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Ioli Georgakopoulou
Professor Cuddy
English 119
11\5\19

Food

Based on the Oxford English Dictionary, ​food​ is any nutritious substance that people

or animals eat or drink in order to maintain life, growth, nourishment, and provisions. Food is

an essential ingredient in human life. The nutritious substance is ingested by an organism and

taken in by its cells in an effort to produce energy, maintain life, and stimulate growth. The

word food is inherited from German language origins (​"food, n." ​OED Online​, Oxford University

Press)​. From culture to culture, the meaning and value of food varies. Historically, people

secured food through hunting and gathering and agriculture. Today, most of the energy

consumed by the world population is supplied by the food industry.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, from 1230 to 1450 the word food was

originally spelled as “fode”. Cursor Mundi explains this with an example “ I was hungry, yee

gaf me “fode(​"food, n." ​OED Online​, Oxford University Press​”). “Fode” afterwards transitioned

into “fude”, when J.B Barbour Bruce said “Syndri corny’s that thai bair Woxy rype to win

manny fude”. In 1680 “fode” finally transitioned into “food”(​"food, n." ​OED Online​, Oxford

University Press)​.

Food is extremely important to people since we cannot survive without it. However,

the degree of importance varies among people. Some people rely on food production as a

means of income and a way to provide for their families outside of the kitchen. For example,

there are some people that work as food stylists, which are culinary professionals who cook
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in a stylistically interesting manner, or they are engaged in the aesthetic preparation or

arrangement of food for photographs (Los Angeles Times​ ). Some problems a food stylist can

face occur when he or she must prepare as many as fifty items for an illustration that will

only contain ten (​"food, n." ​OED Online​, Oxford University Press​). Another vocation that includes

food is a food taster - a person that is employed to sample food that is served to someone else,

usually of fame or importance, in order to confirm that the food is safe to eat. Food scientists

also study the chemical and physical properties of foods and how they react during

processing, storage, or preparation.

I believe that food represents passion to many people. Some people not only enjoy

when eating, but also want to help those who may not have the same amount or access to

food. Usually, those people are lucky enough that they are able to afford food, which is

considered a luxury in some parts of the world. In certain countries with low economic status,

food is scarce and is not available to everyone in the community, so the people appreciate

every meal they receive. There are also communities where the poor and homeless struggle to

receive food everyday because the cost of living does not allow those of low economic

standing to afford adequate meals. In many countries, there are numerous families that are at

the point of starvation. In order to combat the lack of food, entire countries might receive

food aid.

In my opinion, the type of food people eat and like is tightly associated with the

culture they are from. I am from Greece and our food is very different than the food here. In

Greece, the cuisine revolves around Medditeranian food and most of the food we eat is fresh

and home-made. Thus, before moving to the United States I was not used to eating a lot of

fast food. The thing I miss most is my grandma’s cooking. She tends to cook traditional
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Greek dishes like “pastitsio” - a dish similar to the popular Italian dish lasagna. This dish is

my favourite one and one of the most well known dishes in Greece. On the other hand, the

food at my university is different than the food I’m used to eating at home. This made it

difficult for me to get used to eating American food. For this reason, I have made efforts to

sometimes go out and get traditional Greek food. However, even though there are a lot of

places that claim to sell “Greek food”, I have not yet been able to find someplace that served

food as good as in Greece that would make me feel like I was back home.

In conclusion, even though food is necessary for survival, it has its own meaning and

value for each and every person. Some people work in the food industry and make money

from it. For some people food is a challenge to obtain, while for others it has become an

enemy due to the bad eating habits that create many physical problems. Furthermore, since

food is such a big part of every culture, it was a challenge for me to adapt to my new life in

the United States. In the past few months since I moved here I had to make adjustments to my

diet which in turn had an impact on my lifestyle.

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Reference

"food, n." OED Online. Oxford University Press, September 2019. Web. 24 September 2019.

"food, n." OED Online, Oxford University Press, September 2019,

www.oed.com/view/Entry/72632. Accessed 24 September 2019.

"food, n.". OED Online. September 2019. Oxford University Press.

https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/72632?rskey=HuWRiV&result=1&isAdvanced=false

(accessed September 24, 2019).