Once items are identified as food, they develop a legacy of strong symbolic. emotional, and cultural meanings. Comfort foods, health foods, junk foods. fun foods, soul foods, fattening foods, mood foods, and pig-out foods, for example, have been identified in the United States. All cul tures have their"super food": in Russia and Ireland, it's potatoes; in Central America, it's corn and yucca(a starchy root, also called manioc); in Somalia, it's rice. The designation refers to the cultural significance of the food and not its nutritional value