The Obsession with Food

India's national obsession is food. Notwithstanding the fact that the country has a large population living below the poverty line, where the Prime Minister gleefully condemns malnutrition as a "national shame" but does not possess the guts to do anything about it. Not considering the fact that Indian weddings are more about food than about two souls taking lifetime vows. There is no region in the country where food is not loved. You go to the northern part and they will stuff you with food claiming that you should look like you have stayed there for sometime. Come to the western part and food, especially sweet and farsan are a must. We in fact love to shower love through food. The rule is if you love someone, just force him/her to gulp down food that he/she doesn't want to eat ... it is the best way to prove your love. So, mothers spoil children when they throw tantrums about food, we are happy to waste food in restaurants, a wife's love for her husband and her caliber are judged on the basis of the food she makes ...resulting in spending most of her time in kitchen struggling to get it right! All this while we forget about the grains rotting in storehouses, the excess calories we consume, the troubles we invite for our health, the millions of people who cannot afford the humble two meal a day! The mantra is to show off how much you can make, how better you can make and how much you can consume. It seems as if people live to eat and not the other way round. Gandhiji had truly said that there is enough in this world for man's need but not for his greed. I think the opium of Indian masses is not religion but food.