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What we eat, how we eat it and with whom we share our meals reveals more about us than almost anything else. From cherished memories of Sunday family dinners to longings for our grandmother's special dish, food is at the center of our lives. It symbolizes life, joy, hope, love and home. Food is how we define ourselves as members of a particular culture or community. There's great power in the kitchen — to celebrate, to unite, to nurture and to heal.

Hosted by Marcus Samuelsson, the award-winning chef of New York's Aquavit and Riingo, THE MEANING OF FOOD travels across America, breaking bread with Americans from all backgrounds and walks of life. We visit home kitchens, restaurants, pastry bake-offs, lunch trucks, burger joints, an Italian wedding, a Bengali fertility feast and more, to explore the profound role that food plays in our lives. A three-part series, THE MEANING OF FOOD is produced by Pie in the Sky Productions in association with Oregon Public Broadcasting. A companion book to the series, published by Globe Pequot, will accompany the broadcast.

National funding for THE MEANING OF FOOD is provided by Unilever and by Pacific Islanders in Communications, Humanities Washington Documentary Pooled Fund, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Public Television Viewers and PBS.