The Central Role of Food

Nowadays we think of consumers as people who “buy” food, but if food concerns us
only insofar as it is sold and bought (thus becoming a competence of economic policy
and not of politics as such), then we lose sight of food as a right. Yet that which is
essential for survival is part of the sphere of rights: this is why we speak of the right to
food and the right to water.

The Central Role of Food, Slow Food International Congress Paper

When I applied to study abroad, I wrote an essay on learning a culture through it's food. At the time, this idea was novel enough to a lot of my friends to be granted 'great idea' status insofar as application essays have to be different enough to set you apart in the reader's mind. I think that this concept of eating as a political, cultural, and social act cannot be discounted. Read the document, it's about 20 pages and a great conversation starter about food, how it's grown, how we eat it, and what that means economically, socially, environmentally, and culturally.