The True Meaning of Food

Ana Lucia Galarza, (Lucy for short) is a very open and friendly person. She grew up in Spain, but at a young age moved back to Ecuador where her parents grew up. After some years, she moved to El Salvador, and finally at the age of 8 moved to Connecticut. This fall she transferred to the City College of New York.

Because she had such a diverse background, much of the food she eats stems from her parents’ experiences. Her father grew up in the warmer eastern part of Ecuador, which was in the Amazon forest. His mother raised almost every animal imaginable; pigs, ducks, chickens, and horses. For their food they would grow or raise everything. Ecuador is also known for growing plantains and bananas. Lucy’s father knew exactly where all of the food was coming from, and Lucy described how “in their house they would have many animals; pigs, ducks, chickens, horses…just everything. So what they would eat would be fresh, extremely fresh and healthy, because you would just go and kill a chicken from your backyard and then cook it.”

Ecuadoreans eat healthily since they grow most of their food. In fact, in Lucy’s grandmother’s house, there is a room filled with guinea pigs, not for pets, but for food. Her grandmother has hay on the floor so the guinea pigs will be comfortable, and even feeds them food she cooks for herself, so the guinea pigs will taste better. After all, guinea pigs are the national dish of Ecuador.

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When Lucy’s family came over to America, they would eat out only about two or three times a month. Lucy could actually count the times that she ate at McDonald’s on her fingers. McDonald’s was not needed when her mother, being the main cook, would vary the meal every night with foods like tilapia with coconut cream, chicken stew, and beef stew. Nevertheless, there were some new customs adapted from America, especially for Thanksgiving, which included a turkey, cornbread, squash, and sweet potatoes.

Conversely, in America, there was a gap between where food came from, especially in Manhattan. Food is often eaten on the go, as people are normally busy. However, for Lucy, eating was an important time for her. She would often get up earlier in the mornings, just to make sure she could eat a big breakfast. For her family, meals are a moment to be together, sharing time and space, an important value that was fostered by her parents’ upbringing along with hers.

There was great difference between snacks here and in Ecuador. As a kid in Ecuador, Lucy could recall the many different snacks. “So I moved to Ecuador, and over there it is a tropical place, so there’s a lot of mangos. We even had a mango tree at our school. Also, in the streets there were vendors and they would have green mangos, which they would cut, slice, and then squeeze lemon over with salt. So these were very sour tastes, but they would eat it as a snack.”

When she came to the United States, she saw that no one was eating those things. Having an adventurous nature, though, she switched from eating mangos and papooses to eating apples with peanut butter.

Green Mango Vendor

There is a big contrast between the time taken to eat, prepare, and savor the food put on one’s plate. The mixture of food and methods of eating truly differs in Ecuador compared to America. Lucy has found that even though she is immersed in this culture, she could not lose her root value of considering her food to be something special. For certain foods, Lucy explains how “you eat because it connects you to memories. The varying tastes remind you of that place, and the friends you were eating it with.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGyVAfRiQT4

She uses the word “sacred” to describe her meals. Most of this culture stems from her family eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner together in El Salvador and Ecuador. Nevertheless, it is beautiful that they are still involved with their food in more of an intimate way, leading to being more personally involved in each others’ lives.

Here are some foods Lucy especially enjoys:

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