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**Amanda Ramsey**

 It’s funny that food, a basic necessity of life has evolved into so much more than that. Personally, I love food! Eating is something that I don’t think twice about, food has always been at my fingertips and ready for me whenever I want to have some. I consume food for a few reasons—of course the main reason being that I am hungry, another reason (that I am sort of ashamed to admit) is because I am bored. Food is something that brings people together. You eat different food for different occasions with different people.  My earliest memories of food revolve around me “eating with my eyes”. In my younger days if something didn’t look good to me, there was no way I was even going to think about eating it! I specifically remember being this way about my Vovo’s traditional Portuguese cooking. While the rest of my family was feasting on dishes that I cannot pronounce the names of to this day, I’d always sit beside them with my bowl of pasta or a few slices of pizza. It didn’t matter what my family and I were eating (though they all wished I was more adventurous), because we were together, and that’s what counted.  As I grew up I realized that my family was sort of unconventional. Typically, the mother of the house does most, if not all of the cooking. But, that’s not how it was growing up in my house. My dad has always done the majority of the cooking. Though I can’t remember much about it, my family owned a pizza shop called “Paul’s Market and Deli” (named after my father). Even after the restaurant closed, his love for cooking stayed in my home. I could always count on coming home from school and being greeted by all different aromas that made my mouth water. My dad was always preparing a meal for him, my mother and me to share around the dinner table along with stories of our days. I’d rush over to help him, even if I was just setting the table, or stirring the sauce while he was cutting vegetables, I was excited to do it. As I’ve grown older, my eagerness to cook has definitely declined. Regardless how much that changes, I know that how food brings my family and I together will never change. It’s nice to know that regardless how busy my family members and I are; we can always catch up and eat a nice meal together.  Along with my eagerness to cook, as I’m growing up, my pickiness is slowly slipping away. In addition to food being a way for my family and I to connect, it’s a way for my friends and I to connect as well. Eating out of boredom is absolutely something my friends and I are guilty of. Whenever we want to hang out but can’t think of something to do we automatically resort to taking a quick trip to Chipotle or Panera or baking brownies in one of our kitchens. It may not be the healthiest way to connect, but it’s what we know and love.

When I think of food in America, I think of so many different types! I think of food from different cultures that Americans have adapted as their own, I think of fast foods and foods that aren't so great for you. I think of the craziest mixtures you could imagine in one. Though I'm aware that people in America are struggling for food, that's not what I think of--I think of greed.