How different cultures eat

Warm vs. cold food

North-western Germany, somewhere in the middle of the previous decade: “Mom, dad, this is Aggelos¹. He comes from Greece and he cooks all day long.”

That is how my German flatmate, we ‘ll call him Martin,  decided to introduced me to his parents. They lived 45' away and this was the first of many weekends they would visit us. He didn't say it to tease me, he actually believed it. In his eyes, I was cooking all the time. Quite an irony coming from someone who only had a few beers and a frozen pizza in his fridge, at best. But exactly because of that, any kind of cooking seemed excessive and elaborate.

After his parents left, we got to talk and made fun of the whole incident. His rationale was this:

I only need to have warm food once a day. I go to the university every day and I eat warm food at the canteen, so for dinner I can have some cereal, yoghurt or a slice of bread with cheese. Frozen pizza is saved for special occasions.

This is how he was brought up when he was a kid and naturally, this is what he considered normal.

Photo by Kilian Seiler on Unsplash

I, on the other hand, would cook whenever I needed to eat. Not everyday of course; if you cook just for yourself, you almost never cook only one portion². But as a rule of thumb, I would either cook or warm up the previous day's food. Naturally, my perspective was also a result of how I was raised. If there was no time, my parents would prepare something quick, like a sandwich; but that was because the lack of time forced them to choose the most practical option. The rest of the times they would cook something.

By cooking, I don't necessarily mean something elaborate; it could be an omelette or chicken with rice. It could be simple and quick, but it would still involve some cooking. This tiny bit of extra effort and the fact that it was warm, was what made the difference.

Our approaches were the exact opposite. Our cultural gap was starring us in the eyes. And at the very bottom of that canyon-sized gap, a phrase was echoing:

Still echoes in my head.

Image by Eak K. from Pixabay

Martin went on to explain that, growing up, he would eat warm food once a day and not by mistake. That was the meal plan. If he would eat warm food at school, he would then have cold dinner. And vice-versa.

From my side, I tried to explain that cold food is more of a snack, rather than a meal: you eat it because you do not have the option to eat proper food. Sure, you will not starve to death because you have no time to cook. But time and maybe boredom, are the reasons you do not choose to eat warm food. It is not that you already filled your daily warm-meal quota by eating at the university canteen.

Photo by Leonardo Cirimbelli on Unsplash

In the army³ during some part of the training, we had a crazy sergeant, a true wacko. He would behave as if war was imminent. He also knew everything about combat techniques and whatnot. As one of the other guys had pointed out, "if I were to go to war, that is the guy I would want to have with me".

As I was saying, a true wacko.

During winter, we had a camping exercise. The exercise was taking place in the mountain and there was quite some snow. Beautiful white scenery, at below freezing temperatures⁴. When it was time for dinner, the sergeant would go around urging every single soldier to eat, while food was still warm.

"Warm food is also good for morale", he would say⁵.

And despite all his craziness, that is something we agreed upon.

Back to our story with Martin, what I was trying to tell him, is the same thing our crazy sergeant told us. Eating food fills your stomach. Eating warm food, also feeds your soul. And if you don't eat warm food, it is because of necessity, not because you choose to. But then you are not eating, you are snacking. You can snack a ton of food by the way, more than what you would consume when you sit at the dinner table. But that doesn't change the fact that, in my Greek mind, you are still snacking :).

Sincerely,

- The Naive Ignorant

1. This is not really my name, I just like it.

2. You cook 4 portions, eat 2.5 and then you ‘re left with 1.5 portion for the next meal. If you thought girl-math was confusing, how about single-guy-living-alone math?

3. Military service is mandatory for men in Greece. At the moment of writing, it lasts 12 months. Recently the government announced plans to allow women to enlist voluntarily.

4. Contrary to common belief, Greece is not always warm. Being covered by mountains, there are regions that will get very cold during winter. Specifically in the region we were camping, temperature will easily reach -15 degrees Celsius (5 F) during winter .

5. Contrary to snacks, I would add now.