Cuisine, Culture and the shared Human Experience

How many people from different cultures have you had chance to get to know?

This is one of the privileges for me in coming alongside people from different countries as part of my work and in the friendships I have made along the way in life – it is an enriching experience to get to know people from other parts of the world.

It is also a nice perk when people share food from their own country's cuisine: this photo is a selection of treats from Turkey which were shared with me recently, although equally I could make you salivate with photos of meals and all kinds of food from many other countries of the world.

It has always fascinated me that similar ingredients can be prepared in different ways as part of the cultures of different countries – and it speaks to me of the beauty of the diversity in our world. Just as flowers in a garden are beautiful because of their different colours, so also humanity is beautiful not just because of the colours of our different skin, hair and eyes, but because of the many different faces of culture and customs which we see around the world, including the diversity we encounter in flavours of food.

There are certain countries' foods that I remember eating for the first time because they stood out for me as an adult as distinct in their own way, for example when I was invited to eat Afghani food by refugees who were living in London and wanted to share what they had, and a part of their culture they were proud of. Sometimes food becomes intertwined with the culture of a country – and this has certainly been my own experience: for example, of all the ethnicities in the world it is Japanese who I have worked with the most in my life.

Japan prides itself on displaying aspects of its culture through its cuisine. As an island nation like the UK, it has traditional dishes which are based on the kinds of food which have always been available there, for example rice dishes in Japan whereas we have developed various ways of cooking potatoes in the UK. I am just as much of a fan of British fish and chips as the next person, but there is something more elegant about the Japanese way of presenting 'fish and rice', such as sushi, or alternatively fish which has been grilled, fried, or steamed, and served on a bed of rice with colourful accompaniments: it may not be obvious at first but Japanese cuisine is built on the principles of balance, seasonality, and respect for ingredients - but once you have noticed this, you will see the same pattern in all of Japanese cuisine.

A Japanese meal tends to come with presentation and style, including various small dishes which complement each other – and when vegetables are served as tempura, they are presented in a light batter which contrasts with the filling nature of the batter in British fish and chips, which is more derived from the culture which invented bread-and-butter pudding in order to make people feel full. This reflects the delicate nature of ways that beauty has been historically presented in Japanese culture.

French food also takes pride in the presentation, and in a sense of elegant style – although in restaurants this beauty sometimes comes in the shape of very small portions. Meanwhile, every cuisine carries a background of its own history and geography, and when we sit at a table with international friends and international cuisine it could be said that we are not just just sharing dishes, but that we are sharing the cultural experiences that brought those dishes into being.

Culture is not all about food, of course. Building connections from people from another culture might mean understanding their values and priorities, and will involve gaining a new way to see the world. It is a beautiful gift for me to have friends from Japan and France, which are countries I have worked in and learnt the language, as well as English-language friends from other countries around the globe, including the USA but also Uganda, Turkey, India, and many European countries. Through these friendships we can see that there are different ways of doing things in different cultures – but even though at times it might feel as if there is a big gap between some of the cultures of the world, sometimes it can also feel as if there is no gap between us at all, in friendship and the things that matter.

Spending time with friends also does involve eating together, as part of the sharing of life. Food itself is one of the basic necessities we all have - and no matter what culture someone is from, all of humanity has a shared experience in which we have the same needs.

We all need to feel loved, and we all need to feel understood. We all feel upset when someone lets us down, and we all know the feeling of being happy or sad. Despite the apparent differences in culture around the world, we are all living a shared experience based on the same ingredients of life: feeding our physical body and the emotions of our soul.

No matter where you are from in the world, a smile means a smile. You can communicate this to someone any time, anywhere, even if you don't speak the same language. A laugh means a laugh, in the whole of our shared human existence, and a tear means a tear.

As well as this, we all know that we have done things that have made the world a better place, but we all know as well that sometimes we have done things to extend hurt for others in the world somehow, whether intentionally or even when we didn't mean to. And we all know the joys and regrets of being human in these ways, which transcend any national or cultural boundaries.

Certainly, there are differences in culture around the world, and culture is a beautiful example of diversity because it is the way group norms are expressed – it is a learned expression of identity which helps us to see the people around us as being like ourselves. But this does not need to prevent us from making friends with anyone we may meet who is from a different culture: everyone understands the power of friendship, and having international friends helps us to see people of every nationality as being like ourselves.

Through the shared nature of humanity we can find common ground with anyone else in the world.

Externally, we might base our identity on traditions from our own culture, including the foods we eat and grew up with – but have you noticed that people from all backgrounds can enjoy food of different cuisines as well as their own?

This is because on the inside we are all the same: physiologically or emotionally we are all the same in our humanity, within our visible diversity. In the same way, we can enjoy taking part in the expressions of other cultures and sharing in the building of relationships with those from another background, through the heart of friendship.

The deepest parts of our humanity live on the inside, and all people from every nationality are much more similar than you might first think.

About Dan's blogs:

I don't expect everyone to agree with everything I write - but hopefully my blogs do give readers something to think about.

Throughout my own life I have found that it is good to be challenged on the views I have held at different times, and the worldview that I now hold: we cannot hold to strong and effective values if these do not have solid foundations. So one part of the reason for my blogs is to help people examine why they hold the values and views that they have. This is a part of my training as a Life Coach, which is to enable clients to see ways in which their lives align with their own values and ways in which they don't - not to try to persuade others to align themselves to the Life Coach's worldview.

After all, no one should want to make the world full of clones of themselves - that would remove all the beauty of the diversity which is the hallmark of our incredible mind-blowing and unfathomable universe.