For my 10th-grade "Food for Thought" project, I focused on how food connects to culture, sustainability, and identity, and how these themes relate to the book Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. In Persepolis, Marjane’s journey is all about figuring out who she is, and a big part of that is understanding her culture and background, even as things around her change. I wanted to explore how food, like culture, is an important part of identity, and how it can tell a story about where we come from.

For my project, I researched how different cultures use food to represent who they are and how food can be part of a sustainable future. Just like how Marjane has to deal with the changes happening in her country, I wanted to show how food practices are also changing and how we can help preserve our traditions by making more sustainable choices. I created a presentation that shows how food is not just something we eat, but also something that reflects our values and history.

For this project, I created a dish called the Fusion Feast Samosa, a blend of rice, pasta, and Indian curry that combines various cultural influences. This samosa is not only a fusion of ingredients but also a fusion of identities, as it reflects the backgrounds and personal connections of each person in our group. The rice and pasta represent agricultural products introduced during the Columbian Exchange, while the Indian curry ties back to the rich history of spices and flavors shared between continents.

By combining these ingredients, I wanted to showcase how different cultures—each with its own unique identity—come together to create something new. Just as the Columbian Exchange mixed foods and cultures from all over the world, this dish represents how our diverse backgrounds shape our collective identity. Each ingredient in the Fusion Feast Samosa represents a part of our personal heritage, and the way they come together mirrors the idea of how food and culture evolve and influence one another over time.

This dish is a reflection of how food, much like identity, is shaped by history, exchange, and personal experience. It was a way for all of us to express our own backgrounds while also celebrating how those backgrounds connect and blend with others.

For our 10th grade “Food for Thought” project, we explored the historical and cultural impacts of the Columbian Exchange — the widespread transfer of plants, animals, and ideas between the Old World and the New World following Columbus’s voyages. Our challenge was to create a dish using only ingredients that were part of this exchange. I chose to make black beans and rice, a simple yet flavorful dish that reflects the blending of ingredients from both worlds.

Black beans originated in the Americas, while rice was introduced to the New World from Asia through Europe. Together, they represent the fusion of cultures and cuisines made possible by the Columbian Exchange. Through this project, I learned not only about global history, but also how deeply food is connected to trade, colonization, and cultural identity.