9781422277430

6

C onn ect i ng C u ltu r es T hrough F am i ly and F ood

Introduction

M ore than a billionpeople live in India, a country on the continent of Asia. Thatmakes it one of themost populous nations in the world. OnlyChina hasmore people. About one percent of the people born in India leave there to live in other places. One percentmight not seem like a lot, but one percent of a

billion is pretty big number. Almost 16 million people from India are living in other countries. The United States has become home to about 2.5million Indians in recent decades. America’s current immigration policies favor highly skilledpeople, somanyof thosewho come to the United States work and study in fields related to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Like all people from around the worldwhosetouttofindnewhomes— no matter what their level of educa- tionandwealth—Indianpeoplebring with themthe families they love and thetraditionsthatbindthemtogether. Many of those traditions, as we will see, involve eating certain foods and sharing meals.