4‧23 WORLD BOOK DAY CREATIVE COMPETITION 2023
Senior Secondary English Category
ENYA CAITRINA JESSE BEER
everything is connected by food
Food is a kind of element that is closely connected to us biologically, psychologically, spiritually and socially. Food can also connect us with our families and friends.
Biologically, we need food to provide energy for our body functions and physical activities so we can move, act and balance our homeostasis. From the book “Psychology and Health”, it is stated that homeostasis ensures that our cells are in a stable condition that is suitable for the survival and normal functions. For instance, the endocrine tissues in the pancreas produce two protein hormones: insulin and glucagon. They are both from the same tissue but act differently. We need a balanced diet to balance our body as we need different kinds of minerals and vitamins that don’t provide energy but we need them because they are related to our health. We can obtain them from food after digestion and they are transmitted by blood vessels to different organs. Apart from obtaining nutrition from food, the sensation of flavor is our crucial stimulation for food. Food sensation is actually a combination of taste and smell. The reason why we can taste is because of the million taste buds on our tongue. Taste is a sensory of food-derived chemicals that stimulate receptor cells within taste buds and will turn to send messages to our brain. In addition, the reason why we can smell food is because of the numerous cells in our nose which are detected by the receptors on hair-like cilia at the tips of sensory cells in the nose when we are chewing those chemicals. It will then go into the nose and send messages to our brain like one of the chemical esters which can smell sweet and fruity odours. These two messages are what we would perceive as a flavor or taste.
Psychologically, we feel happy if we taste something sweet or yummy. Eating chocolate will stimulate our brain to produce more Endorphins which help us in alleviating depression as they act as sedatives and provide us with a feeling of pleasure and happiness. This can be best illustrated in one of the blogs on seedandbean.co.uk about chocolate which explains that they trigger certain emotions and effectively reduce stress and decrease pain, this is the reason why chocolate is known to be a comfort food. Another book on Health psychology has also debated the relationship between physical health and mental states for generations: this debate is often referred to as the mind-body problem. It relates to our mind and body.
Spiritually, everyone has their own religious belief and has different lifestyles, some food is forbidden because people’s religion. Socially, we go out to have meals with friends and families, we go out to dine in different restaurants to try different cuisines. Sometimes we will go out to dine in some traditional restaurants with some older family members to savour some food of their childhood. Everyone tries to build their happiness from their childhood, and it affects us a lot. As time goes by, the physical things will be thrown away or lost, but our memories will never vanish, food can connect the memories of children or even reduce our homesickness if we are in other countries. Moreover, I remember that when I was young I watched a movie ‘Toast’ in a cinema with my family members. It was about a story of a Boy's hunger and it was an extraordinary tale about food. We sat in the first row so we could watch the movie clearly with a big box of popcorn. After commercial time, the film caught my eye and I still remember clearly the picture now because it was so appealing that it drove me to eagerly find the book. ‘Toast’ is Nigel Slater's award-winning biography of a child remembering food. As Nigel Slater said in the book “This is not an occasional occurrence. My mother burns the toast as surely as the sun rises each morning.” It recalls the writer's childhood from a piece of burned toast. When I was in primary school my mum would pick me up from school. She always made some special snacks created by her and she would make them in her way. Sometimes, they would be a bit burnt, which really pissed me off. Now she won't make any snacks for me again. So I am quite sorry that I felt annoyed at that moment and I even thought that it was a big trouble, just like what Nigel Slater said in 'Toast'.
Every year my grandparents would come to Hong Kong during my New Year holidays. When I had time I would accompany them to meet their old friend at Luk Yu Tea House and tried the dim sum there. It is a place full of history, and it is kind of nostalgic, but I think the decorations are all very lovely. According to the lovely Planet magazine, “Luk Yu Tea House is arguably Hong Kong's most beautiful tea house. Today Luk Yu is known for its old-school Cantonese cooking, and everything associated make it the finest example of Asian Art Deco in Hong Kong.” Tea in Cantonese is pronounced as ‘cha’ which has the same meaning as ‘check’. Many years ago, people thought that drinking tea was a way to check their bodies, they would drink as much tea as possible to make themselves healthier. So around 2700 BC, people started to dry the leaves and flowers and put them under hot water which eventually become our “tea” today. After a long period of time, people drink tea with families or friends and sometimes they have tea along with some steamed food. Nowadays, people have meals at tea house which is similar to a restaurant, but dim sum are served as well.
If you want to have some memories of food and drinks, here are some tips for you: spend more time with your families or friends on weekends and eat out with them, try to talk more to them instead of tapping mobile phones. You can also try to explore with your families where they go when they have spare time and listen to their stories. You should also try to visit the places that they have been to when they were young to try to “experience” their memories of food and drinks. Most important of all, you can have more memories with them when you spend time having a meal with them.
