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=**__Traditional Food of Countries Around the World__**=

Introduction I researched about the traditional food of some countries. Most countries have some traditional foods which are eaten on important days, for example, anniversaries, weddings, Christmas Day, and New Years Day. In some countries, the traditional food may be eaten everyday, and while in other countries, it is eaten only once whole the year. How is it cooked? What is the main seasoning? How is it prepared? The custom about the traditional food varies by country. In any case, all countries have their own lasting customs when eating their traditional food. First of all, I am going to tell you about my country’s traditional food. My country, Japan, has some traditional foods, for example, sushi, osechi, and sekihan among Japanese traditional foods. We eat them pretty often, especially sushi. It is general knowledge that sushi is the most famous Japanese traditional food. So I will explain about the most famous type of sushi, first. Nigiri sushi has a very characteristic shape, rice patty that is topped with any number of raw fish. Most Japanese people eat it on birthdays, on New Years Day, on Christmas Day, and even on funeral days. It is eaten with soy sauce and wasabi, which is Japanese horseradish. It is made by the artisans who have apprenticed to become a professional to grip and hand shape each piece of sushi. Most Japanese traditional foods are made by women, but sushi is made by men in Japan, because traditionally men go fishing. Thus, it thought that sushi which uses fresh fish is the food which should be made by men. When eating it, we are with our family and relatives generally. Second, I will tell you another traditional food, osechi. Osechi cuisine is eaten on the New Years Day only, because it is perhaps the most special one for us. Many individual dishes are included, like food is boiled and seasoned vegetables and meat or fish, steamed fish paste, herring roe, and salmon rolled kelp. We eat them with chopsticks early on New Years Day. This cuisine is also made by women. Next, I am going tell you about sekihan. It is a kind of rice mixed with small red beans, and the color is pink. The rice is boiled in a rice cooker with small beans, and red food coloring. We eat it on any lucky days. It tastes not so different from normal rice, but some people eat it with salt. Actually young people do not eat it so often. The custom to eat it is getting less popular these days. Other countries have stories about their traditional food like this, so I researched about it from 14 people who are from different countries. Next I will introduce the traditional food from these countries according to the results of my survey. Fourteen students from other countries responded to my survey. The students are my friends who are from Argentina, England, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, Singapore, Spain, and Sweden. They include high school students and college students, from 18 years old to 21 years old. __Table : Details about the traditional food of each country__ Asado Meat Grilled Summer Father/GF CD,ND,BD,Sunday W/family W/friends Fried stuff Sausage,bacon Fried or grilled Salt Mother Every morning W/family W/friends //Italy// Lasagna Pasta Lay dawn the pasta Main Easter& Xmas Mother/GM CD,Easter W/family W/friends W/n //Malaysia// Nasi lemak Rice,egg,anchovy Wrapped in leaves Food spice M/Restaurants CD,ND,BD,TD,etc W/family W/friends W/neighbor W/relatives //Mexico// Tacos Tortilla,salsa Coiled tortilla All year Everyone All year With all //New Zealand// Hangi Meat, potatoes Wrapped in foil sage,other spices The whole family any special occasions Making person //Norway// Sheep in cabbage Mutton,cabbage Wrap cabbage & wrap meat salt & pepper Mother/GM farikal season W/family W/friends //Russia// Pelmeni Dough,meat Meat wrap in dough sour cream GF/any shop Winter W/family W/friends //Singapore// Chicken rice Chicken,rice Boiled together soya sauce,chilli Restaurants CD,ND,BD,TD,etc W/family W/friends W/b.c. W/neighbor //Spain// Paella Rice,chicken Mixed all Rice Mother/GM Some Sundays W/family //Sweden// Meatballs Meat Prossesed meat All year F/M/GF,GM CD,any day W/family W/friends W/b.c. W/neighbor Question1: What kind of country are you from? Question2: What is the most famous traditional food of your country? Question3: Please tell me the main ingredients? Question4: How is this traditional food prepared? Question5: What is the main seasoning? Question6: Who cooks the traditional food? (Father, Mother, Grandfather, Grandmother, or other) Question7: When do you eat the traditional food? (On Christmas Day, on New Year’s Day, on birthdays, on Thanksgiving Day, or other) Question8: Who do you eat it with? (With your family, with your friends, with your business colleague, with your neighbor, or other) According this table, there are many traditional foods using some kind of meat. On the other hand, there are some traditional foods which use wheat flour, for example, pasta, tortilla, and dough. Therefore, I can find that in other countries people eat meat with something using wheat flour, like noodles, bread, or wrappers. In Argentina and England, meat is grilled or fried, so the way of eating is very simple and popular. In Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, and Russia, the traditional food is some kinds of meat that is prepared, wrapped, or coiled. Also, I can find that the seasoning is not so strong. It is seasoned with only pepper and salt, or food’s spice only in almost all the countries. The thing that I was most surprised about is the responses to Q6, Q7, and Q8. I will tell you about them, using the following three graphs.
 * Q1**
 * Q2**
 * Q3**
 * Q4**
 * Q5**
 * Q6**
 * Q7**
 * Q8**
 * //Argentina//**
 * Q5**
 * Q6**
 * Q7**
 * Q8**
 * //Argentina//**
 * Q8**
 * //Argentina//**
 * //Argentina//**
 * //Argentina//**
 * //Argentina//**
 * //England//**
 * //England//**
 * //England//**

