Role+of+Food+Statement

Food is the universal link for people throughout the world. Not only does it fill our stomachs when we're hungry but it brings people together and through food, amazing memories can come out of it. Can you imagine Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and etc without food? I certainly can't. During holidays and family gatherings, food is usually the focal point. My grandmother and relatives spend hours and hours preparing food for Thankgiving, Christmas, New Years, and etc. Even if it is the middle of July, my mind would wander back to the giant turkey sitting on the table at Thanksgiving dinner, or the juicy ham during Christmas dinner. Even as I'm sitting in class, I think about all the upcoming holidays and the foods that come along with it. Food not only brings family and friends closer together but even mere strangers. Food is the one thing that people across the nation have in common. Starting off as early as the time before Thanksgiving was even named a holiday, food brought strangers together. It was food that brought the Pilgrims and Native Americans together. The common joy food brought out in the opposing strangers caused them to forget about their differences and thus unifying complete strangers (or enemies for that matter) into a whole, a family.  It doesn't matter if the food was good or bad for it to leave a lasting impression on you. As you can see in the __The Queen of Mold__ by Ruth Reichl, her mother would serve guests "moldy" food where she would have to be the "guardian" and protect her guests from her mother's " cat toes and rotted barley" tasting food. Although food brings her the memories of her mother's "unusual dishes" they aren't bad memories because they brought her family closer together. The memories that come along with food causes a rush of emotions both good and bad. We eat because we need to survive and in the words of Edna O' Brien in __Ghosts of Taste __ " food was pleasure, food was reward, and food was substitute for something other, possibly love," showing that food can be a substitute for emotions. When a person is sad or mad they usually turn to food because it is comforting. Food will be the one thing that will always be there and makes people feel better (or so they think). People eat when they are sad/mad because food brings back fond memories that soothe them. This is why the obesity rate is so high, according to __The Rich Get Thinner, the Poor Get Fatter __  by Warwick Sabin, "by 1998, no state had a prevalence of obesity less than ten percent." American's today don't properly take food as it's meant to be taken, a joy in life. Food should be a positive thing that fills you up when you're hungry, food should be a positive thing that brings you closer to family & friends, and food should be a positive thing that brings back great memories.
 * What is the role of food in our society and should it be that? **