Caviar and Rice: What Our Meals Say About Us

Caviar, elegantly placed on a bed of ice in fine porcelain, and rice, served with care in a modest bowl, reflect the difference in how luxury and simplicity are experienced. A rich man’s meal is extravagant, while a poor man’s meal embodies simplicity. But beyond superficial distinctions, meals also depict emotional values and reflect how scarcity or abundance shapes our relationship with food. Food is not only a source of nourishment, but also a profound communicator of identity, culture, and socioeconomic standing. For instance, fruits are often chosen as gifts in Korea to symbolize health and prosperity due to their high cost, compared to Norway where such a tradition does not exist, perhaps due the affordability of fruits. Every dish we enjoy tells a story, revealing its inherent worth and the deeper narratives behind our choices. Lentils, for example, tell a story of nourishment and resilience due to their reliability, having sustained communities in Nepal for thousands of years, rather than being valued solely for their affordability. Every meal choice, whether luxurious or simple, carries its own unique narrative, emphasizing diversity and individuality of human experiences rather than superiority.

Food as an Economic Mirror

The trends in food consumption serve as an economic indicator, with luxury dining reflecting prosperity in some demographics, and inflation and rising staple prices exposing vulnerabilities in others. While food choices are greatly influenced by cultural contexts, one cannot overlook the roles of economic factors. Wealthier individuals are able to afford more diverse, balanced, and expensive meals, while those with limited resources are often constrained to cheaper, less nutritious options. Though there are nuances to adhering to guidelines for a balanced diet, the fact that Vitamin A-rich fruits and vegetables cost 8–22 times more per calorie than starchy staples, and twice as much per calorie as sugary and salty snacks, highlights how income plays a crucial role. As lower income households are not able to adhere to the diet guidelines, economic disparities often result in nutritional inequality, with lower-income households having reduced access to healthy, high-quality foods, and high-income households having abundant access to them. Such disparities could further deepen in the future and widen the gap between socioeconomic groups due to the rising food prices. According to the ‘The Impact of Food Inflation on Poverty in Nepal’ report by the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), the population below the poverty line spent 72% of their income on food as of 2012. Spending the majority of their income on food with the increase in food prices pushes the purchasing power of the poor further below, and affects what they consume, opting for cheaper and less nutritious food items. These households will struggle to afford adequate nutrition, leading to food deprivation and malnutrition.

The Allure of Luxury: Food as a Reflection of Affluence and Cultural Prestige

Cultural prestige has led certain food items to gain a reputation as a luxurious dining experience, furthered due to generational traditions that often require extensive preparation.  For instance, truffle harvesting, a tradition passed down for centuries, is recognized on the “Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity”, where the truffle’s significance beyond its status as a culinary delight is highlighted. “Truffle Night”, one of the many festivities celebrated by truffle hunters in France, features communal feasts that honor the skills required for the hunting, and highlights the cultural importance it holds for the truffle hunting community.

On the other hand, certain food items serve as markers of social status, with some specifically reserved for special occasions or even particular social classes. This ranges from stuffed turkey on Thanksgiving to something as grand as a luxurious grazing table. The ability to afford and prioritize healthier, premium, or artisanal food options serves as a symbol of wealth, as it reflects resources that go beyond basic requirements like preference for the Japanese Wagyu Beef or the specific use of high-quality almonds from Avola for Sicilian pastries. Exclusivity is often used interchangeably with luxury, as both imply uniqueness and rarity. The Japanese tea ceremony or ‘Chanoyu’, for example, can be traced back to aristocratic origins in the 14^th century, with meticulous rituals and refined aesthetics opted by the merchant class to emulate the elite. It features formal tea rooms and curated gardens that not only reflect wealth and prestige but also embody cultural sophistication and a deep appreciation for tranquility and harmony.

