By Susanna White
Food creates zeal, delight, and passion within most of us. There’s the before, the during, and not forgetting the after dinner speaker, that all make up to a social gathering around the dining tables of the world. Food brings us together like nothing else. We all view it with a certain degree of indulgence. This is why, each culture, people and nation, has such a wide variety of food and cuisine to pander to all kinds of tastes.
The greatest thing about Asian food, unlike food from the American or European continent, lies in its variety. The many countries of Asia, no matter how near to each other they might be, offer endless diversities of food, all different from each other. You would probably find more tastes and variety on an early morning Bangkok street stall than you would say in a trendy Boston bed and breakfast .
Take Indian food as a variety of Asian food for instance. The land has so many varieties of Cuisine to try out that it would take even an extraordinary gourmand several lifetimes to taste and relish it all. Northern India has its own delectable examples of Asian food to offer, while Southern India offers even more. The regions of North Eastern India abound with examples of truly Asian food, as they offer an amalgam of Burmese, Bangladeshi and Bhutanese food. Western India too has carved a name for itself in the annals of Asian food and Asian food products world wide
Going a little further into Asia, Singapore can be touted as a hub (as it indeed is!) of authentic Asian food. The wide variety of endless cuisines from various Asian regions congregates in Singapore, making it a genuine hub of all kinds of Asian food. There is authentic Thai food, Chinese food, Nonya food (touted as the cooking world’s last great secret) and even Peranakan food that is unique to the straits. It’s all a far cry from the take away Chinese food that most westerners consider Asian food wouldn’t you say!
Eating is such a way of life for many Asians, that it’s is not regimented into strict meal times the same way as it is the West. There’s no such thing as, just lunch , or dinner time, as the peoples of Asia tend to do the healthy thing which is eat when hungry, when given the opportunity, as opposed to when the clock dictates.
In the Far East, the best example of Asian food would be Japanese and increasingly, Korean cuisine. As far as Asian food goes as a genre, Japanese and Korean cuisine has been re-defining the entire genre. For instance, Asian food is supposed to be predominantly rice oriented. But a vast majority of Japanese, Korean and Chinese dishes use another form of rice, as in noodles in their dishes. Again, Asian food is supposed to be overcooked. What would you say about Sushi then, which is probably the best known Asian food that is consumed raw ? In fact the Japanese probably serve up some of the most healthy dinners and food dishes on the planet, as their life expectancy far exceeds that of us in the western hemisphere.
In fact, the elements that go into creating Asian food as a genre, don’t lend themselves to a rigid generic classification. As mentioned earlier, each country in the region has its own, unique cuisine, vastly different even from the cuisine of surrounding regions. Asian food is therefore a classification of convenience, based on the fact that these disparate cuisines are otherwise unclassifiable. Be that as it may, I have always been and will continue to remain a strong supporter (and consumer) of delicious, delectable Asian foods, unlike some of my friends who’s only ambition to sample the culinary delights of Asia is perhaps to eat their Sunday roast off the fine China dinnerware.
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Speaking for myself, I consider life itself a boundless opportunity to savor food and cuisine of various regions. While I’m no gourmand, I do enjoy a spirit of adventure when it comes to food from around the world, and Asian food, in all its hues and tastes, is a personal favorite. 
