The Taste of Time Growing up in a traditional Belarusian family I experienced a wide variety of foods, although I didn't think that way at the time. You ate what your mother or grandmother prepared for the family, without questions, without ifs or buts. Every day you would have a hearty breakfast of buckwheat, oatmeal, eggs or cottage cheese with a cup of hot herbal tea. Lunch would always be a bowl of hot homemade soup, such as traditional borscht, chicken soup, rice soup and so on. Dinner would be another homemade dish, which could range from chicken cutlets to meatballs, sausages, potatoes, fish and other things whose English names I don't know. Each family ate the same meals in rotation from week to week. You could always pick up the delicious aromas of all the fresh ingredients used, and that was the norm. Women of all ages knew how to cook; the girls had mandatory cooking lessons at school while the mothers created their own recipes. Do you want to go to a restaurant or bar just to eat? Don't be ridiculous. Why on earth would you do that when there's a lot of food in the kitchen? Are you hungry? Then go home and eat some soup! Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayEvery woman had her own culinary secrets. Spending hours in the kitchen was always expected. Most holidays and holidays were celebrated at home with a huge variety of delicious appetizers prepared and beautifully decorated for guests. How could it ever be otherwise? Apparently it's possible, and I discovered it once I moved to the US. I was disgusted when I went to kindergarten and had to eat school food. What do you mean they don't prepare fresh homemade dishes? I had no idea what pizza was; my first bite of the frozen slice served in the canteen didn't give me the best impression. I didn't know how to approach mozzarella sticks when I first saw them, and I definitely had no idea what a peanut butter and jelly sandwich was. Foods that were mundane to most of my peers were a whole new world to me that I had yet to explore. My slow assimilation to American nutrition first manifested itself when I fell in love with McDonald's. Then came pizza, chips, Nutella and all the other unhealthy but delicious foods. Although my mother continued to prepare food at home, the moment I tasted junk food was a point of no return: the desire for more was inevitable. Any day I would choose a Happy Meal over my mother's meals. Luckily, I had limited access to unhealthy foods and mostly ate at home, which I think is why my arteries aren't too clogged anymore. In 6th grade, I tried cup noodles for the first time, in 7th grade Hot Pockets, and in 8th grade cheese fries. However, I grew up knowing that those foods were harmful to my health. Junk food was a treat that I could only consume occasionally, but never as part of my daily diet. As time went on, I began to learn more about different types of foods and the cultures they came from. I tried Japanese, Chinese, Italian, Turkish, Mexican, Indian, Ukrainian, Polish and Thai cuisine. Suddenly, going out to eat with my friends once a week became a tradition. The question “What food do you want?” was asked very often. Sushi, noodles, Pad Thai, pasta, chicken teriyaki and guacamole were no longer mysterious to me. Studying a menu from a particular region of the world is the best way to learn about it, and I have.