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Image zoom Credit: Getty Images As a Muslim, I've always been taught to appreciate and honor all food as it comes from the Earth. But whether it was fritters cooked in oil called pithas; aromatic rice dishes called pulao; or the aromas of ginger, garlic, and onion that came from my Bengali meals, growing up, I was often told by friends how unhealthy my culture's cuisine was. Our food was too oily; we eat too much rice and too many spices, I would hear. I felt that, largely, people were racist toward Brown foods such as khichuri, yellow rice, and the smells that come with them. I found these foods were often viewed as "exotic." I felt that, outside of my home, my culture's cuisine—one that I grew up eating and loving—was "beneath" traditional "American" food. I internalized that as I grew up and I moved away from my Bengali roots. I stayed away from making Bengali food in college and throughout graduate school.