Food is Life and Work.

Think of a slice of bread each time you feel hungry. Imagine a basket of grains, yams, potatoes, cassava, vegetables, and fruits. Maybe it's a little mouth-watering to feel the aroma of tasty cake, spicy chicken, or rice with scrambled eggs.

It is natural for every human being to feel the taste of a favorite dish. Over the ages, people have developed different tastes for food, especially spicy food. 

People have mastered the art of preparing and cooking tasty food. Sugar and salt are the main appetizers that most of the dishes can't be served or cooked without.

Food plays different roles in life.

Food comes in different varieties depending on the geographical region, climatic condition, culture, and availability. 

• Food is a part of the culture

Food is the language of culture. It is an identity to most of the communities. From the nomadic societies to the modern city communities, people identify themselves with their original content of dishes. Ugali in East African societies. 

Corn to indigenous communities of South America. Rice to eastern Asia and wheat bread to the Europeans. Fufu to the West African societies, Dates in Middle Eastern communities, etc. Not forgetting food recipes vary from culture to culture.

• Food is the source of wisdom.

Food teaches us the most powerful responsibility in life. Being wise is growing your food. Eating what you grow firsthand gives a sense of life and satisfying meaning to what work means. 

As every Earth dweller struggles to find something to eat, we get the lesson that hunger is not limited to humans only but food searching and growing is the full-time job of every living thing. Every time we think of the future of food, we think of how are we going to stop going hungry.

The ants, for example, gather grains for food during the summer season so they can rest during the winter season when it's cold and there is no food. The plants and trees shade their leaves in the autumn foliage fall season and regrow leaves and flowers for fruits in the spring season. 

Animals and birds who rely on grasses, flowers, and fruits as their source of food become happy and healthy when plants are healthy and attractive.

Food is not a seasonal need but it's a full-time need. Growing and keeping your food safe is the true wisdom of life. Take the right amount of what you can be satisfied with, give the rest to the needy, or keep it safe for future use. 

Teach your children the true value of labor, and let them work the way of nature to improve themselves and their families.

• Food is the only thing that nourishes our bodies with energy, minerals, and vitamins to carry on with our daily routines.

We feel like we lack the energy of the day as we skip or miss breakfast. We become malnourished when we don't eat a proper diet and so on. We don't need food for life but for healthy nourishment.

• Food is the only basic thing in life that keeps us busy doing whatever we have to do to get it each day.

We have nothing to work for unless we value our work and the money we make with the food we can produce. Each time we go to work, I think of what could go wrong if there would be no more food and the need for food constantly pushes our physical bodies to demand it for each breath we take.

• Food is the source of happiness.

Each one of us would like to eat what is appealing to taste, feeling, and need. We need good recipes for good and tasty food. Also, we enjoy sharing the moments of eating such as dinner, breakfast, supper, etc with friends. 

Good food makes us a happy company of friends, family, or community. During special occasions such as weddings, birthdays, and seasonal holidays special dishes are cooked to signify happiness and a sense of unity as a family, friends, and a community.

• Food is a symbol of kindness and hospitality.

In most communities, it's normal to be welcomed with a special dish. The specific dish for a specific person is cooked to show kindness, gratitude, and a sense of pride to the family or community. 

For example in many tribal communities in Africa, it's normal to slaughter a cow, a goat a sheep, or a rooster for the guest. This is a sign of hospitality, custom, and pride.

We grow crops and keep animals on our farms just to meet this most precious thing of each day. Each day we need to eat. To be able to fulfill this need, we have to do the most sacred rituals of tending our food crops and animals. 

Caring for our food crops and cattle is a service to ourselves, our families, and our communities. It's an act of worship to some. It's a sense of responsibility to life and it's nature.

Food is realistic in the sense that it communicates the need and satisfying beauty of nature and life directly to the body and mind. Simple healthy food is clear to the mind and soul wellbeing. 

The Lifestyle of growing and keeping your food safe for family and community use is the most important thing. Growing enough food and saving food for everyone is a sustainable service to humanity.

References 

Flanagan, H., Frizzell, L. B., Kassi, N., Nuvayestewa, L., Sr, Warne, B. S., & Kurzer, M. S. (2021). Elder Voices: Wisdom about Indigenous Peoples' Food Systems from the Holders of Knowledge. Current developments in nutrition, 5(Suppl 4), 5–12. https://doi.org/10.1093/cdn/nzaa146

Corlett, Richard T., 'The ecology of animals: foods and feeding', The Ecology of Tropical East Asia, 2nd edn (Oxford, 2014; online edn, Oxford Academic, 20 Nov. 2014), https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199681341.003.0005, accessed 25 June 2024.

Nemeth, Nikolett, Ildiko Rudnak, Prespa Ymeri, and Csaba Fogarassy. 2019. "The Role of Cultural Factors in Sustainable Food Consumption—An Investigation of the Consumption Habits among International Students in Hungary" Sustainability 11, no. 11: 3052. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11113052