Food unites as well as distinguishes eaters because what and how one eats forms much of one’s emotional tie to a group identity, be it a nation or an ethnicity. The famous twentieth-century Chinese poet and scholar Lin Yutang remarks, “Our love for fatherland is largely a matter of recollection of the keen sensual pleasure of our childhood. The loyalty to Uncle Sam is the loyalty to American doughnuts, and the loyalty to the Vaterland is the loyalty to Pfannkuchen and Stollen.” Such keen connection between food and national or ethnic identification clearly indicates the truth that cuisine and table narrative occupy a significant place in the training grounds of a community and its civilization, and thus, eating, cooking, and talking about one’s cuisine are vital to _______________________________. In other words, the destiny of a community depends on how well it nourishes its members.
* nourish: 기르다