There is more of a connection between food and culture than you may think. On an individual level, we grow up eating the food of our culture. It becomes a part of who we are. Many associate food from our childhood with warm feelings and good memories and it ties us to our families, holding a special and personal value for us. Food from our families often becomes the comfort food we seek as adults in times of frustration and stress.

On a large scale, traditional food is an important part of culture. It also operates as an expression of cultural identity. Immigrants bring it wherever they go, and it is a symbol of pride in their culture and means of coping with homesickness.

Many immigrants open their own restaurants and serve traditional dishes. However, the food does not remain exactly the same. Some materials needed to make traditional dishes may not be readily available, so the taste and flavour can be different from what they would prepare in their home countries. Additionally, immigrants do not only sell dishes to people from the same countries as them, but to people from different countries. Therefore, they have to make small changes in the original dishes to cater to a wider range of customers. Those changes can create new flavours that still keep the cultural significance of the dishes.

We should not only embrace our heritage (传统) through our culture’s food, but also become more informed about other cultures by trying their food. It is important to remember that each dish has a special place in the culture to which it belongs, and is special to those who prepare it. Food is a window on culture, and it should be treated as such.

【小题1】What’s the function of food mentioned in the text?

A．To help motivate homesickness.

B．To show cultural identity.

C．To reflect a country’s history.

D．To show a community’s superiority.

【小题2】What does the underlined word “it” in Paragraph 2 refer to?

A．The specific traditional food.

B．The national culture.

C．A traditional expression of food.

D．The old-fashioned taste.

【小题3】Why do some immigrants have to change the original dishes in their restaurants?

A．To attach cultural importance to their dishes.

B．To announce the beginning of their life on foreign soil.

C．To make the dishes popular among customers.

D．To present their own food culture in a new way.

【小题4】What’s the author’s attitude towards different food cultures?

A．Negative.

B．Balanced.

C．Unfair.

D．Unchangeable.