What is culture and what are some major aspects of culture?

Culture is everything that makes up a society. I originally defined it as religion and peoples beliefs, but its language, technology, even food and recreational activities. Modern culture in America is generally defined as a melting pot, but that definition stopped making sense when we started to try to be our own culture while melding with others. It became more of a mixed pot of, and I am aware of the oddity of this expression, but it is a mixed pot of fried rice. It's not the rice, the carrots or the eggs that make it, but the fact that the different cultures merge into one mostly harmonious group. 

Major aspects are what make a culture unique such as its food, religious beliefs/tolerance, acceptance of others and the things that the culture defines as it's unique aspects. That may sound vague, but I can not list everything that makes a culture, as something that makes a culture is something that they most likely find unique. If you were to look at a certain culture in a glass bowl, meaning you can see everything that every person in that society is doing, you can most likely identify items and actions that major aspects of the culture, but to be able to find every part, you must join them in the scenario, interact with them daily and find what makes their culture unique.