Spanish Food Vs Latin American Culture

Food is something that everyone can relate to. It is a basic need that motivates all human beings to indulge if only to satisfy the need. Food can bring people together, such as dining out with friends or colleagues, and it can bring a smile to someone’s face when they see their favorite meal in front of them. When most people sit down to eat their meals, they do not think about the origins of their food, rather they simply eat their food and carry on with their lives; the meals people find themselves eating on a daily basis could be from all over the world.

A common misconception about food is where certain items originated from. One of the most commonly eaten desserts, chocolate, originated in Mesoamerica and was consumed by the indigenous

When most people are asked where the potato originated from, they will say the European countries because they think of the Potato Famine that happened in the 1800s. Corn was another food that was not

In the United States it is common to dine out around six or seven, but in Latin America and Spain, it is routine to eat out around nine or ten o’clock at night. In Spain, it is commonplace to eat around three in the afternoon while listening to the news as background noise because people are conversing with others around them (“The Top 6 Eating Habits of the Spanish” 1). In most restaurants in America, there is music to listen too and there may be a T.V. on in the background, but it is almost always a sports game, and occasionally the program is the news. The T.V. is always silent though so as not to take away from the communications between the patrons.To emphasize this difference in culture and tradition, one could look at the napkin. This item is not essential in the dining habits of Americans; however, in Spain, this is one of the most important items on the table behind a fork and a knife. Traditional Spaniards prefer to wipe their mouths in between bites to keep hygiene throughout the meal, for some it is to keep the rims of their glasses from becoming dirty (“The Top 6 Eating Habits of the Spanish” 1). Several American families do not employ the use of the napkin during their dinners; they might use a napkin at a nice restaurant or for a special occasion such as a holiday dinner. Though dining out is more routine in