We are, therefore, we eat.

When something helps connect us, it is a bridge. When something serves to separate us, it is a river.  Sometimes, there are things that can both be bridges and rivers. A perfect example of this is food.

We're both well-traveled people and enjoy eating the local cuisine. However, there are things that I've eaten that he hasn't (and may never eat). There are things that he has eaten that I have not (but I would, given the choice). I grew up in a country that was considered third world, or to be more politically correct, an emerging economy. There were a lot of vegetarian dishes, not due to animal rights awareness but because they were more plentiful and cheaper. There was also a lot of seafood. Meat was definitely still available, and every part of the animal was utilized. It reminds me of how Europe must have been in the previous century. No part of any animal slaughtered for food, from blood to bone marrow, was ever wasted. But it also meant that meat was mixed with other ingredients to extend their amount. There was a great variety of healthy dishes. Asians have long been known for their longevity and health-consciousness. Stir-fry vegetables, rice and chicken stew, noodles galore, dim sum, meat-filled buns... It makes me hungry just to think of the many dishes I've enjoyed growing up.

My husband always says he's lucky that I'm a good cook. I tend to make dishes up or cook them from memory. I also combine leftovers with fresh ingredients to make up a new dish. My father was the better cook between my parents and I enjoyed watching him cook every now and then while I was growing up. Most of the everyday cooking was accomplished by the maids but when my father cooked, we all enjoyed the end result. My husband likes to cook as well, and he is more exact when it comes to measuring his ingredients. I tend to add a handful of this, a pinch of that, and he keeps telling me I should write down my experiments so I can reproduce them later on. But if I tend to pull together a dish from what we readily have in the house, then what's the point?

In my family, food is love. You always feed the ones you love in a way that completely satisfies the spirit as well as the body.