America is the land where cultures collide, mix, and settle together. Each culture brings additions to the melting pot that is the U.S.--but the biggest of those additions is food. I’m not talking about food from Taco Bell or Panda Express, but real foreign foods. Greek gyros, Italian manicotti, and Mexican pan de muerto are some of my favorite foreign foods and all of them are close by.
The best experience I had was when I was invited to Asiana in Pewaukee for my friend’s birthday. His parents own the restaurant and they had one of their chefs set up a hibachi grill for us. It was amazing the tricks he did with the fire off the grill. He made so many different kinds of food and I was stuffed by the end. It was worth it, though, because it was the best Asian or foreign food I ever tasted.
Different cultures also bring holiday celebrations. I haven’t been able to celebrate many of them, but the one I remember best is the Bar Mitzvah for my friend Cameron on his sixteenth birthday. A Bar Mitzvah is the Jewish coming of age ceremony for boys. It represents their transition from childhood to adulthood. We sat in the Synagogue and he read verses out of the Old Testament in Hindu. Afterwards, we had a feast that lasted almost two hours.
I am proud to be an American because of all the different food and celebrations of different cultures I can experience.