By Mary Kelly
Think about your favorite movie, book or television show. Chances are eating and drinking is essential to the plot, character, or setting. Everything from the eating cheesecake with the Golden Girls to Game of Thrones (both the book and the television show) food is almost another character. Food and drink are symbolic in every culture: making a toast with a drink, the new bride and groom eating wedding cake, bringing a casserole to someone in mourning. Sharing food and drink is our way of connecting to each other, our ancestors, and our culture. It is essentially, unspoken communication and is less about the actual food and more about what it is trying to communicate.