Mexican

The melding of cultures contributed significantly to the melding of foods and food preparation in Mexico, often referred to as mestizaje, or mixing. Corn, a staple for over 4,000 years, is the backbone of the diet. The kernels are softened in water and lime and then ground and fashioned (most commonly) into tortillas. Protein-rich beans and an infinite variety of chilies round out this holy trinit

Sandwiches

1st Century B.C. -- First recorded sandwich made by rabbi Hillel; he pressed chopped nuts, apples, spices and other ingredients between two matzohs to eat with bitter herbs during Passover.

1762 -- Modern sandwich invented in London by John Montague, fourth Earl of Sandwich, when he asks for bread, cheese and meat to be brought so he can continue gambling. He holds the food -- bread outside a

Iranian

Rice is the staple food and the Iranians cook it superbly. Dishes include chelo khoresh (rice topped with vegetables and meat in a nut sauce), polo chele (pilau rice), polo sabzi (pilau rice cooked with fresh herbs), polo chirin (sweet-sour saffron-colored rice with raisins, almonds and orange), adas polo (rice, lentils and meat), morgh polo (chicken and pilau rice), chelo kababs (rice with skewer