It&#x27;s easy to underestimate just how much we&#x27;re all affected by our own backgrounds and childhoods. Including some very fundamental things about how we think about food.<p>Just a silly example that I&#x27;ve encountered recently: if I say &quot;popcorn&quot;, Americans will think butter and salt, while Europeans will think sugar.<p>Even recipes tend to assume certain skills. Of course it&#x27;s <i>possible</i> for someone to write in painstaking detail instructions about how to duplicate an authentic Indian curry, but in practice does that actually happen?<p>It&#x27;s more or less impossible to get a good bagel outside of New York. It&#x27;s just a piece of bread! And yet.