Though cultural prestige and affluence create luxurious food items, there can always be a shift in how food items are perceived over times. The shift from rags to riches for some of the dishes are also the result of many factors like climate change, popularity, and harmony between traditions and modernity. Lobsters, which are now a seafood delicacy, were once known as ‘cockroaches of the sea’ and fed to prisoners and reserved for the poor. This shows how simple meals can shift from identifying as a simple meal to a luxurious one. Similarly, in the Nepali context, much like avocados and kiwis gaining popularity in Nepal due to the influence of Western culture, ‘lauki’ (bottle gourd) has undergone a shift from being considered a poor man’s meal to gaining widespread popularity. This transformation can be attributed to the fame brought to the vegetable by Baba Ramdev, who highlighted its nutritional value despite its humble origins.

Necessity over Extravagance: Resilience and Tradition of Everyday Meals

While luxurious meals symbolize affluence, simple meals embody resilience and tradition, serving as reflections of cultural heritage and national identity. Everyday meals, which vary across cultures, often reveal cultural norms, traditions, and the influence of seasonality, reflecting individuals’ identities. Sushi for the Japanese, tacos for Mexicans, and ‘dal bhaat’ for the Nepali community, all illustrate how identity and food are closely correlated. These are recipes handed down from generations, thereby forming an integral part of family and national identity.

Such simple meals highlight the importance of locally sourced and seasonal ingredients like the much consumed ‘chiura’ (beaten rice) for the Newari community. Everyday meals, while seemingly commonplace, often provide insights into cultures and create a space for individual identity. In today’s time, comfort meals have become national treasures, as they put a nation on the global map. Culinary nationalism, also known as gastro-nationalism, can claim ownership of culture, convey authenticity, and promote national identity.  For instance, simple Japanese ramen promotes its authentic cultural image while serving as a convenient meal for working individuals and university students alike. This has eventually increased sales of Japanese products overall and has become a soft power for the Japanese economy. Thus, while luxury meals are touted as reflections of affluence, it is the everyday meal that is often most associated with national identity and culture and used for soft diplomacy as well.

Besides being a marker of national identity, a “flat” meal is much more than just being affordable. It is also about accessibility, being economical and not letting anything go to waste. A wholesome Newari post-bhoj (feast) dish known as ‘kwa-ghasa’, which is a stew made of all the leftover meats and vegetables from the bhoj the day before, is one of the most loved among the community. Call it being creative or cautious about waste, resilience has been the essence of a banal meal. Regardless of the simplicity, these meals also often evoke warmth, love and memories.

Luxury in Humility and Humility in Luxury

Nepal, being a nation with a wide variety of cultures, has a wealth of local food, each serving as an identity to a particular community’s needs. From the high-altitude yak butter tea of the Himalayas to the ghonghi of the Terai plains, these food items showcase how communities have adapted their culinary traditions to their environments. The local food of Nepal even plays a central role in festivals and rituals, such as ‘yomari,’ a steamed dumpling made from rice flour and typically stuffed with sweet molasses and sesame seeds. Yomari Punhi has evolved over time to use this very dish to mark the rice harvest and honor the goddess of grain and wealth.

With the increase in urbanization, which has made ‘Thakali thali’, traditionally a symbol of hospitality and abundance, into something to be had in a restaurant, Nepal can move into ‘culinary diplomacy’ through the rich food culture it has like the upper-class experience provided by the Kasthamandap Restaurant in Dubai, much like the Korean, Japanese or Thai cuisine which has become global. Nepal can reap the benefits through the trading of the local ingredients with the globalization of something as local as ‘bara’. And this has already been happening. Restaurants like Tusa have given a new meaning to the traditional Nepali cuisine and redefined simple meals by keeping the stories that these dishes tell intact. Similarly, Nepali chefs like Santosh Shah have put Nepali cuisine out there as an experience for the global audience and changed their perception towards Nepali food.

Thus, the food that we consume is not as simple as we think it is. And, in the end, true luxury lies in appreciating the humble and the extravagant alike, as both nourish us in ways that transcend the plate. From the lavish truffle dishes of France to the resilient simplicity of Nepal’s dal bhaat, food captures the essence of human experience, shaped by culture, economics, and tradition.