Though this work started as a formal academic cultural study, it stretched and squirmed and became not only an examination of the cultures themselves, but how I came to fit within those cultures. By combining my experiences travelling as a child and young adult as well as learning the craft of professional cooking, the essays in this work are highly centered around food and what food means both to me and to cultures throughout the world. The structure and tone of these essays varies greatly from one to the other, all at once casual, almost conversational in one, and pedantic and formal in another. This thesis was designed to grant readers a broad scope of my ability as a writer and cook. The six recipes contained in the collection are meant to move the work along as a meal would, leisurely and savoring moments, but at the same time, there should always be a sense of anticipation about what will appear next. The characters in this thesis came from near and far--from France to Lima--and each carries a cultural and culinary significance in the work. Each essay ties food to emotion--love, distress, bewilderment, intrigue and zeal. The main themes in this work stem from the ingrained nature of values taught at childhood--whether we like them or not, the role of food in shaping the cultural clash of peoples and the inherent connective nature of food as common ground.