Biologically, we need food to provide energy for our body functions and physical activities so we can move, act and balance our homeostasis. From the book “Psychology and Health”, it is stated that homeostasis ensures that our cells are in a stable condition that is suitable for the survival and normal functions. For instance, the endocrine tissues in the pancreas produce two protein hormones: insulin and glucagon. They are both from the same tissue but act differently. We need a balanced diet to balance our body as we need different kinds of minerals and vitamins that don’t provide energy but we need them because they are related to our health. We can obtain them from food after digestion and they are transmitted by blood vessels to different organs. Apart from obtaining nutrition from food, the sensation of flavor is our crucial stimulation for food. Food sensation is actually a combination of taste and smell. The reason why we can taste is because of the million taste buds on our tongue. Taste is a sensory of food-derived chemicals that stimulate receptor cells within taste buds and will turn to send messages to our brain. In addition, the reason why we can smell food is because of the numerous cells in our nose which are detected by the receptors on hair-like cilia at the tips of sensory cells in the nose when we are chewing those chemicals. It will then go into the nose and send messages to our brain like one of the chemical esters which can smell sweet and fruity odours. These two messages are what we would perceive as a flavor or taste.
Psychologically, we feel happy if we taste something sweet or yummy. Eating chocolate will stimulate our brain to produce more Endorphins which help us in alleviating depression as they act as sedatives and provide us with a feeling of pleasure and happiness. This can be best illustrated in one of the blogs on seedandbean.co.uk about chocolate which explains that they trigger certain emotions and effectively reduce stress and decrease pain, this is the reason why chocolate is known to be a comfort food. Another book on Health psychology has also debated the relationship between physical health and mental states for generations: this debate is often referred to as the mind-body problem. It relates to our mind and body.
Spiritually, everyone has their own religious belief and has different lifestyles, some food is forbidden because people’s religion. Socially, we go out to have meals with friends and families, we go out to dine in different restaurants to try different cuisines. Sometimes we will go out to dine in some traditional restaurants with some older family members to savour some food of their childhood. Everyone tries to build their happiness from their childhood, and it affects us a lot. As time goes by, the physical things will be thrown away or lost, but our memories will never vanish, food can connect the memories of children or even reduce our homesickness if we are in other countries. Moreover, I remember that when I was young I watched a movie ‘Toast’ in a cinema with my family members. It was about a story of a Boy's hunger and it was an extraordinary tale about food. We sat in the first row so we could watch the movie clearly with a big box of popcorn. After commercial time, the film caught my eye and I still remember clearly the picture now because it was so appealing that it drove me to eagerly find the book. ‘Toast’ is Nigel Slater's award-winning biography of a child remembering food. As Nigel Slater said in the book “This is not an occasional occurrence. My mother burns the toast as surely as the sun rises each morning.” It recalls the writer's childhood from a piece of burned toast. When I was in primary school my mum would pick me up from school. She always made some special snacks created by her and she would make them in her way. Sometimes, they would be a bit burnt, which really pissed me off. Now she won't make any snacks for me again. So I am quite sorry that I felt annoyed at that moment and I even thought that it was a big trouble, just like what Nigel Slater said in 'Toast'.
Every year my grandparents would come to Hong Kong during my New Year holidays. When I had time I would accompany them to meet their old friend at Luk Yu Tea House and tried the dim sum there. It is a place full of history, and it is kind of nostalgic, but I think the decorations are all very lovely. According to the lovely Planet magazine, “Luk Yu Tea House is arguably Hong Kong's most beautiful tea house. Today Luk Yu is known for its old-school Cantonese cooking, and everything associated make it the finest example of Asian Art Deco in Hong Kong.” Tea in Cantonese is pronounced as ‘cha’ which has the same meaning as ‘check’. Many years ago, people thought that drinking tea was a way to check their bodies, they would drink as much tea as possible to make themselves healthier. So around 2700 BC, people started to dry the leaves and flowers and put them under hot water which eventually become our “tea” today. After a long period of time, people drink tea with families or friends and sometimes they have tea along with some steamed food. Nowadays, people have meals at tea house which is similar to a restaurant, but dim sum are served as well.
If you want to have some memories of food and drinks, here are some tips for you: spend more time with your families or friends on weekends and eat out with them, try to talk more to them instead of tapping mobile phones. You can also try to explore with your families where they go when they have spare time and listen to their stories. You should also try to visit the places that they have been to when they were young to try to “experience” their memories of food and drinks. Most important of all, you can have more memories with them when you spend time having a meal with them.
