The Definition of Food

According to Dictionary.com Food is:

Food

noun

Any nourishing substance that is eaten, drunk, or otherwise taken into the body to sustain life, provide energy, promote growth, etc.

I think that it is interesting to compare this definition with the way that many Americans think of food unofficially. Americans use food for many things other than nourishment, which is pretty much the only thing this definition covers. People in America use food for so many different things and see it in so many different ways that I'm not even sure it would be possible to define it at all. People use food to make them happy and to bond with others. Food is also a central part of most holidays and traditions. I think that this dictionary.com definition of food is very limited, but it is so interesting to me that this is what the "official" definition of food is. It seems like it is leaving so many things out when it just focuses on food as a source of nutrition. I think that currently, the nutritional aspect of food is often much less important or acknowledged than the way that certain foods make us feel.

Comfort food, guilty pleasure food, depression food, all of these things mean different types of food to different people. However, regardless of what type of food people eat when they feel a certain way, they all share in common that there is a type of food that will make them feel differently. Where does the very real mood changing characteristic of food factor in to this definition? I think that it is fascinating to think about the difference between the way that we define food in a scientific sense and the vast amount of things that food actually means to each of us both physically and emotionally.