the international cuisine from the past to the future. Surprisingly, even between Bangladesh and Germany, Russia and Korea they have a similar food culture. Although our table could be filled with the bug dishes in the remote future, Yonseians can feel the subtle charm of different tastes and cultural backgrounds by the power of food.
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