__Graph1 : Who cooks it__

From this graph, three students answered that their father cooks the traditional food. Three students answered their grandfather cooks it, five student’s grandmother cooks it, and eight students answered that their mother cooks it. The thing that shows “other” is street vendors, restaurant cooks also cook the traditional food, or they can buy them in any shop. I can find that women usually cook them also in other countries.

__Graph2 : When it is eaten__

In this graph, the most popular day which it is eaten is Christmas Day (C.D.). Almost everybody answers they have the traditional food on Christmas Day. According to this result, it is found that Christmas Day is the most important day in other countries. The number of people that answers to they eat it on New Year’s Day (NY.D.), on birthdays (B.D.), or on Thanksgiving Day (TG.D.) are almost the same value. On the other hand, there are a lot of people who say that they eat the traditional food every morning, any day, any time as they please, in the answers to my survey. The answer “other” includes any special occasions, mostly in winter.

__Graph3 : Who it is eaten witｈ__

According to this graph, almost everybody answered that they eat the traditional food with their family, as expected. However, people who answered that they eat it with their friends were also many. This result reveals that the people who eat it with their friends are as many as people who eat it with their family. The people who answered they eat it with their business colleague are two. This is the smallest. Moreover, people who eat it with their neighbor are four. The choices indicated by “other” include the person who makes it, everyone who loves it, with their friends, with their family and friends.

According all the results, I found many differences from Japan. First, in other countries, more people eat meat compared to Japan. These days, more and more Japanese eat meat than in the past, but compared to other countries, we eat it less. Second, in other countries, men cook the traditional food more than compared to Japan. In Japan, men almost never cook any meals. It is because men and boys were forbidden to enter the kitchen traditionally, as I understand it. So it would be surprising to Japanese for men to cook the traditional food, by men. Second, most Japanese do not eat the traditional food on Christmas Day. On that day, some Japanese eat turkey, chicken, and cake on that day. However, adults drink wine or champagne like people from other countries. As one of the causes, New Year’s Day is six days after Christmas Day, as you know. On New Years Day, the most important day for us, we usually eat some representative traditional food. They have the most important value for us, so we eat them on that day. In most other countries in my survey, it is thought that Christmas Day is the most important day on the whole year, so many people prepare the most famous traditional food on that day. Finally, I could find that many people from in other countries eat the traditional food with their friends. In Japan, we usually eat it with our family. People in other counties have many more kinds of parties compared to Japan, so people who eat the traditional food with their friends or their neighbors are many, I think. However in Japan, we usually do not spend much time with our family, so we eat the traditional foods on some important days, especially New Year’s Day, with our family, naturally.
 * __Discussion__**

We eat some traditional foods without intention, in general. However, there are people who cook it for us. These people are almost always women in Japan, but in other countries, it is not only women. Also, I found that the most important day for people from other countries is Christmas Day. So almost all the students who answered my survey eat the traditional food on the day. On the most important day, Christmas Day, people in other countries eat the traditional food with their family or their friends mainly. Although the most important day is different according to each country, we eat it in on some important days for us, with our loved ones. These results show found that the traditional food of each country has the same meaning for all of us, as a connection with the people who cook it and the people who eat it.
 * __Conclusion__**

International Writing Exchange-IWE Round 51. (November 15, 2006) [|　　http://www.writeit.fi/sys/course/view.php?id=56] International Writing Exchange-IWE Round 52. (November 15, 2006) [|　　http://www.writeit.fi/sys/course/view.php?id=61] Survey Monkey, 1999-2006 Survey Monkey.com. (November 15, 2006) [|　　http://surveymonkey.com/MySurveys.asp?Rnd=0.3420526]
 * __Resources__**