Although I have spent most of my 13 years outside Canada since finishing high school I am beginning to feel more of a stranger in this strange land. Unlike Canada I find that in Japan and China that food is taken very seriously. People really know what to eat and they take the time to prepare their meal in order to stay healthy. In Canada eating is more something that needs to be done and takes time therefore is trouble; therefore, people have the tendency to not want to spend a lot of time with food because they seem to be more preoccupied with their work.

When people eat in Canada it is more of a formal setting. I have noticed just myself – one person wanting to eat - walking into a restaurant I am asked to wait to be seated and a menu is handed to me. In Canada it seems to be a more wait for your food. In Japan or China, this is true in some places but most places I am not directed to a seat I am not handed a menu. What is the point of these formalities? I think about what is there to eat in Canada or let me ask the question. What is there to eat in Canada? I find that there is a very limited variety of food in Canada. I notice from the availability of food in the grocery stores that people either do not have much to eat or they eat the same stuff day after day. Walking through the market in Japan there are many more varieties of vegetables, fruits, meat and fish and even more in China!

It would be interesting to do a worldwide survey just to see the number of vegetables, fruits, meat and fish people can name. Perhaps even more interesting would be which ones can they name. I am sure Canadians and Americans in general could not name very many. I would not blame climate but rather a primarily Anglo-Saxon culture. A future project for me.

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Walking into a grocery store in North America and notice how huge the milk product section is? It is discusting how the milk industry pushes milk on North Americans. I gave up milk long ago because the milk you are drinking is toxic. If you ever worked in a milk factory and yes they are factories because the cows are not treated with any respect, they are simply milk machines fed with high doses of Ivo mec (not sure the spelling) and other hormones to either boost milk yields and/or kill bacteria. Together with the hormones, the other chemicals and the milking machines that they hook up to the cows all contribute to making blood go right into the milk tanks so the milk becomes a brownish color so they have to add more chemicals to make it white again. Added to this the cows are subjected to the most horrible living conditions, cramped and dirty so they need more antibiotics. I believe most vegetarians who refuse to eat meat because they do not like harming animals are not only discusting but are plain stupid when they say �milk or cheese is my protein� maybe so but those milk lovers are causing more pain and suffering to the animals just by supporting the milk industry. Cow milk is for calves not humans. On the note about cheese, maybe cheese is a high source of protein and calcium but really it is about 90% fat. Try melting some in a pan and see how much oil comes out of cheese. If you have ever made cheese before and I have many times, out of 2 liters of milk all you get is a tiny bit of finished cheese, the rest is whey is in our modern society is thrown out to the pigs or chickens unless you are a one of the few people who drink it or use it. Whey is the most highest form of protein that is taken out of the milk when making cheese. So there you have it North Americans are once again proven to be the biggest food wasters on the planet, including vegetarians who eat milk products. Milk, coffee, sugar, salt and oil are the basis of capitalism. All of which can be reduced some can be completely elliminated from society and we would be much better off.

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