Part of the enjoyment of eating is choosing healthy foods that reflect your preferences. Your preferences and eating habits can be shaped by many things, including cultures and food traditions.

Including cultures and food traditions as part of healthy eating can help you:

• choose foods that you enjoy
• grow your skills and knowledge
• learn about cultures and food traditions
• create a sense of community and foster connections
• keep your cultural roots and food traditions alive by sharing them across generations and with others

Try these ideas to include cultures and food traditions:

1. Attend a community event that celebrates with cultural food.
2. Grow, harvest, fish, hunt and prepare food in traditional ways.
3. Choose recipes that explore different ways to prepare and cook foods.
4. Shop in places that sell the ingredients you need to make traditional foods.
5. Talk with others about where the foods you eat come from and where you get them.
6. Preserve and share family recipes. Recipes and food traditions are a part of family history.
7. Host a potluck where everyone brings a traditional dish and recipe from their family background. Spend time sharing the meaning of these foods.
8. Celebrate occasions and special holidays with cultural food traditions.

Click here for more ideas from Health Canada about cultures and food traditions in healthy eating.

Source: Health Canada