Food Guide

This is the first sequel to the Expatriates post.

I don't know about everyone, but for me the most important issue in a different country is food. Moving to America, I had so many food problems. I was used to eating spicy food in India that I thought I might throw up at the sight of American food. I didn't like anything: hated pizza, hot dogs, and any type of food. The only food that appealed to me was McChicken sandwich and Arby's Curly fries. However, I later realized that I have to get acquainted to American food. Everyday I forced myself to try something new.

When I was in eighth grade, I didn't have school food. I always had a sack lunch. However, towards the end of the school year, I grew accustomed to the American food that I decided to stop taking home lunch in when I went to high school.

Getting acquainted to Indian is equally harder. For expatriates moving to one of the big cities like, New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, and Hyderabad, have access to American fast-food restaurants like McDonald's, KFC, and Pizza Hut. They would not have to force themselves to like Indian food. However, expatriates moving to a small town will not be able access to any of these American foods, unless they live near one of these big cities. They would have to learn to like Indian food.

The most important advice to remember: taste any food before buying it. While in a restaurant, items on the menu might sound tasty and interesting. However, always taste before ordering. Most of the dishes will be spicy and you will be on fire when you eat them. Otherwise you can ask the waiter to make it less spicy for you.

Indian people tend to use a lot of chili powder and pepper in their food. Chili powder is red in color and is very spicy. It is made from red-chili peppers. Therefore when shopping in the grocery store, make sure you don’t get chili powder if you don’t want your food to become spicy.
Also Indian cooking uses a lot of turmeric powder. It is very good for your health; it is one of the spices that helps prevent the development of tumor. This is one of the reasons why Indian people don’t develop cancer much.

Other than that, please keep in mind to eat at a reputable restaurant. There are a lot of street vendors who sell food. They might look inviting, but please don’t eat anything from them. Most of them cook their food with un-clean water, use degraded vegetables, and never take care of their surroundings. Chances of you getting sick after eating from them are very high. Also, don’t by soda from them. They are not of good quality. If you feel thirsty, or hungry make sure you find a three, four, or five-star restaurant. Even though they might charge you a higher price, you will not have to make frequent visits to the doctor.

These are some of the most important things to keep in mind when trying to get acquainted to the food in India. It always helps to have a neighbor help you out in times of need. That’s what I did when I first moved to the U.S!