Editor’s Note: This is a guest commentary. The opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial board.

One year ago, I made the decision to study abroad for three months in Barcelona, Spain. I was yearning for a change of pace and new experiences, people and cultures. Most importantly, I was over the moon that I was about to experience a plethora of European cuisines in the places where they originated. What I did not expect, however, was the effect the food would have on my mental and physical health. Eating food in Europe forced me to face the facts about how the ingredients in the food from the U.S. have had an immense negative impact on my health.

I have a long history of trying different diets to improve my health. For years, I’ve dealt with an intolerance to lactose and gluten, which, sadly, are the key components of many of my favorite foods, like cheese and bread. Regardless of the pleasurable experience that typically comes with eating these foods, I never felt nourished after consuming them. I have found that unless I make a great effort to go out and spend more money on healthy foods and supplements, the food I eat does not have a positive effect on me and many of my friends have had these same experiences. As a result, the act of eating food has brought me much less enjoyment than it should. What’s more, unhealthy foods with harmful ingredients are typically the most available option.

I found that my mindset about food changed completely when I traveled around Europe. Residents of European countries see eating food as a meditative, almost religious, experience. There is an attention to detail with the ingredients. Foods that I had been eating for the past 21 years of my life all of a sudden had flavors that I had never before experienced. During that first week in Barcelona, I remember sitting on the rooftop of my residence with a bowl of strawberries from a nearby outdoor market. “It tastes like what fruit would taste like in a cartoon,” I professed to my friends, to which they all laughed in agreement.

Throughout the three months that I studied abroad, I found enjoyment in eating fresh produce, which I often had to force myself to eat in the U.S. More impressively, I allowed myself to indulge in all the dishes that I had been expertly avoiding for years. I devoured enormous plates of fettuccine alfredo and lobster ravioli like it was nothing. I could eat an entire oven-baked pizza and be hungry for more. Between my classes, my friends and I would walk to our favorite cafe for lunch. We ate giant, fluffy ham and cheese croissants, chicken stuffed arepas and chocolate waffles. Eating food became an opportunity to slow down and savor the moment. I found myself hungrier than I had ever been before, yet more nourished and satisfied. Eating the foods that I had always considered “bad” or “unhealthy” no longer made me feel sick or guilty.

The difference I found in European food, however, isn’t just a matter of taste. There is a stark difference in how the EFSA, or The European Food Safety Authority, regulates ingredients in comparison to the FDA in the U.S. There are many ingredients that are commonly used in the U.S. that are completely banned in European countries. According to the EFSA website, they have banned these 8 ingredients: ractopamine, potassium bromate, brominated vegetable oil, olestra, azodicarbonamide, coloring agents (also known as Red #40, etc.) BHA and BHT. These ingredients have been banned because of their links to disease and poor mental and physical health. Finding out that the U.S allows all of these ingredients was disheartening but not surprising.

The noticeable difference in my relationship with food during my time in Spain is in direct correlation with the EFSA’s food regulation policies. While grocery shopping in “Mercadona” behind my residence, I was taken aback by the ingredient lists on the back of shopping items. The ingredient list on the back of a Pringles can was less than half of what it would be in an American supermarket.

The way I experienced food in Spain and the other European countries that I visited was so fulfilling. I wholeheartedly believe every person deserves to experience a culture where food fuels our bodies and our minds. I believe that if we pushed the FDA to reevaluate the ingredients that are put into our everyday foods, we could heal our culture surrounding eating.

Delia Ammaturo (she/her) is a television and digital media production major. Contact her at [email protected].