I was born in Nepal where there weren’t many diverse cultures except for the Nepalese culture. In Nepal, we weren’t exposed to other cultures and lived in our world. We didn’t talk about other cultures that much. When I moved to London at the age of 9, I experienced many diverse cultures as the country was full of people from many different backgrounds. I was excited to know about these cultures and learn more about how they express themselves.

          On the first day of school in London, I took fried rice for my lunch. When it was time for lunch and my new friends gathered together. As I was eating my lunch I looked around to see what the other people had and they were having westernized food such as sandwiches. I got nervous, I kept asking myself if the food smelled bad or looked weird and it went on every time I had any of my cultural food. Usually, after I got home I would ask my parents to pack something new like sandwiches. I became more embarrassed of my culture when I came over to my house for a sleepover. My mom was cooking some Nepalese food, and my friend asked me with a funny face what the smell was. I felt sad seeing her face like that, and her not liking the smell of the food. As a result, I slowly started to change the food that I brought to school. Since the cooking in the house was made with lots of spices the smell for it was aromatic. Even now when I bring things like chana (chickpeas) to school I do sometimes get nervous that the people might not like the smell of it. But, as time went on and I came to Calgary I began to realize how important my culture is and how I should not be afraid to embrace the roots. Being a part of FFCA allowed me to be in a multicultural environment where I felt more comfortable with my culture. Slowly I began embracing my culture and began bringing in my food with confidence and even sharing it with my friends. Moving to Calgary helped me understand the importance of my culture and that I should not be ashamed of it to fit in or seek validation. the lesson I learned was the importance of not caring about what others think as you will lose yourself in the process.