> Food in the US isn’t central to our identities, not yet at least. It is still largely a utilitarian and transactional thing— something necessary to get enough

> Food in the US isn’t central to our identities, not yet at least. It is still largely a utilitarian and transactional thing— something necessary to get enough calories, hopefully tasty ones, to stop being hungry and keep working. Food is a utilitarian and transactional thing across the entire world. Especially in countries that have food scarcity. The writer is bashing food that is 'transactional', when the article is literally about how he's paid a lot of money to travel the world and try diverse cuisine...