Food


 * Chow Down**

Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and midnight snacks: these meals keep us alive and well providing nutrients essential to our being. These delicious foods come from all countries. Some favorites include lasagna, mangoes, sticky rice, and chocolate milk. All these foods originate from different places around the world.

Lasagna, a popular dish with layers of cheese, meat sauce (or vegetarian style with no meat), and noodles, originated in many places, but has become more widely known as an Italian dish. Some restaurants make green lasagna with normal egg pasta that has spinach mixed in it. Bechamel sauce also makes a delicious addition to the American version of lasagna. However in the 14th century in the court of King Richard II of England, a meal similar to lasagna called loseyns and pronounced “lasan” was served. One can find lasagna in many restaurants across the globe. Some exquisite lasagna entrees show up on the menus of restaurants in the LA area like Bucca Di Beppo, Mi Piatsi, and California Pizza Kitchen. Today, different cheeses and spices help make this dish a delicacy.

Across Asia, Thailand provides other appetizing foods such as mangoes and sticky rice. Mangoes, most common in Thailand, can also be found in Mexico, Hawaii, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Saladang Song, a restaurant located in Pasadena on Fair Oaks, serves this mouth-watering dessert. Sticky rice, made of coconut milk, vanilla, and rice, tastes delicious when paired with mangoes. A type of short-grained [|Asian] rice that sticky rice is especially sticky when cooked. Mangoes are especially ripe in the summer. The type of mangoes normally depends on where they come from; some have more of a stringy, tough feeling, while others have more of a smooth texture. Although part of a dessert, mangoes contain many vitamins, antioxidants, and minerals making it a healthy snack.

A chocolaty delight, chocolate milk has spread throughout the world. Brands such as Hersheys, Nesquik, and Nestle produce a variety of forms of the drink. Chocolate powder and chocolate syrup added with milk, creates a swirl of delectable taste. Many companies have expanded their flavors to vanilla, banana, and strawberry. These certain flavors of milks are purchased all over the country and many other places. However, regular chocolate milk is purchased all over the country. A variety of these milks claim to mimic the flavors of popular candy bars such as [|Milky Way], [|3 Musketeers], or [|Snickers]. Others include a lactose-free version made using lactose-free milk and flavorings, organic chocolate milk (made with organic milk, organic cocoa, and organic cane syrup), and soy chocolate milk.

Across the globe, people eat and delight in other country’s creations and delectables. Lasagna, sticky rice and mangoes, and chocolate milk only cover three of these scrumptious dishes shared internationally. From America to Thailand, foods are shared and treasured by all.